Despite budget shortfall, lawmakers gave another $10M to expand campus LGBTQ+ programs this year
California’s new budget allocates $10 million to expand LGBTQ+ programs at community colleges even as the state faces a massive budget shortfall.
The 2024-2025 budget includes $16 billion in savings reductions to help offset a shortfall of $47 billion, according to a news release from the governor’s office. To pass a balanced budget, lawmakers made a number of cuts, including $75 million from the California State University system, and pulled money from the state reserve to offset the deficit.
But funding for the LGBTQ+ community remained a priority, with $10 million budgeted for community colleges to expand such programs.
The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office sent The College Fix its 2023-24 LGBTQ+ Programs Report when contacted for comment about the budget.
The report outlines some of the ways the state money will be spent, including creating LGBTQ+ centers, adding staff dedicated to these students, and holding lavender graduations, which are special commencement ceremonies for LGBTQ+ students.
The chancellor’s office did not respond to The Fix‘s questions about why it believes expanding LGBTQ+ programs is important, how the money has been used so far, and how it would respond to people who say the money would be better spent on more direct educational programs.
However, the funding was met with criticism by California political analyst Katy Grimes.
Calling it “superfluous spending,” Grimes told The Fix in a recent email that she doesn’t “see how this money will benefit students with LGBTQ programs … It sounds like a slush fund without any boundaries.” An investigative political journalist and author, Grimes is the editor in chief of the California Globe.
“LGBTQ students appear to have more legal protections than any other ‘protected’ group, covered by federal anti-discrimination laws …” Grimes said. “This is promoting and teaching identity politics and victimhood to students, rather than useful life skills and a meaningful college degree.”
Since 2021, the state legislature has allocated at least $30 million for public community colleges to start “LGBTQ+ centers, development of safe zones, learning communities, clubs, curriculum development, workshops, and other efforts.”
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Some of the money went to Cuyamaca College in San Diego to open a Queer Student Center late last year. According to the chancellor’s report, the community college received $66,206 to increase its LGBTQ+ programs in the 2023-2024 school year.
Center coordinator Kaylin Rosal told the Times of San Diego the center is designed to be “relatable, inviting and inclusive for our LGBTQ students.”
Among other things, the center offers free legal services to students who wish to change their “name and/or gender,” according to its website.
The center also promotes gender neutral bathrooms, and a program called Out @ Cuyamaca, which students and staff can join to become LGBTQ+ and straight “allies.” Another program called Pride Scholars is designed for LGBTQ+ students to celebrate their “success, individuality and uniqueness” and gives members access to the food pantry, textbook support, school supplies, and other amenities.
Other colleges are encouraged to use their new funding for similar purposes, according to the chancellor’s report.
The report references Project 2030, a “roadmap” of goals the chancellor’s office created for California’s 116 community colleges over the next six years.
Although LGBTQ+ students are not specifically mentioned, the project advocates for finances to be used to bolster “marginalized” students and create “equity.”
The Project 2030 report states that the changing society necessitates a “paradigm shift,” and this shift “acknowledges the inherent inequalities present in the existing structures, where students from marginalized communities must shoulder additional and compounding financial, administrative, and psychological burdens to access services and support.”
While more funding goes to these “equity” programs, the California State University stated in a July news release that it is facing a $200 million funding gap, and its 23 universities are taking “difficult cost-savings measures” to address the shortage.
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IMAGE: California Governor’s Office/Facebook
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