Rainbows dressed up campus this past Wednesday as Stevens students celebrated Pride Day. Events happening throughout the day were hosted by several campus organizations, including a Pride Celebration on Schaefer Lawn hosted by Torch Alliance and a LGBTQ+ Open Forum hosted by the Student Government Association (SGA). The Diversity and Inclusion Committee (D&I) of the SGA ended the day with their first formal event, Pride After Dark, on Walker Patio and Lawn. The night was filled with performances to enjoy and food to indulge in, all while promoting diversity and bringing light to the LGBTQ+ community.
D&I was started by sophomore SGA senator Nasir Montalvo and “aims to foster an environment on campus where students feel pride in their identity,” he explained. The purpose of Pride After Dark was to create a sense of community and expose students to elements of the queer community that are heavily stigmatized. Montalvo says, “Essentially, the event’s goal was to show drag/queer party culture is not a form of degeneracy, but a way to uplift those on the very fringes of society.”
Amir Mustafa, the Sexuality Advocate for D&I, views the committee as a “physical manifestation of representation.” He felt it was vital for the SGA to have a specialized committee to push for better representation of marginalized students at Stevens, and Pride After Dark was their way of seeing how students reacted to an event of its nature.
In order to ensure Pride After Dark was a success, the D&I Committee went through an intensive planning process. Montalvo worked closely with Eli Trakhtenberg and the Committee’s Advocates over the past month to plan every detail of the night. The exterior decoration on Davis Lawn and Walker Patio was the main area of planning, featuring a balloon arch and colorful lights. Students were also able to take pictures on Walker Patio in front of streamers and balloons spelling out the word “PRIDE.”
In addition to the decorations, the performers were a major part of what made the night successful. Several campus organizations amped up audience members by performing dance routines, including performances by the Black Student Union and Lambda Upsilon Lambda, a Hispanic interest fraternity. The Office of Diversity Education and D&I Committee Advocates were also able to book both a drag queen and drag king for the event. Drag queen Sucia Queen stole the show with her exuberant presence and energetic personality. Working around Manhattan and Brooklyn five nights a week, Sucia is passionate about LGBTQ+ youth and immigration equality. She says, “I can’t stress enough how important education is.” Sucia started her drag career in 2016 to not only express herself, but also to become an activist when she felt it was one of the only things she could do in light of the recent United States Presidential election.
Pride After Dark proved to be a huge success, and the D&I Committee is working on more initiatives to develop the sense of diversity at Stevens. Montalvo is working on the Intercultural Center initiative as well as faculty modules concerning student wellness. An American Sign Language class is in the works of being added to the Stevens course offerings within the College of Arts and Letters, as well as future events in collaboration with the Entertainment Committee. The Office of Diversity Education will also be hosting Safe Zone training events for students, and resources to navigate name, gender, and pronoun changes while students are at Stevens can also be found at the Office of Diversity Education, located on the 10th floor of the Howe Center.
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