Stay informed with the LNN Daily Newsletter
The pride flag has been raised at the University of Lethbridge as part of Lethbridge Pride Fest 2025. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

Lethbridge Pride Fest celebrated at U of L with flag raising

Jun 24, 2025 | 2:26 PM

The University of Lethbridge (U of L) is getting in on the festivities of Lethbridge Pride Fest.

The flag raising ceremony, which also included speeches from dignitaries and members of the local 2SLGBTQ+ community, took place on Tuesday, June 24.

University of Lethbridge Students Union (ULSU) President Alejandro Figueroa says he was amazed to see a couple of hundred students attend the event, despite the summer break reducing the size of the student population.

“Even though it’s the summer, you’d think it would be a little more quiet, but when an event like this supports people and you see everyone coming together, I think it’s beautiful,” says Figueroa. “It’s so lovely being a student and seeing the amount of faculty and admin and the community just pulling up to the event, that’s just beautiful to me.”

Figueroa acknowledges that 2SLGBTQ+ students continue to face hardships throughout campus and the wider community, but he feels that the university’s community embraces and welcomes them overall.

The U of L and ULSU have a range of programs to support 2SLBGTQ+ students, and he feels the most impactful thing he can do is just to keep his ears and his heart open.

“It’s about perspective and bringing in perspective – I think that’s one of the biggest things we do is that, we’re students, we listen to students and we’re for students, so it’s about bringing in students that can come help support, bringing initiatives, bring ideas and making sure they’re actually heard,” says Figueroa.

He continues, “I think my biggest tool is just to give the microphone to people because, like, I might not know everything, so it’s really about passing the microphone around to people who aren’t heard.”

Michelle Helstein, U of L Provost and Vice-President of Academics, says the university welcomes and embraces people of all backgrounds, adding that she is happy to put on events like this.

“We remain very committed to this event and to the demonstration of our commitment to things that we really value, in terms of equity, in terms of care, community, belonging – it’s really important for everybody, whether on our campus or in the communities we serve, to know that they have a place here,” says Helstein.

The U of L also announced on Tuesday the recipient of the 2025 VandenHoek Schlachter Pride Award.

READ MORE: U of L student wins award for 2SLGBTQ+ mental health advocacy

This was one of three pride flag raisings scheduled for this week as part of Lethbridge Pride Fest.

The first was conducted Monday evening at Lethbridge City Hall, while Lethbridge Polytechnic will hold a similar ceremony at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 25.

Lethbridge Pride Fest will also feature the Lethbridge Queer Historical Walking Tour on Wednesday, a Roller Disco on Friday, and the Pride Parade on Saturday.

The full schedule of events is at LethbridgePride.com

The pride flag has been raised at the University of Lethbridge as part of Lethbridge Pride Fest 2025. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the Lethbridge News Now newsletter here. You can also download the Lethbridge News Now mobile app in the Google Play and the Apple App Stores.