Queering Divinity: LGBTIQ life at Yale

One of the biggest worries among incoming students is how they will fit in, if they will find their place and voice (anyone feeling that yet?) Things get even more complicated for LGBTIQ folks, for whom questions of acceptance play a major role in this. We are here to tell you that not only is YDS a welcoming and affirming place for LGBTIQ folks, but is oft reputed as the "gayest" graduate/professional school at Yale. Not only are queer-identified folks numerous, but play a central role in student life, both at YDS and the University more broadly. Here are a few of the ways to get involved (moving from YDS-specific outwards).

The Coalition

Founded in 1979 from a merger of the gay and the lesbian groups on campus, the LGBTIQ Coalition strives to provide an environment at YDS in which students can frankly discuss issues of sexuality and how they intersect with their academic pursuits, ministries, theologies, and above all, their lived experience at YDS. The numerous identities referenced by the acronym and the various purposes for which students come to YDS give the Coalition a complex composition, which finds expression in academic pursuits (reading groups, talks), occasions for worship, social events, and institutional engagement at YDS. The Coalition endeavors to work with other queer groups on campus as well as in the community more broadly. Their activities at YDS serve not only to support one another, but are also done with the aim of engaging and educating fellow students, who will serve in congregations and classrooms which will be as composite as our YDS community currently is, if not more. In doing so, the Coalition hopes that they can act together to make the church and the academy more reflective on issues of sexuality, and thus more appreciative of the unique ways in which members of the LGBTIQ community enrich them.

The Coalition sponsors several main events during the academic year:

• Coming-out Week: every year in October, the Coalition hosts a series of events focused on queer identities, ranging from workshops to film screenings. The week culminates in the LGBTIQ Eucharist in Marquand Chapel on Friday, which is known for being one of the most powerful Eucharists of the whole year.
• Big Thing in the Spring/Gayla: this event has gone through many names and styles (from a progressive dinner to a dance party), but is a major fundraiser for a local LGBTIQ non-profit that takes place in the last weeks of the Spring semester.
• Big Gay Brunch: a rotating brunch for LGBTIQ folks and allies that happens on a regular basis.
• Advocacy: advocacy takes many different forms in the Coalition, this past year ranging from a  counter-boycott of the Girl Scouts by helping to sell cookies, working with the administration for gender-inclusive single-stall bathrooms,  advocating for queer faculty in search committees and for LGBTIQ inclusion in coursework.

Two years ago, the Coalition put together an "It Gets Better" video, which everyone should watch, but especially any of you who are LGBTIQ for a sense of the welcoming and affirming environment at YDS.

Queer Grads list

There isn't too much to say about this, except that if you are interested in all-graduate/professional school LGBTIQ events, you should subscribe to the Queer Grads mailing list. Most of the events advertised are social, which means it is a great way to meet other LGBTIQ folks outside of the YDS community. 


Outland!

Outland is the all-graduate/professional student group at Yale. Much of what they do is advertised on the Queer Grads list, but a major event you should have on your radar is the LGBTIQ grad/prof student pizza party that usually happens at the Hall of Graduate Studies right before classes start.


GPSCY

Every Thursday night, GPSCY hosts a dance party in the Ballroom upstairs. But on the first Thursday, the dance party "transforms" into the Big Gay Party, a specifically LGBTIQ event (though, let's be real, every other Thursday night might as well be "gay," too.) They have $2 well drinks until 11pm and great music to shake your groove thang to.
 

Yale Office of LGBTQ Resources

Though Yale is extremely decentralized, the LGBTQ office is one of the only hubs that manages to connect each school's disparate LGBTIQ organizations. The Office serves a couple of major functions: first to organize campus-wide events for the LGBTIQ population, and second to advocate for and counsel those working against discrimination or marginalization.

On the first front, the Office has two major events: Trans Week (held in November) and Pride Week (held in April). For each of these events, there are seminars, panels, speakers, worship services, etc. that work around the given theme for the week. They also have the best working calendar of campus-wide events of any sort that we've ever seen at Yale. On the second, they offer one-on-one meetings for support, help offer development and facilitation for conversations, offer leadership roundtables, and provide co-sponsorship for LGBTIQ-related events inside or outside of Trans and Pride weeks.


New Haven Pride Center

The NHPC is geared not towards Yale, but the rest of the LGBTIQ community in New Haven. Because New Haven is generally a LGBTIQ-friendly place and most people in the area are affiliated with one of the universities in the area, the NHPC is rather small (we hadn't heard of it until we started Googling.) Nevertheless, they probably have the best resource guide to LGBTIQ life in New Haven rather than just at Yale.


Bars

168 York St.

Finally, and necessarily, there are a few nightlife options that are specifically aimed at the LGBTIQ population in New Haven.

• 168 York Street — this is easily the best known and most attended of all the gay bars in New Haven, largely because of its proximity to Yale's campus. It's relatively standard fare as it goes, with some drag shows, leather/bear nights, etc. It is also popular across the board age-wise, so don't expect it to be an entirely 20-something kind of place. They also are a café, and serve dinner and Sunday brunch.
• Partners — the somewhat edgier cousin of 168; it's further from campus and not as well known. It also has regular bear/leather nights, dancers, etc. A major plus, is that the last Saturday of the month is Ladies' Night, which is a major draw.
• Center Street (29 Center St.) — not a gay bar, but they have "alternative" (read, gay) night on Fridays, which tends to attract a younger (or younger looking) crowd than the other two. This is a club rather than a bar, so come expecting to dance.