In a town with less than half the population of RPI, students showed up loud and proud to stand, sing, and dance in support of this small but mighty queer community.
This past weekend was the second annual “Big Gay Pride Picnic” hosted by Upper Hudson Queer Alliance (UHQA) in Lake Luzerne, NY. Nestled in the Southern Adirondacks, this non-profit organization stands less than a year old, born out of the need to create a safe space for the queer youth in some of Upstate New York’s more rural regions.
In April of 2023, Rockwell Falls Public Library received harsh homophobic backlash after announcing that they would be hosting a Drag Story Hour. This eventually led to the resignation of the director of the library, targeted death threats against library staff, and the library’s closure for nearly half a year. In response to this backlash and an attempt to still celebrate Pride, several members of the local community came together to throw a small picnic at their local park. Much to these organizers’ surprise, this event was attended by dozens of vendors, performers, and other community members who came from all over the Capital Region to show their support.
Thus, from the ashes of the fall of Rockwell Falls Public Library, UHQA was born, standing in opposition to these growing anti-queer movements, and cultivating a local culture for LGBTQ+ adults and youth to feel safe and loved for who they are. Moved by this inspirational story, students from RPI took it upon themselves to stand behind these local community efforts, and in true Rensselaer spirit and fashion, set out to help “change the world”.
Members from the Rensselaer Pride Alliance (RPA), Active Minds, and RPI Players partnered in several collaborative initiatives to support UHQA and ensure their picnic was a big gay success. Just some of these efforts included planning fundraisers on campus, promoting the event through flyers and social media, and organizing carpools for students to attend the picnic and show their overwhelming support.
Through Active Minds’ connections with local community organizations, they were able to help secure support from the Capital Region chapters of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Additionally, the current Active Minds Vice President, Sofia Flores-Weidner, stepped up to take on a full volunteer position with UHQA, helping support their silent auction fundraiser in partnership with Saratoga Pride, and soliciting event sponsors from the local Troy/Albany area.
The Players went above and beyond in showing their support for this humble queer community picnic, putting together a phenomenal Broadway-worthy performance that delved into the history and meaning behind the colors of the Pride flag, combined with an assortment of fantastical musical numbers. This so called “Pride Cabaret” was headed by Sterling Nowosielski, who performed in 7 out of their 14 songs. No stranger to the spotlight, Sterling had starred as the title character from the Players’ production of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, this past April.
Many of the songs included in the Pride Cabaret’s impressive musical lineup were from hit classics such as Hamilton, Beetlejuice, Wicked, and Les Misérables, just to name a few. All these separate pieces were beautifully woven together in a colorful patchwork production that told the stories, loss, love, hopes, and dreams of the LGBTQ+ community, as narrated by director Joaquin Molinari. The other members of this all-star ensemble consisted of Abiail Fischer, Danielle Za-Cara Pettway, Lorenzo Carta, Mark Belle-Isle, and Mayday Lakes.
From Danielle’s incredible vocal range in “What I Know Now”, to Mark’s powerful baritone in “My Dead Gay Son”, to Mayday’s tearful rendition of “Everything Stays”, every single Player both on and off the stage poured all that they had into making the entire performance a true masterpiece that encapsulated the heart and soul of the queer community. The Players were in good company, with many other wonderful performances throughout the event, including live music, as well as a number of drag performances by the likes of Kimono Dragon, Star Gaga, Stella Sapphire, and Izabell Lee.
If you were not fortunate enough to witness these spectacular displays of Pride firsthand, recordings of all these performances can be watched on UHQA’s YouTube channel, and a copy of the Players’ program can be found here. Despite it raining throughout most of the day, spirits were high, and there was plenty of free food, phenomenal performers, and amazing vendors to help keep the party going. What had started as a simple desire to come together to celebrate Pride, has blossomed into a loving, supportive community that was able to host a festival the likes of which the town of Luzerne has never seen.
Amazingly, this celebration, as impressive as it was, was but only one of the many celebrations throughout the Capital Region this past Pride. From Capital Pride in Albany, the largest Pride event of the northeastern United States outside of NYC and Boston, to Troy’s first ever Pride celebration coming up on July 14th, hosted by Collar City Pride, there have been dozens of events, programs, and celebrations throughout the region happening all month long!
There have also been several Pride events hosted on campus, including an LGBTQ+ Panel discussion hosted by SWE (the Society of Women Engineers) and an LGBTQ+ Movie Night on the ’86 Field hosted by the Mueller Center. Current RPA President Chloe DeNuto put together a wonderful list of these events, in addition to helping to plan rides, shuttle services, and offering free tickets. RPA is also planning to host an interactive showing of The Rocky Horror Show in collaboration with Players during family weekend this coming October.
In addition, the Rensselaer Alumni Association (RAA) and Rensselaer LGBTQ+ Task Force have made many great strides over this past year in offering representation and improvements for LGBTQ+ students, alumni, staff, and faculty within the Rensselaer community. From jointly hosting a table at the 2023 post-game Alumni Festival during Reunion Weekend, to leading work for gender-neutral bathrooms on campus, to RAA Board member Ray Lutzky ’02 ‘14 participating in the Mental Health in the LGBTQ+ Community Panel during Mental Health Week, in addition to serving as the keynote speaker for the LGBTQ+ Task Force’s Lavender Graduation this past May.
Most recently, the LGBTQ+ Task Force, with the gracious support of Jason Hagopian ‘91 ’92, presented the exhibit “Remembering Stonewall: 55 Years Later”, which is currently on display on the main floor of Folsom Library. While the Stonewall Riots are generally cited as the starting point of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement, the facts are considerably more nuanced and even disputed. This exhibit uses archival sources from the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library to show this important history, looking at the who, what and where to understand why the Stonewall riots became the catalytic movement to secure equal rights for LGBTQIA+ Americans.
All of these countless campus and community efforts serve as a testament to the strength of the LGBTQ+ community. Despite the many hardships they have faced and continue to face today, they stand loud and proud to share their stories, not be silenced, and show pride in who they are. It is thus more than fitting to conclude with the following quote from the Players’ Pride Cabaret:
“The final color of the pride flag, Purple, represents the spirit that any social movement must have to persevere through endless setbacks. No matter how hard you fight, there’s no guarantee you’ll make it to the finish line. Queer people have been fighting for their rights for hundreds of years, that fight continues on today, and it will likely continue well past our deaths. But that is no reason to give up, because even when you’re dead and gone, believe me, your memory will carry on.”
Left to Right: Players performing "Seasons of Love" from RENT during their Pride Cabaret, musical performance by The Troupe, drag queens posing with event sponsor Alliance for Positive Health
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