On Aug. 22, the Kennesaw Pride Alliance (KPA) Center held its opening debut at the First United Lutheran Church, establishing a first-of-its-kind independent community hub for students affiliated with Kennesaw State University.
In the past five months, Kennesaw State has restructured its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs into generalized community hubs, following directives issued by the U.S. Department of Education under President Donald Trump.
“We find ourselves here today because Kennesaw State has pushed us aside and has left us at the boundary of our own campus, literally,” KPA President Marisol Payero said during her opening speech. “The spaces we fought for, built through sacrifice and persistence, are now gone.”
To Payero, the shift marked a turning point for the organization.
“But history is not kind to erasure. It remembers. It remembers how queer communities pressed to the margins created art, culture and solidarity in the face of indifference. From the shadows, we created life. From exclusion, we created community.”
With support from the First United Lutheran Church, Georgia Equality and other organizations both within and outside the university, the center became a reality. Attendees described the space as one made for them: a place to express themselves freely and safely.
Noël Heatherland of Georgia Equality, the state’s oldest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, voiced support for the KPA Center and its role in a time of division.
“Despite folks trying to control what you discover about yourself, we still made it to this room. They can try to police us and keep us from knowing and loving ourselves, but we will find a way forward. We always have and we always will,” they said.
During its opening ceremony, the Kennesaw Pride Alliance hosted a celebration with food, drinks and a ribbon-cutting event, officially welcoming attendees to explore the new space and feel at home.
The KPA Center also includes a community space intended for use by other organizations.
“Right now, we are working with a handful of organizations for scheduled programming, hopefully down the line and the International Student Association that we will be reaching out other RSOs,” Georgia Pride Alliance Member Amy West said. “This will sort of be a community space and, or classroom in the future.”
The center features a queer library, an entertainment section for movies and games, and a community closet for attendees to use at their leisure, all of which are still being built from scratch, according to Payero and West.
Located on the church’s second floor, the space was designed not only to mirror the former campus center, but to improve upon it by offering more room, more resources and a renewed sense of belonging.
The new LGBTQ+ center sets a precedent as the first independent space of its kind serving Kennesaw State students: a symbol of community and the power of rebuilding beyond institutional boundaries.
