About 50 people joined the Mayo Con Pride event hosted by The Counseling Center at Lehman College on May 11th in the campus Quad. Though scheduled from 4 to 5pm, students, staff, and faculty were having such a good time that clean up did not begin until 7pm.

The pride event brought majors from all Schools at Lehman, as well as faculty from Health Sciences, English, History, Sociology, and Music, Multimedia, Theater & Dance (MMTD). These events are vital to LGBTQI+ visibility and affirmation on campus. Many students, staff, and faculty expressed relief and joy to find a supportive community at Lehman. As Sociology Lecturer Maria Heyaca framed it:

Are we not looking for the formula for our students’ success? What makes the magic happen is to meet our students where their hearts are. Everybody needs to know we are unconditionally accepted. Do we not? This is even more crucial in communities where there is a history of rejection, oftentimes involving the person’s parents. What Crystal Queer means is the difference between validating our students’ existence or making them feel punished for who they are. Making Lehman’s inspiring diversity visible, is an incredibly powerful and meaningful task. One that will for sure improve our students’ performances! We should all feel invited to participate, no matter our identity!

Thank you to The Counseling Center and Campus Life for organizing this fun and important event.