CUNY launches initiatives to help LGBTQI+ students — plus events!

The City University of New York is celebrating Pride Month with the launch of two innovative programs to support LGBTQI+ students with career engagement opportunities and leadership skill development that will help them succeed in a post-pandemic economy. CUNY is also hosting virtual events that reaffirm the University’s historic commitment to the LGBTQI+ community.

“As we celebrate Pride Month, the University reiterates its commitment to our LGBTQI+ students, faculty and staff for their ongoing contributions and tireless work to create safe and inclusive spaces for all,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “These important new programs are vital to opening up doors and breaking down barriers so that LGBTQI+ students can gain the leadership and advocacy skills needed for public life as well as create important connections for their careers, all the while helping to ensure a more diverse and equitable post-COVID economy, one in which all groups are equally valued.”

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Since the start of the Spring semester, the CUNY LGBTQI+ Advocacy Academy has been training some 20 students from around the University to be future advocates and leaders within the LGBTQI+ community. The students were selected via an interview process and the non-credit certification course is taught by Jimmy Vacca, a former New York City Councilman from the Bronx, and focuses on a wide array of subjects that include community engagement, legislation and the role of lobbying, and an overview of LGBTQI+ history.

Last month, the CUNY LGBTQI+ Summer Internship program was launched with a virtual conference — attended by CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodríguez, industry leaders and the presidents of Baruch College, The City College of New York and LaGuardia Community College — to provide LGBTQI+ students career engagement opportunities in the private, cultural and nonprofit sectors. The LGBTQI+ Summer Internship program will officially launch its first cohort in summer 2022 with the recruitment process starting this fall.

Both programs benefited from the support of philanthropist Mitch Draizin, the founder and president of the Concordia Philanthropic Fund, who also participates in the LGBTQI+ Advocacy Academy. Guest speakers for the CUNY LGBTQI+ Advocacy Academy included Reggie Greer, a White House LGBTQ liaison/coordinator; Melissa Sklarz, a New York City trans activist, author and speaker; and Congressman Ritchie Torres, the first openly gay elected official in the Bronx.

“This class is all about developing the leaders of tomorrow,” said Vacca, a distinguished lecturer in the Urban Studies department at Queens College, and an alumnus of the college. “I’m all about mentoring. I’m all about giving students somewhere to go and someone to go to, who has experiences that they can benefit from.”

CUNY’s LGBTQI+ Council, a CUNY-wide committee of faculty and staff, also created a one-stop online tool, the CUNY LGBTQI+ Hub, collecting available resources in one centralized location and sending the message that CUNY is a safe environment in which to thrive. The Council’s mission is to ensure the visibility and inclusion of the entire spectrum of LGBTQI+ students, faculty and staff.

Celebrating Pride

This year’s Pride Month programming includes a variety of virtual celebrations, a film festival, two Lavender Graduations, among other events.

On Thursday, June 3, the CUNY Queens Consortium will hold its Virtual LGBTQI+ Pride Celebration from 7-8 p.m., for the second year in a row in lieu of the annual in-person Queens Pride Celebration in Jackson Heights. The Consortium, made up of the borough’s five CUNY campuses — Queens College, York College, LaGuardia Community College, Queensborough Community College and the CUNY Law School — will feature live music, student performances, drag numbers and cameo appearances from community leaders. This event is open to the public but please register here.

From June 21 to 25, Bronx Community College is hosting a University-wide Pride Film Festival, with a variety of LGBTQI+ themed films including: The Celluloid Closet, a 1995 documentary that explores how Hollywood historically portrayed LGBTQ characters in film (June 21, 5-7:30 p.m.); Prayers for Bobby, which tells the true story of a devout Christian mother who has to confront her faith after her gay son commits suicide (June 23, 5-7:30 p.m.); and All About My Mother, written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, which tells the story of a nurse who eventually finds a surrogate family that includes a pregnant, HIV-positive nun and a transgender sex worker (June 25, 5-7:30 p.m.). To watch please register here.

Bronx Community College and LaGuardia Community College will both participate in Lavender Graduation 2021, the annual ceremonyheld nationwide to honor LGBTQI+ students and to acknowledge and celebrate their achievements.BCC’s pre-recorded virtual Lavender Graduation will premiere on June 1. For information, contact:emalinda.mcspadden@bcc.cuny.edu. LaGuardia Community College’s Lavender Graduation will be held on June 16, from 2-4 p.m. The celebration includes student speakers and performances, and all are welcome to join in. For information go here.

On June 25, Queens College will host the fourth annual CUNY Pridefest at Queens from 4-6 p.m., which will be livestreamed on YouTube. The event will feature drag performances, musical acts, a DJ and dancers. Festival-goers can capture their favorite moments with a virtual photo booth. This event is open to the public. Register here.

Other upcoming events include:

June 1 – Hunter College
Citywide Candidates Take on LGBTQ+ Issues:
5 p.m.

Roosevelt House is presenting the third in a series of 2021 Zoom election events, designed to give young and first-time voters the opportunity to explore policy issues with those running for office in the June 22 primaries. This event features a series of individual discussions with candidates seeking nomination for mayor and comptroller, who will field questions from the Hunter community on the issues they believe most directly impact New York’s LGBTQ+ community.

Participating candidates include mayoral hopefuls Art Chang, Kathryn Garcia and Fernando Mateo; and candidates for comptroller Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Zachary Iscol, Brad Lander, Alex Pan and Reshma Patel; moderated by Erin Mayo-Adam, director of the Roosevelt House LGBTQ Policy Center. For more information, go here. 

June 8 – Hunter College
Candidates for City Council Take on LGBTQ+ Issues:
5 p.m
.

This event focuses on New York City Council candidates who are seeking to maintain the Council’s LGBTQ+ representation as current LGBTQ+ Council members reach the end of their respective terms. Participating candidates include: Erik Bottcher (Manhattan); Marti Cummings (Manhattan); Crystal Hudson (Brooklyn); Kristin Richardson Jordan (Manhattan); Jeffrey Omura (Manhattan); Alfonso Quiroz (Queens); moderated by Roosevelt House LGBTQ Policy Center director Erin Mayo-Adam. For more information pleasego here. 

June 9 – LaGuardia Community College 
Lavender Line: Coming Out in Queens 
3:30 – 4:30 p.m. 

Join us for a history of Queens LGBTQ Activism. Hosted by LaGuardia’s LGBTQIA Safe Zone Hub and the LaGuardia & Wagner Archives. For more information, please go here.

June 24 – LaGuardia Community College
A Seat at the Table: LGBTQ Representation in New York Politics.

LaGuardia and Wagner Archives and the Commercial Photography Program will open the exhibit “A Seat at the Table: LGBTQ Representation in New York Politics.” Through oral history, video and photography, this exhibit explores the personal narratives and political experiences of 14 New York City LGBTQ elected officials in the City Council and state Legislature. Exhibition participants include New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, former NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Assembly Member Deborah Glick. For more information please go here.

Hunter College has also posted Pride Month presentations from previous years at Roosevelt House:

Fifty Years after Stonewall: What have we accomplished? Where do we go from here? (2019)- Former Congressman Barney Frank, who for nearly two decades was the most prominent openly gay member of the House of Representatives, spoke with four Hunter students about the future challenges facing the movement for LGBTQ+ rights.

Ike’s Mystery Man: The Secret Lives of Robert Cutler (2019) – Veteran journalist Peter Shinkle discussed his biography of Robert Cutler, Dwight Eisenhower’s right‐hand man for national security — and a closeted gay man at the center of a gay love triangle. Shinkle spoke with Charles Kaiser, the former acting director of the LGBTQ Policy Center at Roosevelt House and author of The Gay Metropolis.

Remembering Larry Kramer (2020): A tribute to the late playwright and gay rights activist featuring Kramer’s authorized biographer Bill Goldstein, in conversation with Charles Kaiser.

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