Earlier this spring, the Omega Laser Facility Users Group (OLUG) Pride Networking Night created a space for our LGBTQ+ community to connect with members and allies at other institutions. Hosted by LLE Pride, APS-DPP Pride, and LLE DEIC, this was a great opportunity, particularly for early-career professionals and PhD students, to connect, ask questions, and share experiences to help navigate their respective spaces. Specifically, attendees from MIT and LLE discussed building a stronger collaboration by sharing resources, such as connections with guest speakers, and holding more reoccurring meetings to discuss the climate at their home institutions. Discussions also touched on the crucial importance of having mentors and colleagues who are willing and open to learning, to making an effort to identify issues, and to communicating on ways to best support each other’s needs. Non-LLE attendees expressed being pleasantly surprised by and grateful for the large turnout of LLE Pride attendees and their allies—including LLE Director Chris Deeney, whose on-the-house round of drinks elicited a cheer by all!
