With San Diego State University President Stephen Weber and representatives from Sen. Christine Kehoe and Rep. Susan Davis’ offices on hand, San Diego LGBT Pride kicked off its month-long celebration Tuesday at SDSU and raised a rainbow flag to fly on the college campus during July.

The campus, which faced scrutiny for hate speech appearing in a campus publication in November, was a symbolic location for the official start to the Pride festivities.

“This is a symbolic place,” said January Riddle, co-chair of the San Diego LGBT Pride board of directors. “What better place [to kick off Pride] than a university campus; a beacon of free thought, learning, diversity and understanding?”

SDSU – which made national news for a large-scale drug bust that netted 96 arrests in May – has made strides to become a more inclusive campus prior to, and following, a comment in a student-run newspaper calling fraternity and sorority coordinator Doug Case a “flaming fag.”

In December, hours after a Stop the Hate Rally attended by members of the administration, faculty, staff, student body and Greek community, a student who attended the rally was attacked by someone who called her a “faggot lover” before fleeing.

In March, the campus added gender identity and gender expression to its protected classes in anti-discrimination policies. The campus is also launching a Safe Zones program to identify a network of allies to assist GLBTQ students, members of administration, staff and faculty. The university is also creating a minor in GLBT studies and courses in GLBT history.

“We value diversity and are committed to expanding the meaning of diversity,” Weber said to the crowd of more than 50 people gathered Tuesday to celebrate Pride’s kickoff. “Diversity is what makes this nation great. This is not only a great day for San Diego State, but for the human family.”

Also on hand for Tuesday’s flag-raising ceremony was Bill Eadie, professor of journalism and secretary of the University Senate, who said the hate incidents this school year reflected the views of a small number of people.

“There is support at all levels of the university,” Eadie said. “We regret the incidents that occurred, but we are taking steps, as President Weber mentioned, with our Safe Zones program and others, to try to ensure the campus stays welcoming to diversity, which adds to everyone’s education.”

Bryan Morelock, the LGBT Student Union representative to the Associated Students, praised the administration for supporting Tuesday’s ceremony, and Riddle commended allies, including Weber and Associated Students President James Poet for speaking.

“The administration could have created a lot of bureaucratic red tape to prevent us from hosting the ceremony,” Morelock said. “Instead, we’ve been welcomed.”

“I taught at San Diego State 25 years ago and today I see the president of the Associated Students [Poet] standing up to speak on our behalf,” Riddle said. “Twenty-five years ago, I never would have thought the president of the Associated Students would be here and be proud to make a statement. We’ve come an awfully long way.”

The San Diego LGBT Pride celebration, which includes human rights rallies, parties, concerts and an evening baseball game outing at Petco Park, hosts events during the month of July. The Pride parade is scheduled at 11 a.m. July 19, and the two-day festival in Balboa Park opens July 19 at noon and closes at 10 p.m. On Sunday, the festival is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Comedian Kathy Griffin is headlining the festival Saturday. For more information on the Pride celebration, visit www.sandiegopride.org.

The theme of this year’s parade and festival is “Live, Love, Be.”

“The theme of this year’s celebration, ‘Live, Love, Be’ brings to mind a world of people free to live their true lives, love who they choose and be who they are,” Riddle said. “The flag is a symbol of hope that we see the realization of San Diego Pride, and the vision of a world free of prejudice and bias.”