LGBTQ+ History Month finishes off strong and teaches about pride from around the world while recognizing queer figures in history who changed the culture. 

The LGBTQ+ History Month committee hosted “Queer Questions Trivia,” on Oct. 29.

Students and faculty spent the afternoon eating pizza and playing “Kahoot!” — a game-based
platform for learning — to earn candy. 

The committee co-sponsored the event with Lexicon, Baruch College’s yearbook and UNICEF at Baruch College.

This year’s theme was “Pride around the world,” which focused on the international LGBTQ+ community’s rights and movements. 

The theme was reflected in several of the 30 questions that were asked during the trivia. Some questions focused on social accomplishments of members of the community.

One asked who the first transgender contestant to compete in Miss Universe was, as well as which country she represented. The answer to this question is Angela Ponce, who represented Spain in 2018.

Anne McDonnell, a student and member of the LGBTQ+ History Month committee, discussed how she chose the 30 questions for the day’s trivia.

“I tried to create questions that were more from the world — what are your rights around the world, what is the history of movements for the LGBT community around the world?” she said.

“We’re not just a Baruch community or a United States community — the LGBT community is international,” she added.

Attendees recognized that this international perspective was presented through the questions and learned about the different ways that the community is accepted around the world.

“[I learned]… there are other facets or other ways to be accepting of at least some part of the community than just the Western way that everyone sees as
limited,” said Shreshth Jain-Hutchison.

Beyond just touching on current international rights, issues and movements affecting the community, the event also mentioned historical figures who contributed to the continual progress of LGBTQ+ rights.

“It’s also history month, it’s not just pride month, so it’s more so learning about the people who risked their lives and did so much work so that we could stand here and like go drink and have fun and have pride,” said Kelsi Johnson, a member of the planning committee.

Questions related to history asked about specific dates such as National Coming Out Day, which falls on Oct. 11, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is coming up on Nov. 20. The day memorializes those who have been victims of violence as a result of transphobia.

“We really got to elaborate on why was this the answer and get more information,” McDonnell said. 

“So, it wasn’t just people in the crowd that learned something, I learned something from them.”