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
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.
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.
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!
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.
2025 community events
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.
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.