Millersville University, which annually wins awards for its commitment to diversity, will host its first-ever pride festival.

An event to bring attention to and awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer/questioning, intersex and asexual community, MU PrideFest 2014 will be held 5-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at the Student Memorial Center promenade and patio.

The festival, free and open to the public, is being coordinated by college organizations the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, MU Allies, the University Activities Board and the President’s Commission on Gender and Sexual Diversity.

“I think it’ll be really great,” said Shaq D. Glover, a Millersville senior who worked to make the event a reality.

Glover, a multicultural affairs intern for the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, said he thinks PrideFest 2014 could draw 100-150 people, and perhaps more.

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He said he’d “love” to see Millersville make this an annual event.

There will be plenty of food, including funnel cake, ice cream, hot dogs and hamburgers, fresh-cut fries and pulled-pork barbecue. Among the vendors and organizations present will be Got Dawgs Grille, Tri-County Barbecue and Catering, Carmen & David's Creamery, the LGBT Center of Central PA and the Central Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Live performers in drag will be the main entertainment. Family First Health will also be providing free on-site HIV testing in Room 113 of the Student Memorial Center.

"PrideFest doesn't just serve to celebrate the LGBTQIA community at MU," Glover said in a college press release announcing the event.

"It serves to foster an environment on this campus that is free of discrimination, hate, violence and inequality."