This Pride Month, the Drupal Association invited community members to share their voice, story, and perspective through a short questionnaire, an open-hearted call to celebrate who we are and where we belong.
In a time when many in the queer community may not always feel seen or safe, we want to reaffirm that the Drupal Association is a space rooted in inclusion, care, and visibility. Our goal is to spotlight the strength, joy, and diversity within the LGBTQ+ community around the world. Through shared stories like the one below, we hope to reflect the beauty of our global community and remind each other: you belong here.
This is a space where all identities are respected, celebrated, and uplifted, not just in June, but always. As stated in the Open Web Manifesto, the open web thrives on inclusion: everyone in the world, regardless of background, identity, wealth, or status, has a home on the open web.
Today, we’re honored to share reflections from Fei Lauren, an inspiring human, community-elected at-large board member and a Drupal Diversity & Inclusion initiative lead. Their story explores moments of vulnerability, history, solidarity, and global connection, reminding us of the power in simply being seen.
How is Pride celebrated in your city or country?
West Coast Canada is known as one of the best places in the world to live for the LGBTQIA+ community. But it’s a very common practice here to include ‘2S’ before the other letters. 2S stands for Two-Spirit, and it goes first to acknowledge and honor that Indigenous Peoples were here first.
Otherwise, Pride celebrations in many communities are very family-oriented. Face painting is popular, and I’ve also seen things like bouncy castles.
Can you share a moment when inclusion really stood out to you, a personal story or memory?
I am genderqueer, and when I was first exploring neutral pronouns, the idea of putting pronouns in our Slack profiles came up at work. I didn’t realize it at first, but one of the managers I really liked and respected also used they/them pronouns.
We talked about it privately, and then they added their pronouns just before I did. I’ll never forget the anxiety I felt, followed by an incredible sense of relief that I wasn’t alone. I always try to be visible now. Sometimes, it just takes one person to shift that sense of vulnerability and make opening up feel safer.
What’s your favorite Pride-related fact, tradition, or symbol?
I recently learned that until the AIDS epidemic, the commonly used acronym was GLBT. Many medical professionals refused to treat patients who were HIV-positive, but the lesbian community stepped up as nurses and caregivers to provide support.
Changing the order of letters in the acronym, and the many variations used since, is done to honor this act of care and solidarity.
Is there a queer voice, an author, creator, or activist who has inspired or supported you?
I love Ivan Coyote. They have a book of letters from fans and their responses. I don’t cry easily, but some of the letters are so raw it’s impossible not to.
Pride celebrations here can sometimes feel like we’ve lost touch with our history and the ongoing struggle for respect, safety, and equality.
It feels important and powerful to tell those stories and make sure we don’t lose sight of how much work there is still to do in this world.
What’s one thing you love about the queer community you’re part of (in or outside Drupal)?
In Drupal, I love that the community is so global. I have learned a lot about what’s happening around the world. It’s easy to only see your own community and the struggles you and your friends face, the violence and heartbreak right in front of you.
But I love getting to celebrate wins and hold space for people globally. I’ve learned so much from the Drupal community. It has changed my relationship with queer activism and reminded me what I have to be grateful for. It also makes me feel like we really aren’t alone, and that gives me an incredible amount of hope.
Thank you, Fei, for your vulnerability, care, and presence in Drupal community. Your voice reminds us why representation matters and how simply showing up as yourself can make space for others to feel safe, seen, and supported.
To LGBTQ+ and queer members of our community, and to everyone reading, if you feel inspired to share your story this Pride Month, we welcome you with open arms. Every contribution helps build a more inclusive and loving web, one story at a time.
Want to share your own story? Submit your response here.
We also invite you to get involved with the Drupal Diversity & Inclusion (DD&I) initiative. Join the #diversity-inclusion channel on Drupal Slack and say hello! Learn more at drupaldiversity.com/get-involved.
Struggling with repetitive code when using Drupal's AI module for chat operations? Discover how the AI Helper module simplifies your development by streamlining common tasks, letting you focus on unique solutions instead of boilerplate.
Having written a couple of Drush scripts that utilise the Chat operation of the Drupal AI module (e.g. see part 1 in this series of Drupal AI articles) it was clear that certain operations were repeated in each task. I wrote a module, AI Helper, to provide a service that would avoid the need for repeated code.
It made sense to me to separate the code into three stages, each of which will be explained below:
The first stage consists of converting the input into the format required for the Chat request and obtaining the Provider and Model.
Working back from the parameters of the Chat request to the simplest input to the service, the logic was as follows:
What is the Drupal AI Initiative? The official launch of the Drupal AI Initative Drupal AI Initiative has been announced. This initiative aims to make Drupal the benchmark for ethical, transparent, and powerful AI in open-source digital experience platforms. It’s not about slapping ChatGPT onto your CMS; it’s about embedding AI-driven capabilities into the core of Drupal in ways that are robust, auditable, and genuinely fit for government and enterprise. Key priorities include: Trust and Compliance : Built-in audit trails, transparent governance, and flexible model selection (“bring your own LLM”) to meet the unique requirements of the public sector.The future of Drupal is AI-powered. Discover the groundbreaking initiative driving responsible, innovative AI integration to the Drupal ecosystem.
Today we are talking about Automated Testing Kit demo Recipe, Why Automated Testing is important, and How this recipe helps with guest André Angelantoni. We’ll also cover Taxonomy Views Integrator as our module of the week.
For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/506
TopicsAndré Angelantoni - drupal.org/project/automated_testing_kit aangel
HostsNic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Norah Medlin - tekNorah
MOTW CorrespondentMartin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Imagine a marketer opening Drupal and with a clear goal in mind: launch a campaign for an upcoming event.
They start by uploading a brand kit to Drupal CMS: logos, fonts, and color palette. They define the campaign's audience as mid-sized business owners interested in digital transformation. Then they create a creative guide that outlines the event's goals, key messages, and tone.
With this in place, AI agents within Drupal step in to assist. Drawing from existing content and media, the agents help generate landing pages, each optimized for a specific audience segment. They suggest headlines, refine copy based on the creative guide, create components based on the brand kit, insert a sign-up form, and assemble everything into cohesive, production-ready pages.
Using Drupal's built-in support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the AI agents connect to analytics tools and monitor performance. If a page is not converting well, the system makes overnight updates. It might adjust layout, improve clarity, or refine the calls to action.
Every change is tracked. The marketer can review, approve, revert, or adjust anything. They stay in control, even as the system takes on more of the routine work.
AI is changing how websites are built and managed faster than most people expected. The digital experience space is shifting from manual workflows to outcome-driven orchestration. Instead of building everything from scratch, users will set goals, and AI will help deliver results.
This future is not about replacing people. It is about empowering them. It is about freeing up time for creative and strategic work while AI handles the rest. AI will take care of routine tasks, suggest improvements, and respond to real-time feedback. People will remain in control, but supported by powerful new tools that make their work easier and faster.
The path forward won't be perfect. Change is never easy, and there are still many lessons to learn, but standing still isn't an option. If we want AI to head in the right direction, we have to help steer it. We are excited to move fast, but just as committed to doing it thoughtfully and with purpose.
The question is not whether AI will change how we build websites, but how we as a community will shape that change.
Drupal already has a head start in AI. At DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, I showed how Drupal's AI tools help a site creator market wine tours. Since then, we have seen a growing ecosystem of AI modules, active integrations, and a vibrant community pushing boundaries. Today, about 1,000 people are sharing ideas and collaborating in the #ai channel on Drupal Slack.
At DrupalCon Atlanta in March 2025, I shared our latest AI progress. We also brought together key contributors working on AI in Drupal. Our goal was simple: get organized and accelerate progress. After the event, the group committed to align on a shared vision and move forward together.
Since then, this team has been meeting regularly, almost every day. I've been working with the team to help guide the direction. With a lot of hard work behind us, I'm excited to introduce the Drupal AI Initiative.
The Drupal AI Initiative builds on the momentum in our community by bringing structure and shared direction to the work already in progress. By aligning around a common strategy, we can accelerate innovation.
The Drupal AI Initiative is closely aligned with the broader Drupal CMS strategy, particularly in its focus on making site building both faster and easier. At the same time, this work is not limited to Drupal CMS. It is also intended to benefit people building custom solutions on Drupal Core, as well as those working with alternative distributions of Drupal.
To support this initiative, we are announcing:
For more details, read the full announcement on the Drupal AI Initiative page on Drupal.org.
Some of the founding members of the Drupal AI initiative during our launch call on Google Hangouts.
Over the past few months, we've invested hundreds of hours shaping our AI strategy, defining structure, and taking first steps.
I want to thank the founding members of the Drupal AI Initiative. These individuals and organizations played a key role in getting things off the ground. The list is ordered alphabetically by last name to recognize all contributors equally:
These individuals, along with the companies supporting them, have already contributed significant time, energy, and funding. I am grateful for their early commitment.
I also want to thank the staff at the Drupal Association and the Drupal CMS leadership team for their support and collaboration.
I'm glad the Drupal AI Initiative is now underway. The Drupal AI strategy is published, the structure is in place, and multiple work tracks are open and moving forward. We'll share more details and updates in the coming weeks.
With every large initiative, we are evolving how we organize, align, and collaborate. The Drupal AI Initiative builds on that progress. As part of that, we are also exploring more ways to recognize and reward meaningful contributions.
We are creating ways for more of you to get involved with Drupal AI. Whether you are a developer, designer, strategist, or sponsor, there is a place for you in this work. If you're part of an agency, we encourage you to step forward and become a Maker. The more agencies that contribute, the more momentum we build.
Update: In addition to the initiative's founding members, Amazee.io already stepped forward with another commitment of USD $20,000 and one full-time contributor. Thank you! This brings the total operating budget to USD $120,000. Please consider joining as well.
AI is changing how websites and digital experiences are built. This is our moment to be part of the change and help define what comes next.
Join us in the #ai-initiative channel on Drupal Slack to get started.