The Story of Queer CUNY

This group was initiated by CUNY Hunter College’s Lesbians Rising and Gay Men’s Alliance (Queer Student Union) in 2009 following an incident involving targeted discrimination by school security officers at our Drag Spring Fling event. After an unrelated altercation elsewhere in the building, officers took the opportunity to kick everyone at our event out, but not other people in neighboring club rooms. When asked what was going on, the officers laughed at us and walked away. They also verbally harassed attendees and members, threatening to “come after” one person “later.” They called us a “freakshow.” Later the same evening, they were overheard to say that they wish they’d have “gotten one of those fags.”

We began this group to find solidarity and to change and influence policies which affect us all. The name Queer CUNY and the inspiration for interconnectedness originated with a series of annual inter-university academic conferences sponsored by CLAGS that ran from 2000-2007.