Finding Pride in a Safe Space
Oct. 6, 2014
Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are united in their hopes about the promise offered by Brooklyn College's new LGBTQ Resource Center.
It has been a busy year for David McKay '93, adjunct professor of English, faculty adviser for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Alliance (LGBTA) student club at Brooklyn College, member of the GLBTQ Advocacy in Research and Education (GLARE), and founding director of the college's first-ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning (LGBTQ) Resource Center.
"This new center has so much potential and there is so much that we'd like for it to accomplish," says McKay. "The possibilities are endless, but the core mission is to ensure a safe, welcoming, and informative environment for our LGBTQ population."
The idea for the center sprung out of the need to have a single institution through which related advocacy and activities could be planned and implemented. Last October, the members of LGBTA decided that they would draft a proposal for creating the center and give it to Vice President for Student Affairs Milga Morales to pass along to Brooklyn College President Karen L. Gould for approval.
McKay was invited to attend a GLARE roundtable, where he conveyed the students' interest in creating the center. Stephen Joyner, vice president for enrollment management, was also in attendance at this meeting and, because of his personal interests, realized he had the resources to help move the idea forward.
By January, Joyner met with members of GLARE and President Gould and was granted permission to open the LGTBQ Resource Center as a new office within the Division of Enrollment Management.
In 2010, Brooklyn College's Office of Diversity and Equity Programs, in conjunction with other offices on campus, conducted a survey of 1,097 graduate and undergraduate students which revealed that nearly 10 percent of students identified as LGBTQ. The college saw this as an opportunity to assess the climate on campus and make sure that there were programs in place to address the needs of this population.
One opportunity came in the form of the Safe Zone Initiative, a program that "seeks to improve the campus climate by promoting a positive and inclusive curricular and co-curricular experience for all students." To that end students, staff and faculty are offered awareness training and interactive workshops regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) students and allies.
"The LGBTQ Resource Center will continue these efforts in a concerted and measurable way," says Joyner. "It will bring together all of the formidable talents of students, faculty, staff, and allies for the express purpose of educating the campus about issues that affect the LGBTQ community. It will also operate as an ongoing support system for members of this community."
Brooklyn College's commitment to diversity includes providing spaces for the myriad of identities that can be found on its highly diverse campus. The college has a strict, zero tolerance policy regarding harassment, hostility, intimidation, or discriminatory behavior toward anyone on the basis of their race, color, creed, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, partnership status, disability, genetic information, alienage, citizenship, military or veteran status, pregnancy, or status as a victim of domestic violence/stalking/sex offenses, or any other legally prohibited basis in accordance with federal, state, and city laws.
Senior Charlie Kerr is president of LGBTA. She double majors in political science and women's and gender studies, and identifies as "a proud, queer, transgender woman." Kerr, a Baltimore native who moved to Brooklyn to attend the college, believes the development of her political consciousness is a critical part of her identity and brings that awareness with her to her professional projects. She works for The Trevor Project, the nation's leading nonprofit suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ young people. She is also a media and research intern with CreagerCole Communications, a LGBTQ-focused media consulting company.
"I've never felt unsafe as a transgender person on campus, something I am incredibly grateful for—especially when I talk to other transgender students at other universities across the country, who are often not so lucky," says Kerr, who uses her role at LGBTA president to, among other things, bring transgender issues to the fore on campus. "Brooklyn College and the City University of New York (CUNY) have made enormous strides towards making life on campus easier for trans students in the past few years and I look forward to watching them continue to address the needs of our community."
Kerr says that the LGBTQ Resource Center is the culmination of the college's progress in building an even more inclusive affirming space.
"LGBTQ-identified students at Brooklyn College frequently struggle to find a community of like-minded people and services that are available specifically for them. The center creates a place for all LGBTQ-identified students and our allies to gather, organize, and find the resources and communities that we desperately need on campus," Kerr says.
The LGBTQ Resource Center, located at 1433 Ingersoll Hall, will have its grand opening during the middle of the fall season. However, the center has already begun to co-sponsor and organize events with other LGBTQ organization on campus.
In celebration of National Coming Out Week, the center will be co-sponsoring an LGBTQ Internship Workshop with the Magner Career Center and LGBTA on Tuesday, October 7. Representatives from GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation); the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (New York); and Pink News will be on hand to discuss internship opportunities available to the LGBTQ community and its allies. And on Thursday, October 9, "Out@BC," the second annual "Come Out and Celebrate Mixer" event, will be hosted by LGBTA and co-sponsored by GLARE.
After the official opening, the center plans to launch a number of new programs, including a "Works in Progress" series of talks and the new Queer Book Club at Brooklyn College, a student organized and led discussion group, which plans to meet monthly. The center will work closely with faculty to incorporate academic events related to the LGBTQ studies minor in the women's and gender studies program.
For more information about the LGBTQ Resource Center and its events, contact the center at lgbtqcenter@brooklyn.cuny.edu. To make charitable contributions to the center, please contact the Brooklyn College Foundation.
