Pride

A student in an RRU Pride t-shirt stands in front of an rainbow crosswalk being painted on campus.

Photo by Phil McLachlan/The Discourse

Our Pride celebration is a key aspect of our human rights and accessibility work at RRU.

To mark Pride 2025, we're celebrating with online and in-person events throughout June and July. Join us!

2025 Royal Roads events

Philip Pride event poster

Leading with Pride: A conversation with RRU President Steenkamp

June 26, from 11:00 a.m. to noon, at the Centre for Dialogue 4th floor Sequoia Building and online.

What does it mean to be a gay university president at a time when inclusion initiatives and 2SLGBTQI+ rights are increasingly under threat in higher education? What’s at risk when leaders stop showing up visibly and vocally in support of inclusion?  

In conversation with Associate Director of Human Rights and Accessibility Alejandro Campos-Garcia, Royal Roads' Dr. Philip Steenkamp will reflect on identity and leadership in his role as a university president and what gives him hope. 

Everyone is welcome to join us for this frank, thought-provoking and timely discussion.
 

Register 

PRIDE SOCIAL 2025

RRU Pride Social

July 3, from 11:45 to 1:30 p.m., Sherman Jen Building – Courtyard and Room 106

All members of the RRU Community are invited to celebrate RRU Pride during our On-Campus Pride Social for refreshments, live entertainment and interactive tables hosted by RRU Proud and the Diversity Action Group.
 

Learn more

Pride parade 2025

Victoria Pride Parade: walk, ride & roll with RRU!

RRU is once again participating in the annual Victoria Pride Parade July 6.

All students, staff, faculty, family and friends are welcome to join the parade contingent.

More details coming soon!


Learn more

Explore the RRU Library's displays

This year’s display features books, films and essays exploring and celebrating 2SLGBTQIA+ people and their experiences. Resources touch on 2SLGBTQIA+ influence on popular media and in education and leadership. They also highlight history and rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ people and their experiences in businesses and workplaces, as well as modern queer experiences. 

In-library and digital display available for viewing. 


Visit the digital display

2025 community events

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RRU Pride Spotify Playlist

Feel the love? Get dancing! Want to add something? Tell us in the comments here.

RRU Proud

RRU Proud is a network of students, faculty and staff who create safety and inclusivity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, queer and questioning people in the Royal Roads community.

LGBTQ2S+ people and allies are invited to connect, get support and share resources with each other.

Learn more or get involved with RRU Proud.

Pride at Work

Royal Roads offers a safe and inclusive workplace for LGBTQ2S+ community members.

We have partnered with Pride at Work Canada to offer training and resources that celebrate all employees regardless of gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation.

2024 Pride keynote speakers

Dr. Lucy Fowler: Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer (Métis) Identities and Experiences

Dr. Lucy Fowler, a Métis scholar and member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, discusses Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer identities, and the ways these are taken up and explored across Canada. Dr. Fowler introduces several research projects that she is engaged with, centering on Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer experiences, and offer recommendations for institutional leadership in creating environments that are welcoming to Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer students, faculty and staff. 

*Please note there are photographic images containing nudity.

Michael V. Smith: This Body is a Gift

In this art-based lecture, Michael V. Smith presents a retrospective of his body-based creative work. Smith has made a career examining how bodies are read, misread or re-read. This Body Is a Gift explores ways in which art can (de)construct gender as a functional tool for undoing, unseeing, unbecoming. Inspired by the work of artists Leigh Bowery and Cindy Sherman, Michael V. Smith up-ends the everyday to complicate what is a freak and who is familiar.

2024 message from President Steenkamp

Today marks the beginning of Pride Week in Victoria — a festival of inclusion and the rich diversity within the 2SLGBTQI+ community. To celebrate, I'm sharing a special video looking back at how we’ve celebrated Pride together on campus over the years.

RRU celebrates Pride 2021 by painting rainbow crosswalks

Do we still need gay pride? A message from President Steenkamp.