Often times we get the question "Why are you called Pride?", "Isn't that just throwing it in peoples' faces?", and "Why be more proud of your sexual orientation than other things about yourself?"

The answer is fairly simple in our opinion. Historically, prejudiced people have, by default, expected GLBT people to hide their identity, or even be ashamed of themselves. We believe that this is one of the major attitude problems that cause hatred and misunderstanding of the GLBTQ-etc community, so we want to make people aware of this and work to actively change their attitudes.

Therefore, we want to empahsize that our sexual/gender identity is nothing we feel ashamed of. In fact, we are just as proud of this part of ourselves as we are about the rest of the qualities that make us unique people. We aren't seeking to flaunt, showcase, or force our sexuality on anyone, we just want to emphasize that it is not something we feel we should have have to hide or be ashamed of, and we should not be expected to have to hide our true nature from anyone.

PRIDE has two primary goals/purposes that we are always trying to work to refine and improve.

First, we try to make PRIDE a place that welcomes and accepts ALL kinds of people within the UIC community. No matter what your sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, race, ethnicity, or anything else that defines you, every student at UIC should be able to come to PRIDE and feel accepted, comfortable, and safe. We want PRIDE to be a group of people around which you can feel comfortable being yourself, no matter what.

Secondly, PRIDE tries to look at the larger picture. We want to educate people about issues that they may otherwise overlook or ignore. We want to show people the pain and destruction that discrimination and prejudice cause. In short, we want to promote social change so that organizations like PRIDE are no longer necessary for GLBT people to feel comfortable being themselves. GLBT students, faculty, and staff should be able to expect a safe, accepting learning and working environment from the entire UIC community, not just within PRIDE.

In addition to these two main goals, we would like to move into a position to be a coordination point for Illinois GLBT college student organizations by providing inter-organization communication and leadership.

In achieving these goals, we use a number of different approaches:
   - Hold regular meetings to organize, plan, and socialize
   - Plan social events such as movie nights, parties, and concerts
   - Bring speakers and GLBT activists to UIC
   - Participate in national GLBT activist days and events (National Coming Out Day, Day of Silence, etc.)
   - Facilitate attendance to GLBT-themed conferences and conventions
   - Network and plan with other college and Chicagoland, Illinois, and Midwest GLBT organizations