Housed at LaGuardia Community College, the Institute for LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement and Public History Will Also Host CUNY’s Annual Pride Celebration
The City University of New York today announced the creation of the Institute for LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement and Public History. Housed at LaGuardia Community College, the institute will serve as a CUNY-wide hub to support LGBTQIA+ students, strengthen campus collaboration and partner with community organizations. The Institute was established by unanimous vote of the CUNY Board of Trustees on April 13.
“The Institute for LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement and Public History reflects CUNY’s deep and enduring commitment to ensuring that every student is seen, valued and supported,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “By establishing a CUNY‑wide hub, we are not only uplifting LGBTQIA+ students but fostering inclusion, understanding and opportunity throughout New York City.”
“Supporting LGBTQIA+ students and community members is essential to fostering inclusive, affirming environments where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and succeed,” said LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams. “I would like to thank the CUNY Board of Trustees for their vision and support of this vital project. The Institute will be critical in facilitating strong academic and professional pipelines from community colleges to graduate programs, while also advancing LGBTQIA+ visibility through archives, exhibitions, and public programming. It will play a central role in developing LGBTQIA+ resource centers across campuses and strengthening networks among faculty, staff, and students.”
Advancing the Commitment to Equality
The Institute will build on the work of CUNY’s LGBTQIA+ Consortium, establishing a more permanent entity that is better situated to raise funds and hire staff. Founded in 2017 with support from the New York City Council, the Consortium works to preserve New York’s rich LGBTQIA+ history.
“At a time when LGBTQIA+ communities across the country are facing unprecedented attacks, New York City must continue to lead with inclusion, visibility, and support,” said City Council Speaker Julie Menin. “The creation of this new Institute reflects CUNY’s longstanding commitment to ensuring every student feels seen, valued, and empowered to succeed. I am proud the City Council helped support this effort and look forward to seeing the Institute preserve LGBTQIA+ history, strengthen community partnerships, and serve as a resource for generations of students to come.”
“As our City deepens its commitment to creating inclusive environments for learning, the City Council remains a proud partner of CUNY in the creation of the Institute for LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement and Public History,” said City Council Member Linda Lee, chair of the Committee on Finance. “The Institute will ensure that LGBTQIA+ students are supported and that their experiences are reflected and uplifted as an essential component of the fabric of New York City.”
“As a graduate of the CUNY system and an openly gay man this new center is deeply meaningful to me,” said City Council Member Justin E. Sanchez, co-chair of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus. “CUNY is an invaluable community anchor for New Yorkers of all backgrounds, and I am proud to see them continue to expand their reach and establish a new haven for growth, opportunity, and enrichment for the LGBTQIA+ community. I am looking forward to seeing the impact this will have on the next generation of CUNY students and our city as a whole.”
Over the past decade, the consortium has grown in size and scope, operating on nearly every CUNY campus and providing services and programs, including violence prevention training and LGBTQIA+ history walking tours.
“This is a university that is filled with dedicated people working for the public good, and I’ve met many amazing individuals who labor tirelessly to help our students grow and succeed,” said Dr. Allie Brashears, professor of natural sciences at LaGuardia Community College and director of the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium. “These individuals and centers are the engine driving LGBTQIA+ life, and the Institute should be the fuel for this engine. Ideally, it will also be a place to connect what we’re doing at CUNY with the greater New York community, so that we can amplify our impact. It’s going to take more work, but the foundation is there.”
Impacting More Lives
Marking its establishment as a permanent and independent organization, the Institute is partnering with the Times Square Alliance to host the ninth annual CUNY Pridefest. This year, for the first time, Pridefest will take place in Times Square as part of the Times Square Alliance’s summer stage performances. The event will bring together students, faculty and staff from across the University’s colleges to celebrate Pride Month. The celebration will take place on June 8 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the intersection of Broadway & W. 46th Street and include live music, free giveaways, dancers and drag performances.
“These are exciting times,” said JC Carlson-Ortiz, LGBTQIAA+ programs coordinator at Queens College and associate director of the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium, who is also the founder and organizer of CUNY Pridefest. “My hope is that we impact even more young queer, trans and gender expansive lives, empower them to be their most authentic selves, and set them up to live successful, happy and fulfilling lives! I am confident that my hope will become a reality.”
The Institute joins more than 100 research centers, institutes and consortia recognized by the University. A cornerstone of its work will be its collaboration with key partners, including the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies, The LGBTQ Policy Center at Roosevelt House and the CUNY LGBTQI+ Council.These partnerships will help expand archival collections, support graduate research, inform public policy discussions and foster leadership development among LGBTQIA+ students.
Included among the materials to be housed at the Institute are the papers of former City Council Member Daniel Dromm, a leader of the LGBTQ rights movement in Queens who was a co-founder of the Queens Pride Parade and one of the Council’s first openly gay members.
“It is a recognition of our community in a way that has not been acknowledged before,” said former City Council Member Daniel Dromm. “It is now recognized as a full institute along with CUNY’s other institutes like the Dominican Studies Institute, among others. I am so proud to have been involved in the process by providing funding when I was in the NYC Council and to have participated in the many programs the Institute has already offered. With all the attacks on LGBTQIA+ folks, CUNY has taken a proactive stand to support the community and especially the multicultural LGBTQIA+ students who attend our CUNY colleges. LaGuardia is leading the way for equality and fairness and it speaks volumes about the acceptance of diversity in our CUNY system.”
The Institute will also prioritize community engagement by organizing public exhibitions, workshops, lectures and events — including Pride celebrations — that connect CUNY students with the broader New York City community and promote understanding and inclusion.
“Our LGBTQIA+ students show up as immigrants and non-immigrants, as students with disabilities or allies to those with disabilities,” said Christina Chala, university student engagement programs manager at CUNY. “We are people of all faith and non-faith backgrounds. Each of us takes a distinct journey in order to show up, and we honor that journey by supporting students through an intersectional lens.”
“As the Trump administration ramps up its attacks on the queer community, literally erasing words like ‘trans,’ ‘gender,’ and ‘queer’ from the archive, it’s more important than ever to invest in queer institutions,” said City Council Member Tiffany Cabán, member of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus. “I’m proud of the role the Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus has played in helping to establish this Institute which will engage the community and preserve its history, which has been too often erased, and which the federal government is currently trying to erase. I’m thrilled that it will be housed in a jewel of public education like LaGuardia Community College.”
