From Stonewall to Ignatian Q

On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a small New York City bar known to serve LGBTQ+ patrons.

Sadly, this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. During the 1960s, raids were commonly made on LGBTQ+ establishments. Patrons were routinely roughed up and those not wearing at least three articles of “gender-appropriate” clothing were taken into custody.

However, on this night, the patrons at Stonewall Inn decided that enough was enough. After the police assaulted and arrested 13 people, those gathered outside the bar began shouting and throwing small objects at the police. Within minutes, a crowd of hundreds had gathered to fight back.

The ensuing protests lasted six days and are now seen as the first major event in the growing gay rights movement in America, which continues to strive for greater inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people to this day.

Fifty-four years later and 12 miles away from Stonewall Inn, a delegation of 13 Santa Clara University students arrived at Fordham University in service of the same mission.

These Broncos were among over a hundred attendees at Ignatian Q—a conference hosted by a collection of Jesuit colleges and universities to create community, develop spirituality, and affirm the humanity of their LGBTQ+ students. SCU has attended since the conference’s start in 2014 and even hosted the event in 2017.

This year, thanks to Campus Ministry’s sponsorship and partnerships with the Housing Office and the Inclusion Excellence Division, this delegation was SCU’s largest in the conference history—and was one of the biggest groups from the 14 Jesuit schools in attendance.

Celebrating the sacredness within

Campus Minister Elise Dubravec chaperoned the SCU delegation and says that while churches have historically been places of trauma and exclusion for the LGBTQ+ community, spaces like Ignatian Q can actually validate and highlight the meaningful connections between faith and identity.

“Our faith calls us to find the divinity in each human,” she explains. “If we recognize the sacredness of each human, that means we can’t fit that sacredness into boxes or binaries. Spirituality is beyond social structures—it’s transcendent. And I think queerness embodies that transcendence as well.”

This belief in human dignity and sacredness is a core value at Campus Ministry, and for Dubravec, attending Ignatian Q demonstrates Campus Ministry’s commitment to living out its pastoral mission.

This mission manifested most strongly for Dubravec during Ignatian Q’s opening gathering in St. Paul’s Chapel, one of the most historic Catholic churches in the United States. She describes seeing the flood of rainbow flags and queer people gathered along pews and beside the tabernacle as a profoundly healing moment.

“To be there fully in our queerness, not hiding ourselves from the actual presence of Jesus, was just really powerful,” she recalls. “Even if they aren’t Catholic or religious, I hope that the students who attended were able to access that sacredness within them in a way that’s fully celebratory and affirmative.”

For some SCU delegates like Meili Tompson ’26, the welcoming atmosphere at the conference was eye-opening. “I’ve actually never been to a religious service before, but watching everyone else’s reactions when pastors would say ‘we love everyone for who you are’ and ‘bring your whole self to church,’ I realized how radical and how different that was from most people’s experiences with church,” she says.

Faith in action

Between the breakout groups and speaker sessions, the delegation experienced a variety of other sacred moments—from holy pilgrimages to Stonewall Inn to the sacrament of midnight bagels. But for many, the most affecting moments were ones where they spiritually accompanied attendees from other schools who were still struggling for acceptance.

“It was very disheartening to hear that a lot of other schools don’t have something like SCU’s Rainbow Resource Center,” recalls Kyara Garner ’25, who spent a lot of time at Ignatian Q connecting with other student activists about their advocacy efforts. “Without that, where can LGBTQ+ students be their most authentic selves?”

In many ways, Tompson adds, the conference allowed attendees to find solidarity with each other and build lifelong friendships in the process. “It was clear how much it meant to everyone to be in a place where we understood each other and were empathetic to each other’s experiences.”

While many in the SCU delegation were appreciative to see where SCU stood in terms of LGBTQ+ inclusion, many felt inspired to bring the mission and energy of Ignatian Q back to Santa Clara. In particular, Garner cited a lesson from speaker Joan Garry: “Take the baton and run like hell.”

“The way I see it,” Garner explains, “it’s up to me to lay as much foundation as I can at my time at SCU before tossing the baton to the next generation and hoping that they’ll continue improving our school’s community.”

And that work is happening, says Dubravec, who serves on SCU’s new LGBTQ+ working group, which will propose new institutional policies to support LGBTQ+ students on campus. While Dubravec knows there’s a lot of work ahead, she believes it’s a perfect time for SCU to demonstrate its leadership in LGBTQ+ inclusion and advocacy.

“We want students who are exploring their college options to see Santa Clara and see it as an affirming, safe, and brave space,” says Dubravec.