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40th Anniversary of Penn’s LGBT Center

caption: The Robert Schoenberg Carriage House, the LGBT Center’s location since 2002, was named for its founding and longtime director. The LGBT Center is a welcoming space for faculty, staff, and students at Penn. Photo Courtesy of Eric Sucar.

This year, Penn’s LGBT Center celebrates its 40th anniversary. The center is the second oldest of its kind in the country, with its founding director, the late Robert Schoenberg, Gr’89 (Almanac August 31, 2021), originally working out of the Student Activities office in Houston Hall. The center’s current home in the historic Robert Schoenberg Carriage House, tucked away off Spruce Street, was made possible through a gift from David Goodhand, C’85, and Vincent Griski, W’85.

The center prides itself on inclusivity and students, faculty, and staff, often using the patio seating for informal lunches and reserving rooms to host events or work on projects.

“Penn’s LGBT Center has had my back since I started my PhD,” said Ira Globus-Harris, a doctoral candidate in computer and information sciences in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

In addition to providing a safe space for creating community, the LGBT Center has advocated for administrative changes on campus, like creating a map of gender-neutral bathrooms and revamping name changes in Penn’s registration system, which now allows students to insert their pronouns and preferred name, Mx. Globus-Harris said. “Creating positive change at an institution as large as Penn is hard and slow work, and the center does an admirable job,” they said.

“The center holds fast to its social justice beginnings, focusing on both individuals and environmental factors, to ensure Penn’s LGBTQ+ communities feel welcome,” said Erin Cross, the center’s director. “We’ve done a lot, but we still have more to do. We want the center to be a place to study, chat, and celebrate—where you truly feel you belong, no matter who you are.”

“Don’t sleep on the LGBT Center,” said Paul Richards, chief of staff and senior director of communications in the division of finance. “A lot of people think of the LGBT Center as a resource for students, which it absolutely is. But their wide programming shows that it’s also a wonderful resource for staff.”

caption: A 1984 march in Center City, Philadelphia.

Penn’s LGBT Center by the Numbers

  • 40 years in existence
  • 17 consecutive years on Campus Pride’s “Best of the Best”
  • 15% of Penn’s student population self-identify as LGBTQ+
  • 94 faculty members on the “Out List,” a self-selected group designed to draw attention to LGBTQ+ professors
  • 24 active student groups
  • 162 events and trainings held during the 2021-2022 academic year
  • 7 full-time staff members since the center’s founding

Adapted from a Penn Today article by Kristina García, October 10, 2022.

caption: The LGBT Center’s Dance Outside with Pride event in June 2021.

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