Through Expanding CUNY Consortium, Sorensen Center Builds Momentum in Service to LGBT2QIA+ Clients
Date: June 9, 2022
At a time when LGBT2QIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, queer, intersex, asexual) rights are under attack across the country and around the world, Sorensen Center Fellows are representing clients facing discrimination and harm, and advocating for positive changes in healthcare, housing, immigration, employment, and the criminal legal system. With determination and courage, these lawyers-in-training are helping to shape our future.
Four students in this year’s impressive cohort of 33 Sorensen Center Fellows are focused on protecting LGBTQIA+ rights in New York City: Tessa Blum, Drew Haste, Sema Sarsour, and Clementine Stormes. A rising 3-L, Stormes said, “Being trans in the world means being vulnerable to violence, but it also means having the courage to be oneself nevertheless. I want to fight for a world where no trans, non-binary, gender-nonconforming or LGBTQIA+ person feels frightened to be out.”
2022 Sorensen Center Fellow Tessa Blum points to the site of her internship placement, New York Legal Assistance Group’s LGBTQ Law Project, on a map in the Sorensen Center
Since the Sorensen Center’s partnership with the CUNY Queens Consortium began over four years ago, fourteen CUNY Law students have received funding to intern throughout New York City at organizations that center LGBT2QIA+ people, such as the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Housing Works, and The Chosen Family Law Center. Fellows have also interned at specific LGBT+ projects within broader legal services organizations, including New York Legal Assistance Group, Urban Justice Project, Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Legal Services, and Queens Legal Service. The students’ experiences are captured as oral histories in the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives’ LGBTQ Collection dedicated to documenting and preserving history and activism in all five boroughs. Fellows are encouraged to keep journals, participate in trainings, and serve as mentors to other CUNY students.
The initial CUNY Queens LGBTQ+ Consortium was made possible thanks to support from former Council Member Daniel Dromm and former Speaker Corey Johnson. In 2021, thanks to increased funding from the New York City Council, the Queens Consortium expanded to include more CUNY schools – now 14 across boroughs. Dr. Jacqueline Brashears, Director of the CUNY LGBTQI+ Consortium, said, “We are a growing CUNY Consortium and are so happy to continue our partnership at CUNY School of Law with the Sorensen Center. We anticipate that law students will greatly strengthen LGBTQIA+ support and awareness.”
Fortunately, Fellows and other members of our social justice community are once again gathering in-person, most recently at CUNY Law Commencement ceremonies and Pride Month festivities, to both strategize and celebrate. Sorensen Center Founding Executive Director Camille Massey added, “Through this Consortium, CUNY students, staff, and faculty are now linked campus to campus, borough to borough to advance LGBTQ+ rights. By connecting with amazing colleagues, we can build momentum and create something even more powerful.”
Elisabeth Bernard, a 2020 Sorensen Center Fellow and Common Justice intern, celebrating her graduation on May 13, 2022 with her mother
“LGBTQ youth are some of the most forgotten populations. I will help foster a brighter future and more equity for them and Black and Brown people.”
Elisabeth Bernard