Pride at Imperial
Category
Officer Trustees
Date
10 jul 2026
Author
Anson To - Deputy President (Welfare) 2025/26
Read Time
4 min
After an exciting month of activity across June for Pride Month, we asked your Deputy President (Welfare), Anson, about their experiences and insights in the LGBTQ+ community at Imperial, and how you can find your people or stand as an ally with us!
Finding your people at Imperial
There are many clubs and societies that queer people tend to gravitate to and find their communities at Imperial.
I’d recommend joining the IQ chat and asking people if there’s clubs and societies they’d recommend, or go to one of the IQ events and speak to someone in person!
Where to find support
Student Networks at Imperial
LGBTQ+ network: Elected student reps working across uni groups to bring events, advocacy and support to students.
IQ: Imperial’s LGBTQ+ student-run society, offering a welcoming space for all students to meet other LGBTQ+ students, enjoy a mix of socials, and make new friends.
Imperial Pride Network: Primarily for Postgraduate students, Imperial staff, and allies. They advocate for inclusive university policies, organise events and provide a confidential point of contact to raise issues.
Imperial Pride Network website
ICU advocacy
We’ve advocated for a dedicated webpage for trans students at Imperial, and worked with relevant student services to help create this resource.
We’ve also centralised information about gender affirming care from the Imperial College Health Centre, so we can know what to expect when receiving care, and any other options you might want to consider.
Trans+ student information at Imperial
Gender Expression Fund
Any Imperial student identifying as gender-diverse, trans, or non-binary and requires financial assistance for gender-affirming items is encouraged to apply for our gender expression fund! All applications are handled confidentially.
Gender Expression Fund information
Community resources
The list is endless but here are a few that you might find useful!
- Mindout: Mental health charity for LGBTQ+ people
- Imperial student counselling and mental health advisory service: Access counselling mental health advice and self-directed support resources, they have also recently worked with MindOut
- Notaphase: Charity for trans people, they also have free gym classes for trans people
Anson’s POV
⋆ Go at your own pace. There are no milestones to reach and no specific things you must go through as you learn more about yourself.
⋆ I was shy to go out and meet people at first, but finding a group of queer friends helped a lot and made all the difference (personally)!
⋆ During a time of uncertainty and backsliding of LGBTQ+ rights, ICU stands with our queer community. Take breaks from the news if it gets too overwhelming, and reach out for support if you need to.
How to be an ally
First time hearing about Pride? That’s not a problem!
Pride is a celebration of people who identify as LGBTQIA+, honouring the history of the movement.
This could be especially important for students who are discovering their identities for the first time at uni, as well as those who are intending to be more open about their sexual orientation and gender identity.
For many, going to uni is a start of a new journey and many new possibilities.
Everyone deserves to feel safe and included at uni and in life. Being an ally could mean staying informed with the latest LGBTQ+ news, looking up words you’re not familiar with, and learning about pronouns.