LGBTQ+ History Month 2026
CSU’s annual celebration of LGBTQ+ past, present, and futures that includes educational programming on LGBTQIA+ history and perspectives. Everyone is welcome and invited to participate. Our headlining events are highlighted in green!
“Our histories never unfold in isolation. We cannot truly tell what we consider our own histories without knowing the other stories. And often we discover that those other stories are actually our own stories.”
– Angela Davis
Thursday, Oct 1 | LGBTQ+ History Month Kick-Off
Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Location: LSC 226/228 | Audience: Open to All
Kick off LGBTQ+ History Month with Pride! Paint and decorate your own free tote bag and learn about the importance of symbols and visibility in our community, and the history LGBTQ+ History Month.
Friday, Oct 2 | Meet & Greet with Ben Greene
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Location: Pride Resource Center (LSC 232) | Audience: Open to All
Pride will be hosting author and public speaker Ben Greene for a meet and greet with students, faculty, and staff. Ben’s work includes supporting families of LGBTQ+ kids and finding joy and success as a trans person. This event is in partnership with Fort Collins PFLAG.
Monday, Oct 5 | Memory Monday: Queers in STEM
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Location: LSC 228 | Audience: Open to All
Memory Monday is a weekly walk-through exhibit highlighting different contributions of LGBTQ+ figures throughout history. This week’s exhibit highlights our community’s contributions to STEM and research. Drop-in anytime between 10 AM – 2 PM on your own to experience the exhibit.
Tuesday, Oct 6 | Trino & Adam: Uncovering the Untold Stories
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Location: El Centro (LSC 225) | Audience: Open to All
El Centro, the Pride Resource Center, and RamEvents invite you to an evening of storytelling, conversation, love, and joy with Trino Garcia and Adam Vasquez, known together as TrinoxAdam. Trino and Adam will share their journey of navigating family, their Chicano & Queer identities, stereotypes, and self-acceptance and how they created space for authenticity through social media and content creation. This event highlights the overlap of LGBTQ+ History Month and National Latinx/é Heritage Month.
Thursday, Oct 8 | Theater Thursday
Time: 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Location: Pride Resource Center (LSC 232) | Audience: Open to All
Every Thursday in October, Pride will be showing a movie or documentary to highlight a different part of LGBTQ+ History. Check out our Instagram or stop by the center to see what we are showing each week. Popcorn & candy provided!
Thursday, Oct 8 | Deafies in Drag
Time: Doors at 6:00 PM, Show at 6:30 PM | Location: Lory Student Center Theater | Audience: Open to All
Join Pride, the Student Disability Center, and Ram Events for an unforgettable evening of laughter, learning, and unapologetic celebration featuring the dazzling Deafies in Drag with a special opening performance from CSU Alumni performer, Reggie Fava. Enjoy hilarious and high-energy skits, then jump into Drag Bingo for a chance to win prizes. Throughout the night, participants will also have the opportunity to learn signs in sign language related to the LGBTQ+ community, creating space for connection, inclusion, and celebration. This event is all about joy, visibility, and community—come ready to laugh, cheer, learn, and celebrate authenticity in all its forms.
Friday, October 9 | Pride on the Plaza
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:30 PM | Location: LSC Plaza | Audience: Open to All
Celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month with the Pride Resource Center on the LSC Plaza! Learn about local and campus resources, celebrate LGBTQ+ history across culture, and participate in our free Clothing Swap. This is a day to celebrate pride, authenticity, and joy, and support all members of our community.
Want to participate in our plaza event? Keep scrolling to our interest form!
Monday, October 12 | Indigenous People’s Day
Time: 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Location: LSC Plaza | Audience: Open to All
Join us on the LSC Plaza as we spend Indigenous Peoples’ Day with the Native American Cultural Center and El Centro to learn about indigenous connections to LGBTQ+ history.
Thursday, Oct 15 | Theater Thursday
Time: 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Location: Pride Resource Center (LSC 232) | Audience: Open to All
Every Thursday in October, Pride will be showing a movie or documentary to highlight a different part of LGBTQ+ History. Check out our Instagram or stop by the center to see what we are showing each week. Popcorn & candy provided!
Monday, Oct 19 | Memory Monday: Music, Fashion & Film
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Location: LSC 228 | Audience: Open to All
Memory Monday is a weekly walk-through exhibit highlighting different contributions of LGBTQ+ figures throughout history. This week’s exhibit highlights our community’s contributions to music, fashion and film. Drop-in anytime between 10 AM – 2 PM on your own to experience the exhibit.
Thursday, Oct 22 | Theater Thursday
Time: 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Location: Pride Resource Center (LSC 232) | Audience: Open to All
Every Thursday in October, Pride will be showing a movie or documentary to highlight a different part of LGBTQ+ History. Check out our Instagram or stop by the center to see what we are showing each week. Popcorn & candy provided!
Thursday, Oct 22 | Chosen Family Feud
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM | Location: University Ballroom, Lory Student Center | Audience: Open to All
Think you know LGTBQ+ history and our local LGBTQ+ community? Team up for this game show to learn, laugh, and compete for prizes along with performances by two local drag artists, Krisa Gonna and Miss Jewdy. Bring your own teams to compete or enjoy from the audience.
Monday, Oct 26 | Memory Monday: Queers in Politics
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Location: LSC 228 | Audience: Open to All
Memory Monday is a weekly walk-through exhibit highlighting different contributions of LGBTQ+ figures throughout history. This week’s exhibit highlights our community’s contributions to activism and politics. Drop-in anytime between 10 AM – 2 PM on your own to experience the exhibit.
Wednesday, Oct 28 | We Craft It Wednesday: History & Symbolism of Pride Flags
Time: 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Location: Pride Resource Center (LSC 232) | Audience: Open to All
Happening every last Wednesday of the month, We Craft It Wednesday is a space for crafting, community, and creativity. For LGBTQ+ History Month, we will be creating various Pride flag related crafts and learning more about the history of affinity flags!
Thursday, Oct 29 | Theater Thursday
Time: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Location: Pride Resource Center (LSC 232) | Audience: Open to All
Every Thursday in October, Pride will be showing a movie or documentary to highlight a different part of LGBTQ+ History. Check out our Instagram or stop by the center to see what we are showing each week. Popcorn & candy provided!
CELEBRATING LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
October is LGBTQ+ History Month, recognized across the country to educate, provide role models, build community, and celebrate the contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals and organizations to our national culture and civic life. Colorado State University is one of thousands of U.S. colleges and schools that participate in this three-decade-old tradition.
October was selected for this celebration for the many dates significant in LGBTQ+ history that fall within it, including both National Marches on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979 and 1987, which inspired the first observation of the month in 1994. It also falls within the academic year, providing opportunity for education on the history and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community in addition to Pride Month celebrated in June. October was declared a national history month by President Barack Obama in 2009.
IMPORTANT DATES IN OCTOBER
Oct. 14, 1979 – First National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, with notable figures advocating for legal protections for LGBTQ+ people.
Oct. 11 – National Coming Out Day in the United States. It marks the anniversary of the second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987, focused on rallying advocacy and support during the AIDS crisis. CSU has observed National Coming Out Day on the LSC Plaza since at least 1997 to encourage visibility of the LGBTQ+ community, rooted in positivity and celebration.
Oct. 12 – Anniversary of the 1998 death of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, killed in an anti-gay hate crime. This is especially close to the CSU community, as Shepard died in a Fort Collins hospital. His murder brought national and international attention to hate crimes, that eventually led to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act passed by the U.S. Congress in October 2009.
Awareness Days
In addition to highlighting LGBTQ+ history, this month also brings opportunities for all to learn more about various experiences within the community.
Oct. 8 – International Lesbian Day was formed in 1980 in New Zealand as a march, mirroring International Women’s Day on March 8th.
Oct. 19 – National LGBTQ Center Awareness Day was created in 1994 by a coalition of community centers to recognize the important role LGBTQ+ centers play in our communities.
Third Thursday of October – Spirit Day, a global anti-bullying awareness day for LGBTQ+ youth.
Oct. 26 – Intersex Awareness Day was formed in 1996 marking the anniversary of the public demonstration by intersex activists outside the American Academy of Pediatrics conference in Boston.
Last week of Oct – Ace Week was formed in 2010 to raise awareness on the asexual spectrum.
To learn more about LGBTQ+ history in Northern Colorado, check out the Northern Colorado Queer Memory Project, founded by Professor Tom Dunn in the CSU Communication Studies program, and the City of Fort Collins’ resources about Fort Collins LGBTQIA+ History here.
For the history of the Pride Resource Center at CSU, check out our 25 years of Pride history page.