The vibrant LGBTQ+ culture on campus is heavily touted. However, for many incoming students, finding their people can feel close to impossible.
There are formal resources like the Gender & Sexuality Resource Center or inclusive RSOs, but the real epicenter of the queer community on campus isn’t one you’ll find on official brochures.
To get to the true queer populace on campus, one must venture into the heart of Urbana to find the dorm known as Allen Hall.
Allen Hall has historically been known as the “gay” dorm, and for good reason. Among its ceramic labs and music practice rooms, Allen Hall is home to a gender inclusive housing wing, where students of various identities can find community and safety.
“I dress in a very certain way, and one thing I’ve noticed since moving here is that it’s less normal,” said Fen Lerner, current resident of Allen Hall and freshman in LAS. “In Allen Hall, it’s always normal, and the queer spaces I’ve been a part of here are very familiar to me.”
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Allen Hall isn’t just familiar to those accustomed to inclusive spaces. Kameron Kelly, now a senior in LAS, recalled how formative living in Allen Hall was for them as a freshman.
“I grew up in a small town with very few queer people — even fewer trans people,” Kelly said. “Then I moved into Allen and was surrounded by them.”
The dorm is a place that fosters self-expression, exploration and affirmation. Its residents create a tightly-knit community that Kelly found to be supportive at a time when their identity was transforming.
“In my freshman year, I identified as a man and only presented masculine,” Kelly said. “There were times where I was able to experiment with femininity, and that was encouraged, and I was showered with compliments.”
Beyond the dorms lies the ever-growing house show scene. On a weekend night in Urbana, it is not uncommon to see a line of excited patrons wrapped around the block. Meanwhile, basements pound with the sound of loud bass and sweaty patrons dance their hearts out in radical queer joy at house shows.
“I think the queer scene has migrated to the house show scene because of how toxic the bar and frat scenes are,” said Mallory Benson, co-founder of The Cosmo and graduate student studying public administration. “Queer people are not safe going to places like KAMS or Red Lion – they don’t make a point to make us comfortable.”
Emma Johnson, co-founder of The Cosmo and senior in Media, reiterated that The Cosmo is meant to be an inclusive, queer-friendly alternative to the traditional University party scene.
“We’re not curating this space for (frat guys), we’re curating the space for the queer community,” Johnson said.
The Cosmo is part of a recent shift from what Benson and Johnson described as a “boy’s club” within the house show scene. Like The Cosmo, the house show venue known as GayBar has also become a popular place for the University’s queer community to connect.
Current operator of GayBar and senior in LAS, Danee Kremian, sees GayBar as a venue made to be an explicitly queer space.
“What we really wanted was like, a very specifically queer space where we could go and be openly queer and not be afraid to do that,” Kremian said.
While The Cosmo and GayBar are only small snippets of the growing house show scene on campus, they represent spaces where queer people of all backgrounds can find an inviting, welcoming community.
The University’s LGBTQ+ culture is still alive and well, shaped by the students who fill this campus. For any new student wondering where to start, look for the music, the art or people in outfits that make you smile. The queer culture is here. And it’s waiting for you.
