As Bronx residents and elected officials gathered at Bronx Borough Hall on Thursday, June 1, for the annual Pride ceremony to mark the beginning of Pride Month, one northwest Bronx student was among those being honored this year. The annual tradition of honoring selected members of the Bronx LGBTQIA+ community was also an occasion to witness the raising of the Pride flag, which will fly alongside the American flag and the veterans’ Prisoner of War (POW) / Missing in Action (MIA) flag throughout Pride Month (June).

 

On the day, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson reiterated New York’s commitment to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, saying, “New York will always be a haven for all people regardless of their sexuality or gender, and we will continue to fight against violence directed towards the LGBTQIA+ community.”

 

The borough president later awarded Citations of Merit to Tabytha Gonzalez, associate human rights specialist/transgender communities liaison at NYC Commission on Human Rights, Tony Jermin, surface level podcaster and social justice advocate, and Sandra Perez, executive director of NYC Pride.

 

Citations of merit were also awarded to Dr. Viraj V. Patel (the John Wade honoree), an associate professor and co-director of the Montefiore Prevention Program at the Division of General Internal Medicine, and associate director of the behavioral and implementation science core program at Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research and Faculty, a residency program in primary care/social internal medicine, as well as to Analia Santana (the youth honoree/GSA), a junior at Manhattan College, Class of 2024.

 

Santana (she/her) was honored for her youth leadership of Manhattan College’s Rainbow Jaspers Club, established in 2014 at the northwest Bronx-based college, located at 4513 Manhattan College Parkway in Fieldston. Santana was accompanied on the day of the ceremony by her colleague, Elliot Babilonia, (he/they) who nominated her as president of the club, and co-faculty advisor Tiffany French (she/her).

 

Santana told Norwood News she was elected to her club role in January 2023, to continue creating and fostering a safe space and accessibility for LGBTQIA+ students on campus. “We’re a Lasallian Catholic school; part of those virtues is to be respectful for all people and [to create] an inclusive community,” she said. “We, as a club, work to make sure that the school upholds those values, and that people respect those ideas.”

 

Santana said in her role she is responsible for organizing LGBTQIA+-themed events and planning the club’s agenda over the academic year from August through June. She said the Rainbow Jaspers coordinate with Manhattan College sororities and fraternities, with the Dean of Students and the VP of Student Life to host such events.

 

She said she finds it refreshing to be socially active alongside the other clubs and to network with the various sororities and fraternities on campus. “It was kind of like a stereotype that those places [sororities and fraternities] are very heteronormative and closed-minded, but it’s actually the opposite, at least in our school,” said Santana. “Whenever we do host events, especially with our sororities, we get [a] really good turnout.”

 

Santana said last fall, faculty advisors led a task force on campus for LGBTQIA+ students with the goal of addressing their rights. She said the project resulted in all members of the LGBTQIA+ community, including students, being given the option to update their names and genders, as appropriate, on various college documents. Community members were also given the option to have their names and pronouns displayed on their student ID cards and software learning platforms like Moodle and Degree Works.

 

The policies were introduced in February, Santana said. “Professors saw your preferred pronouns and your preferred name, so there was no dead-naming for any students who are non-binary or trans, and had changed their name but just not legally,” Santana explained. Dead-naming is the act of calling a member of the LGBTQIA+ community by a name they no longer use. Often, this is the name they were given at birth.

 

She said the club has also created various resources and information about systemic support available to the LGBTQIA+ community on campus. Santana said the club also organizes LGBTQIA+ Q&A meetings to foster conversation in an academic space. One such meeting called, “Agitating the Charism Lecture Series,” facilitated by Jesuit priest, Rev. James Martin and Manhattan College religious studies professor Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Ph.D., was an open conversation on building bridges between the LGTBQIA+ community and the Catholic Church.

 

In addition, Santana said the Rainbow Jaspers host annual student Q&A events with LGBTQIA+ facility and administration members. She said these events are organized by the Rainbow Jaspers Club executive board and are open to the whole campus population including faculty and students.

In 2021, U. S. President Joe Biden proclaimed March 31 Transgender Day of Visibility to celebrate the trans community across the country and to raise awareness of transgender people. Santana said the Rainbow Jaspers celebrated the annual event this year with food and refreshments, in conjunction with Manhattan College’s Women’s Gender Resource Center (WGRC), while also watching a film about transgender icon Marsha P. Johnson. She said they also discussed different people’s transitioning journeys and what gender identities mean.

 

Santana said the event was part of the “Seeing Yourself in Cinema Series” which aims to create discussion around LGBTQIA+ representation in film. She said the goal of the series is to “explore the many different aspects of the queer experience seen in a wide range of films.” In addition, the club also celebrated Trans Remembrance Day on November 20, a day that honors the memory of transgender people who have died through acts of anti-transgender violence.

 

Meanwhile, Santana views the yearly, flag-raising ceremony at Bronx Borough Hall as a political statement supporting and celebrating Pride. With much of the country divided on the topic of LGBTQIA+ rights, Santana said she feels represented by her local government at the annual celebration, especially “now that there are over 600 pieces of [anti-LGBTQIA+] legislation across the country, trying to criminalize people living their lives.”

 

As the recipient of the sole youth award on the day, Santana’s objective is to continue to uplift and support young people who are part of her community. As the youth honoree, she views herself as someone responsible for uplifting and leading the way for the next generation to come.

 

Other resources for LGBTQIA+ students available on campus include the Manhattan College counseling center, the Lasallian Women & Gender Resource Center, Diversity Equity, and the Title IX Office which is a campus resource to report all gender-based misconduct, and race, ethnicity or other discrimination.

 

Norwood News contacted Manhattan College, a private, liberal arts university established in 1853 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, for a comment on Santana’s recent recognition. The vice president for student life at the college, Ronald Gray, duly acknowledged Santana’s various contributions as well as the collective efforts of the Rainbow Jaspers club. “As president of the Rainbow Jaspers, Analia works tirelessly for the LGBTQIA+ community and is a remarkable student leader,” said Gray. “We’re proud that she is part of our campus community.”

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.