Updated: Jan. 27, 2020 at 5:44 p.m.

A group of students is banding together to build a community for LGBTQ students of color through a new student organization.

Espie, a junior who requested to go by their nickname because they have not come out to their family, said they founded the Queer and Trans People of Color Association late last semester to provide a space for LGBTQ students of color to connect with one another and conduct community service around D.C. They said the group allows members to embrace their racial, gender and sexual identities, which Espie said was difficult to find in other LGBTQ student organizations.

“It just didn’t feel like I could really be me,” Espie said. “I felt like I was only pieces of me and that I had to put on a different version of myself for every different other organization I was a part of.”

Espie, the student organization’s events manager, said the group held a finals “de-stress” night last month to help members get to know one another. The group has recruited about 19 members so far through word of mouth, fliers and Instagram, they said.

Moving forward, they said group members are planning to host events, like trivia and movie nights focused on the history of LGBTQ people of color. Members also hope to partner with student organizations like Allied in Pride and GW Balance to plan future activities like a dance night.

They said QTPOCA has allowed them to form meaningful friendships, something they struggled with since coming to the District from New Mexico.

“I’ve never had a family like this before, especially in terms of friends,” Espie said. “And this community, specifically as a queer people of color community, is all about support because we need to have one another’s backs when it feels like there’s so few of us. Even if there isn’t, when there’s so few spaces for us to exist with one another.”

Khala Antoine, a senior and QTPOCA’s vice president, said she joined the student organization because she didn’t feel like she had a space to express all facets of her identity.

“I just felt like this space was very much important and very needed, especially because I didn’t have this type of space growing up,” Antoine said.

She said Center for Student Engagement staff asked the group to revise its presentation when it applied to become a new student organization last semester. Antoine said QTPOCA leaders added more photos of the queer and transgender students of color community to the presentation, and the CSE approved the organization the second time leaders presented at the beginning of December.

She added that the group plans to hold two major events each academic year, including an LGBTQ prom, and participate in community service around the District with the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community.

Antoine added that she wants the group to provide a space for LGBTQ students of color to discuss the racism and homophobia within the community because some other queer spaces do not focus on the intersectionality of the two issues.

“In the black community, we do in general deal with a lot of homophobia,” she said. “And being in the queer community, we also deal with a lot of racism as well. So either way, it’s like we deal with some type of struggle.”

Ven, the president of QTPOCA who requested to be referred to by a nickname for privacy, said she worked with group leaders throughout the fall to help establish the organization. She said she wants the group to help LGBTQ students of color share their experiences with one another.

“It’s opened me up to different people with different stories and different backgrounds,” Ven said. “It’s been a good way to reinforce the idea that GW is such a diverse campus. And we have so many people here who are actively seeking a community where they can see themselves.”

She said the group will continue to recruit members through word of mouth and collaboration with other LGBTQ groups on campus, like Allied in Pride and Trans and Non-Binary Students of GW, which formed last semester.

Ven said members hope to hold two service projects per month and work with the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community and Casa Ruby, a bilingual LGBTQ outreach organization, during the course of the year.

“We really want to focus on this service aspect because a lot of LGBT youth are disadvantaged,” she said.

Shannon Mallard contributed reporting.

This post has been updated to correct the following:

The Hatchet incorrectly reported that Khala Antoine is a junior. She is a senior. We regret this error.