CLAGS: Center for LGBTQ Studies

Founded in 1986, CLAGS believes in free, accessible LGBTQ Studies for everyone. CLAGS is deeply honored to celebrate with the 10th annual José Muñoz Award next Monday, June 15th at 6:30pm

Today we celebrate the legacy of the award by highlighting our past recipients.

1. Angela Y. Davis (2025)
2.Alok Vaid-Menon (2024)
3. Miss Major (2023)
4. Carmelita Tropicana (2021)
5. Cheryl Dunye (2019)
6. Patrisse Khan-Cullors (2018)

The José Esteban Muñoz Award honors an LGBTQ community leader or activist for their advocacy. It is named for the late José Esteban Muñoz, whose work grappled with issues of race, gender, and sexuality.

Celebrate CLAGS’ 40th anniversary by donating today at the link in bio!

Looking for summer reading or a text for your fall syllabus?
Check out our José Esteban Muñoz Award booklist at the CLAGS Bookshop. This booklist features past Muñoz Award recipients including Qween Jean, Angela Y. Davis, Miss Major, Patrisse-Khan Cullors, Alok Vaid-Menon, Jose Antonio Vargas, and Janet Mock.

You can also purchase a copy of Qween Jean’s co-authored Revolution is Love: A Year of Black Trans Liberation, a visual and narrative celebration an activist movement. Please join us in honoring Qween with the 10th Annual José Esteban Muñoz Award next Monday at 6:30pm (link in bio).

The José Esteban Muñoz Award was created to honor an LGBTQ community leader or activist for their advocacy and promotion of LGBTQ Studies. José Esteban Muñoz was a pioneer in LGBTQ studies. He was the author and editor of several books that grappled with issues of race, gender, and sexuality including Cruising Utopia: The Politics and Performance of Q***r Futurity and Disidentifications: Q***rs of Color and the Performance of Politics. He was also a professor and former Chair of the Department of Performance Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He passed away in December 2013.

All books purchased from the CLAGS bookshop help support CLAGS continue our mission of offering free, accessible LGBTQ studies for all! Bookshop link in bio.
Celebrate CLAGS’ 40th anniversary by donating today at the link in bio! Founded in 1986, CLAGS believes in free, accessible LGBTQ
Studies for everyone.

Congratulations Qween Jean for making herstory with your monumental Tony Award win for Best Costume Design of a Musical.

CLAGS is deeply honored to celebrate you next week at the 10th annual José Muñoz Award next Monday, June 15th at 6:30pm

“We are here for the legacy of q***r people. Trans people, we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm...the world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together we can make real, permanent change.” —Qween Jean accepting her Tony Award

Today CLAGS encourages those who are able to give to support the essential, life affirming, and world building, work of Black Trans Liberation. Tonight BTL is hosting “Broadway Is Trans”, a Summer Fundraiser tonight June 8 at 7:30 PM at Judson Memorial Church: “Every ticket sold, every donation placed, brings us closer to achieving our mission. Together, we can create a more equitable, more compassionate world for us all!”

Please join us in celebrating Qween Jean at the Graduate Center on June 15.
Registration links in bio.

Art by .world (slides 3)

On April 7th, CLAGS had the immense joy of launching Sara Ahmed’s new book, No! The Art and Activism of Complaining, with the Feminist Press.

Sara was joined by Roxane Gay for their first ever public conversation. Speaking as bad feminists and feminist killjoys, Sara and Roxane shared reflections on how we can refuse compliance with power, and on why we need to say no as boldly, creatively and collectively as we can.

In the conversation, Sara discussed the need for spaces where you can wiggle your toes, breathe, and gather to refuse fascism, institutional harm, and state violence. CLAGS is proud to be a space that Sara mentions as an example for wiggling toes and gathering for refusal.

We are proud to use our 40th anniversary platform to reject the quietude and acquiescence demanded by the Trump administration of organizations that dare to offer both q***r ideas and belonging to LGBTQ communities. We are so proud to say that in this moment, and drawing on its history, CLAGS thrived. Thank you for helping us expand our work. We added fellowships for emerging scholars. We attracted and sought community collaboration. We launched new academic initiatives. We recommitted to our mission of providing free, accessible LGBTQ studies to everyone.

Please donate today to fund LGBTQ futures and collective spaces to wiggle toes, breathe, and gather for refusal!

We write this note with gratitude and urgency. Thank you for understanding that as CLAGS closes the chapter on our 40th year the next 40 years are not guaranteed. The next ten years are not guaranteed. We’ve seen how fast things can change when others control LGBTQ financial futures.

If ever there was a time to put the wind in our sails and contribute to the financial future of CLAGS, this is it. Donate today at the link in bio.

On June 15th CLAGS is beyond excited to honor Qween Jean- Haitian storyteller, human rights activist, and two-time Tony-nominated costume designer- with the 10th annual José Muñoz Award.
Today CLAGS encourages those who are able to give to support the essential, life affirming, and world building, work of Black Trans Liberation. The organization, founded by Qween Jean, is committed to ending homelessness and food insecurity within the trans population by providing weekly meals, mutual aid and life affirming fellowship while empowering and celebrating the community.
“You don’t want to miss Black Trans Liberation’s
Summer Fundraiser,
“Broadway Is Trans”!!
Every ticket sold, every donation placed, brings us closer to achieving our mission. Together, we can create a more equitable, more compassionate world for us all!”
Please also join us in celebrating Qween Jean at the Graduate Center on June 15. Registration links in bio.
Art by .world (slides 2-3)

On June 15th CLAGS is beyond excited to honor Qween Jean- Haitian storyteller, human rights activist, and two-time Tony-nominated costume designer- with the 10th annual José Muñoz Award.

Today CLAGS encourages those who are able to give to support the essential, life affirming, and world building, work of Black Trans Liberation. The organization, founded by Qween Jean, is committed to ending homelessness and food insecurity within the trans population by providing weekly meals, mutual aid and life affirming fellowship while empowering and celebrating the community.

“You don’t want to miss Black Trans Liberation’s
Summer Fundraiser,
“Broadway Is Trans”!!

Every ticket sold, every donation placed, brings us closer to achieving our mission. Together, we can create a more equitable, more compassionate world for us all!”

Please also join us in celebrating Qween Jean at the Graduate Center on June 15. Registration links in bio.
Art by .world (slides 2-3).

On June 15th CLAGS is beyond excited to honor Qween Jean- Haitian storyteller, human rights activist, and two-time Tony-nominated costume designer- with the 10th annual José Muñoz Award.

Today CLAGS encourages those who are able to give to support the essential, life affirming, and world building, work of Black Trans Liberation. The organization, founded by Qween Jean, is committed to ending homelessness and food insecurity within the trans population by providing weekly meals, mutual aid and life affirming fellowship while empowering and celebrating the community.

“You don’t want to miss Black Trans Liberation’s Summer Fundraiser,
“Broadway Is Trans”!!

Every ticket sold, every donation placed, brings us closer to achieving our mission. Together, we can create a more equitable, more compassionate world for us all!”

Please also join us in celebrating Qween Jean at the Graduate Center on June 15. Registration links in bio.

Art by .world

This year, as we celebrated the 40th anniversary of our founding in 1986, CLAGS hosted not one but two dynamic two-day conferences: Le***an Lives, in collaboration with Sinister Wisdom and the Journal of Le***an Studies, and Q***r-Class Relations, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Toronto. Friends of CLAGS will likely know our reputation for hosting field-defining conferences.

These were CLAGS’ 42nd and 43rd conferences, with more than 1000 attendees coming from across varied intellectual and international communities, including academics, artists, organizers, and independent scholars. The Q***r-Class Relations Conference Playlist on our YouTube channel has over 3,000 views.

For CLAGS’ 40th anniversary, we set an ambitious fundraising goal of $30,000 to support the work that the center does, across free public events, LGBTQ gatherings, and research funding. Please donate today to keep the future in our hands.

Thank you for understanding that as CLAGS closes the chapter on our 40th year the next 40 years are not guaranteed. The next ten years are not guaranteed. We’ve seen how fast things can change when others control LGBTQ financial futures. To hosting many more field-defining conferences. Donation link in bio.

Laura Westengard, Coordinator of the Advanced Certificate in LGBTQ Studies Program, was named a 2026 Pride Trailblazer as Certificate students Elie Al Kazzi and Dove Sandy are recognized by the Graduate Center. City & State’s Pride Trailblazers features dozens of LGBTQ+ leaders in New York who are standing up for their rights and making their voices heard.

For CLAGS’ 40th anniversary, we set an ambitious fundraising goal of $30,000 to support the work that the center does, across free public events, LGBTQ gatherings, and research funding. Please donate today to keep the future in our hands. Thank you for understanding that as CLAGS closes the chapter on our 40th year the next 40 years are not guaranteed. The next ten years are not guaranteed. We’ve seen how fast things can change when others control LGBTQ financial futures. Donation link in bio.

https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2026/06/2026-pride-trailblazers/413846/?oref=csny-homepage-river

https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/building-pride-lgbtq-lives

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️📢

The past year has been a special one at CLAGS as we celebrated the 40th anniversary of our founding in 1986. Our historic year is not quite finished, though. Today CLAGS is kicking off a June fundraising drive. Please donate today to keep the future in our hands. We write this note with gratitude and urgency. Thank you for understanding that as CLAGS closes the chapter on our 40th year the next 40 years are not guaranteed. The next ten years are not guaranteed. We’ve seen how fast things can change when others control LGBTQ financial futures.

In case you missed it, please enjoy these highlights from an incredible year at CLAGS…

Angela Y. Davis helped us kick things off last June, and double TONY nominee and founder of Black Trans Liberation Kitchen Qween Jean will bring us home on June 15.
We were captivated by Robert Reid-Pharr’s Kessler lecture, “Faith”, and compelled by Anne Balay’s keynote address, “Organizing Q***r Work: Gay Steelworkers, Trans Truckers, Feral Faculty,” at the Q***r-Class Relations Conference. For two days in October, we packed 700 people into the Le***an Lives conference!
 
Perhaps most importantly, CLAGS used its 40th anniversary platform to reject the quietude and acquiescence demanded by the Trump administration of organizations that dare to offer both q***r ideas and belonging to LGBTQ communities. I am so proud to say that in this moment, and drawing on its history, CLAGS thrived. Thank you for helping us expand our work. We added fellowships for emerging scholars. We attracted and sought community collaboration. We launched new academic initiatives. We recommitted to our mission of providing free, accessible LGBTQ studies to everyone.

If ever there was a time to put the wind in our sails and contribute to the financial future of CLAGS, this is it. Donate today at the link in bio.