Colton, CA—Yesterday, PRIDEful Club held an event during both lunches celebrating National Coming Out Day.

In addition to recruiting students to join the club by taking applications, members also handed out fun things like stickers, temporary tattoos, and rainbow ribbons for students to show their support for National Coming Out Day. 

National Coming Out Day is an annual celebration in support of LGBTQ+ community members making public their sexual orientation.

At Colton High many students identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. The LGBTQ+ community recognizes individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, questioning, and even more. The list of terms associated with the community is evolving, and includes a wide range of identifications.

Colton High’s LGBTQ+ Club is called PRIDEful. The club meets every Friday at 3:00 pm. The club president is Emily Parada and the club advisor is Ms. Leticia Gomez. 

At the lunch time event, the PRIDEful club’s table was decorated with red cloth, rainbow balloons, rainbow flowers, and things to handout. 

Emily Parada, PRIDEful Club president, was excited about today’s event and is ambitious about the club’s future. “My experience was amazing—being able to sell buttons for my club and talking to the students when they would come up to the stand. Hopefully, in the future, our club will be able to hold activities and events for the students to participate in!”

The club’s fundraiser raised approximately $30 for the upstart club, a promising sign for future fundraising efforts.

“This is so meaningful,” Leticia Gomez, club adviser said. “Everyone was pretty supportive. It makes me happy that so many people were out there for their friends and peers, showing their allyship.”