The Associated Student Government passed legislation supporting the Pride House — an initiative for LGBTQ+ affinity housing on campus — on May 15 in a milestone for the LGBTQ+ student community on campus.
The discussions toward implementing a Pride House have been ongoing for around five years, said Gender and Sexuality Resource Center Director Matt A.
Weinberg junior Mattie Poelsterl, the advocacy and education head of the Society of Transgender and Non-Binary Students, said there are around 200 trans and non-binary students at NU, according to a 2021 survey. She added that around a quarter of the undergraduate student body identifies as LGBTQ+.
Following the removal of the Phi Mu Alpha fraternity, which opened a space to be converted, the Pride House discussion resumed, A said.
Weinberg junior and Rainbow Alliance External President Zoryah Gray said passing the legislation in ASG signals strong support for Pride House from the Northwestern community.
“(The ASG vote is) like a stepping stone,” Gray said. “It then becomes more legitimized in the eyes of the upper administration.”
A said they are in the “talking stage” of creating the Pride House, but there is no specific scope or timeline for the project yet.
A and Poelsterl said they are both hopeful for the Pride House to be available starting Fall Quarter 2025, as it is currently not feasible to incorporate the Pride House into plans for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Gray said the Pride House would provide LGBTQ+ students on campus with a “safe, affirming” space as opposed to traditional dorms, where filing complaints of anti LGBTQ+ discrimination can often force students to out themselves to housing personnel such as residential assistants, she said.
Gray said she came out right before college and searched for a community on campus, which led her to the Rainbow Alliance. She would have appreciated a Pride House when she started at NU, she added.
The University has expanded its all-gender housing options in recent years, but the system still has issues, Poelsterl said. She cited an incident she heard, in which a trans student was paired with a cis woman and had to deal with “ugly comments” about being predatory.
“Those issues do need to be fixed with Residential Services, but the Pride House would at least be able to alleviate it for some students and … serve as another place on campus for queer community to be built,” Poelsterl said.
For trans students, communal living in dorms can be uncomfortable and possibly unsafe from potential acts of discrimination and harassment, Poelsterl said.
“There are a lot of issues of being a trans person in Northwestern, and just in general, being a trans person,” she said. “Having community support is a really important thing in order to get through that.”
Since he came to NU, A said he has been trying to tend to the needs of LGBTQ+ students by implementing accommodations such as sharps disposal containers for hormone-replacement therapy needles and all-gender bathrooms.
Now, they are looking toward creating something bigger.
“We know that finding and connecting with a community has so much correlation to student success,” A said. “We want students to be building communities in the places that they live, if that’s something that they crave.”
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