SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — October is LGBTQ+ History Month, and at Syracuse University, students are using the month not only to reflect on the community’s history but also to talk about what it means to be LGBTQ+ today.
Students gathered in the Schine Student Center on Oct. 1 to celebrate the university’s LGBTQ+ History Month kickoff as its LGBTQ+ Resource Center celebrates its 25th anniversary.
While students at the event described Syracuse as a welcoming environment, they also pointed to national policy and legal debates involving gender identity, gender-affirming healthcare and other protections affecting the LGBTQ+ community.
“Obviously the world right now is not as welcoming, but I’m really appreciative of the safe community that Syracuse makes,” Kenzie Morton said.
Morton works as a student assistant at the LGBTQ+ Resource Center and said her experience at Syracuse has been positive.
“As a lesbian, I’ve never had any problems here, and I’m really grateful for that. I had some in high school, but I would say it’s really welcoming [here],” Morton added.
Those experiences come at a time when the majority of LGBTQ+ youth say national debates affect them personally. A Trevor Project survey released this year found nine in 10 LGBTQ+ young people said “anti-LGBTQ+ laws, policies and debates caused them stress or anxiety.”
For Vivi Paulino, another student assistant at the Resource Center who identifies as nonbinary, those conversations hit close to home.
“A lot of our trans brothers and sisters right now are very much under attack,” Paulino said. “It’s been very painful to see because nonbinary is under the trans umbrella, so I’m in that community too.”
Paulino added that watching the treatment of transgender people nationally has been frustrating, but that their experience at Syracuse has been different.
“Overall, being an LGBTQ+ student at Syracuse has been a very great experience for me personally,” Paulino said. “I’ve met so many great people like Kenzie, my coworkers, my bosses and everyone, so it’s definitely been very welcoming. My friends here have been very supportive of me and the fact that I’m nonbinary and bisexual. That’s very special, and I’m very thankful.”
LGBTQ+ History Month also gives students an opportunity to put those present-day experiences in historical context. Kalina Weber, the vice president of Syracuse University’s Pride Union, said SU’s Resource Center has encouraged students to explore archives and learn about LGBTQ+ history at Syracuse.
“It’s just a really great time of reflection,” Weber said. “I think that it’s important just reflecting and looking at our shared history together here and trying to incorporate those things into the present day.”
For Landon Nance, the president of SU Pride Union, that history and the issues facing the community today does not mean that every LGBTQ+ space has to center on serious conversations. Nance said part of Pride Union’s role is as simple as giving students a place to enjoy themselves amidst national scrutiny.
“Part of our event programming is to make it a space where people can just have fun and not worry about what’s happening on the outside of our event,” Nance said. “I tell people when we table and promote our events that we are doing the best escapism we can, and we’re just having fun for those two hours and you can let it all go.”
Nance said her club works closely with the Resource Center, which she said provides students with another place where they can feel represented and heard.
“They have our best interest in mind,” Nance said. “We have a lot of conversations with them because they are concerned about what the students think. They want to know what the general student sentiment is, and they are actually genuinely interested in what is happening in student life.”
As the Resource Center celebrates 25 years at Syracuse, students reiterate that spaces like it continue to provide opportunities to find community, reflect on the past and talk openly about what they experience now.