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Bargoers flow into Trexx nightclub on North Clinton Street after paying a $5 cover. Colorful neon spotlights illuminate the nearly vacant dance floor as small clusters of adults mingle with plastic cups in hand.

The only thing missing at the 18+ LGBTQ+ night club – young LGBTQ+ adults.

Some LGBTQ+ students at Syracuse University said they struggle to locate and use local resources beyond campus.

“Most of the connections I’ve made within the queer community at Syracuse have been solely on campus,” Jack Williams, an SU junior, said. “For someone like me who doesn’t know the city as well and has been in the same boat of trying to find their place, where do I start?”

The United States Supreme Court recently declined to reopen a case and challenge its 2015 landmark decision to legalize gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. In a November talk at SU, Jim Obergefell encouraged students to practice advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community amid today’s political climate. Yet some students said they still struggle to find allyship in Syracuse.

The city’s LGBTQ+ community also feels this disconnect. Kevin Bailey, founder of Come Out Central New York, said he struggles to raise awareness about his organization’s inclusive events with college students.

“The Syracuse University community is a community that’s been really difficult for me to crack,” Bailey said.

Bailey organizes an LGBTQ+ networking event series called “Guerilla Gay Events,” where local members of the LGBTQ+ community infiltrate a traditionally straight space, he said. In October, Bailey hosted the event at Crazy Daisies, where attendees socialized over cups of coffee on the front porch of the garden cafe.

Out of the handful of people who attended, there was only one student. They attended SUNY Oswego.

Bailey also hosts a “Queer Happy Hour” series once a month at Salty City Market, offering a networking space and both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. Still, Bailey said he notices a lack of student turnout at these events.

As the former assistant dean of marketing and communications and chief information officer of SU’s Whitman School of Management, Bailey said he has more success directly connecting with student organizations rather than SU administrators to promote his community events.

“It was really hard for me to find anybody who would help me get the word out,” Bailey said.

Students also said college time constraints and not knowing where to go make it difficult to explore LGBTQ+ organizations in the city.

Leonardo Diehl, an SU sophomore, said when a friend from SUNY Cortland asked about queer-friendly businesses in Syracuse, he had a hard time answering.

“I literally can only name Strong Hearts Cafe,” Diehl said.

Diehl is involved at Syracuse’s Q Center, a branch of ACR Health that provides support for LGBTQ+ youth. He wants to network with more local queer organizations, but his stacked schedule as a biomedical engineering major prevents him from visiting other parts of the city.

“The university is kind of its own bubble,” Diehl said. “If you’re not from this area, it’s harder to get off campus and reach those resources.”

The LGBTQ+ Resource Center at SU did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Diehl said he plans to explore more LGBTQ+ events on campus after attending Pride Union’s, a student-run LGBTQ+ organization, drag bingo event with celebrity drag queen Kori King.

Remi Geraigery, an SU sophomore, said she found community thanks to SU’s Pride Union programming. However, they haven’t connected with LGBTQ+ adults or organizations outside of SU, they said.

“Every queer person I’ve met has been within the (SU) community and more so within Pride Union,” Geraigery said. “I didn’t give myself an opportunity to connect with Syracuse outside the bubble in general.”

Though Pride Union is campus-focused, President Ainsley Puc said they hope to one day bridge the gap between the hill and the larger local queer community.

“I think in the future, it would be a good thing for Pride Union to expand,” Puc said. “That is something that I have thought about doing, but I think that’s just not like within our reach right now.”

Puc said she hasn’t noticed many students with a desire to connect with other LGBTQ+ members of the Syracuse community, although Pride Union has been asked to collaborate with other local queer organizations.

“That can be something that happens once we really establish ourselves on campus more, then I think it would be good to move out and connect with the community,” Puc said.

But for some, Syracuse is one of the more inclusive cities they’ve experienced.

Harley Moran, who visited Trexx, recently moved from Tennessee to Syracuse, looking for an affordable cosmetology school and an LGBTQ+-friendly environment. Part of his preparation for the move involved researching LGBTQ+ resources in upstate New York, and while scrolling through TikTok, Moran stumbled upon Trexx nightclub.

“I’ve noticed that more here than anywhere includes a lot more age groups in resources than I’ve ever seen,” Moran said.

However, Moran said he’s noticed an apparent divide between the older community and younger members of the LGBTQ+ community. While living here, he said he sees a larger blend of age groups in LGBTQ+spaces.

“We’re all a community,” Moran said. “We all deserve to be in the same spot and enjoy ourselves, no matter what age we are.”

Coming from a rural town where he was one of the only queer people out in his high school, Diehl said the LGBTQ+ community is more apparent in Syracuse. After attending drag bingo, Diehl said he’s interested in attending more Pride Union events in collaboration with other local LGBTQ+ organizations.

“I think especially in times where we see such a rise of conservatism, like right now, it’s so important to show up to events like these,” Diehl said. “It’s so important to support events like these because without meeting community and being here, what are we?”

Published on November 17, 2025 at 11:12 pm