In the wake of the state ban against same-sex marriages, passed last November, student groups across campus kicked off Pride Week yesterday to celebrate and raise awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lifestyles.

LGBT pride events are intended to demonstrate to the communities in which they take place that LGBT people exist and should be free to choose their own lifestyle, Pride Week organizers said. Because the LGBT community is not necessarily as visible as other communities based on race or ethnicity, organizers said pride events give them a voice and a forum to show solidarity with one another.

“We focus on visibility and bring up the negative and positive aspects of being in the LGBT community and living without fear,” said Britanny Allen, a member of the Michigan Student Assembly’s LGBT commission.

One important focus of this year’s Pride Week will be Proposal 2, which many in the LGBT community see as a major setback in their fight for full equality and acceptance in Michigan. Proposal 2 amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

It will make this year’s pride week more important than most, said Jennifer Almquist, interim program coordinator of the University’s Office of LGBT Affairs. Because a great deal of energy went into defeating the proposal, to see the citizens of Michigan “putting discrimination into the constitution” was disheartening and a major blow to the LGBT community, Almquest said.

Despite the setback, Almquest said she hopes the Pride Week’s events will help reinvigorate the will of the community to continue its struggle for full equality.

More groups than usual are taking part in the organization of Pride Week, which indicates a greater turnout this year, Almquest said. The groups involved this year include the Hillel-sponsored gay-rights organization Ahava, MSA’s LGBT commission, the LGBT caucus of the Students of Color of Rackham and several other student organizations.

The week’s events will culminate in a rally on the Diag, followed by a mass “Kiss-in” where participants will kiss the people around them. The Stonewall Democrats will also show a documentary called “All About Proposal 2.”

Pride Week has its origins in the 1960s, when it was common in some areas for police to raid bars and arrest people whom they accused of homosexuality. In June 1969 in New York City, gay and lesbians for the first time resisted arrest and threw rocks at police, touching off a series of riots called the Stonewall riots, named after the Stonewall Inn, a popular hangout where the riots took place. As a result, during the month of June, gay pride parades are held all over the world in remembrance of Stonewall. The month was also designated by President Clinton as Gay Pride Month. These events are considered by many to be the birth of the modern gay rights movement.

Before this year, the groups organizing the events have described the week as a “Queer Celebration.” The word “queer” has been used as a derogatory term against LGBT people, but recently there has been a move in the community to embrace the word to turn it into common usage.

After a long deliberation, the groups involved with organizing Pride Week decided this year to drop the word “queer” for fear of marginalizing those in the community who still find the word offensive, Almquest said.