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Photos by Madeline Pado
The tenth annual Rainbows Festival was held in downtown Phoenix over the weekend within walking distance of the Downtown campus.
The festival, which celebrates the lesbian and gay community, took place at Heritage and Science Park. Arizona State University’s LGBTQA, or Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered, Questioning, and Ally, had a booth at the event.
Jamie Tellez, who was running the booth, said their role at the festival was to inform undergraduate students of the “University’s pledge to be an all-inclusive environment.”
Tellez said there are multiple programs available to students, including SafeZONE, a program that includes workshops to inform students about the gay community as well as weekly meetings and a newsletter.
She added that ASU now has an alumni pride group for anyone who wants to be involved with LGBTQA and a weekly newsletter that can be found online.
Jennifer Malone, a psychology major at ASU, attended Rainbow Festival for the first time this year.
“I came out here to support my lesbian and gay friends,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun. Everyone’s very welcoming, and I had a good time.”
Several companies and organizations set up booths at the event, including Allstate, Costco, and Petco. Phoenix mayoral candidate Greg Stanton had a booth as well.
Several event goers said seeing companies at the festival made it easier to decide which businesses to support.
“It’s actually a really good place to go if you’re looking for companies,” said Krissa Stroop, who has attended the Rainbow Festival multiple times in the past. “They support us, we support them.”
The AIDS Walk, which also takes place at the Rainbows Festival, was held on Sunday morning. According to the group’s website, it raised more than $300,000.
Contact the reporter at jamie.killin@asu.edu
