NYCLIQ: Pride, Representation, and Connection
Ruben Gonzalez
Senior Designer, Loop Lighting
Committee Member, NYCLIQ
This Pride Month, the lighting community is celebrating not only visibility but also the growing importance of creating spaces where LGBTQ+ professionals can connect, advocate, and support one another. One organization helping lead that effort is the North American Coalition of Lighting Industry Queers (NACLIQ) and its newly formed New York City chapter, NYCLIQ.
Founded as a hub for advocacy, mentorship, networking, and mutual support, NACLIQ works nationally to unite gender and sexual minorities within the lighting industry while addressing issues including workplace discrimination, harassment, inclusion, representation, and income inequality. On the local level, chapters like NYCLIQ foster meaningful professional relationships and community-building opportunities through events, conversations, and outreach.
Introducing NYCLIQ!
The formation of the NYC chapter directly came from community interest. “NYC asked for it,” Terry Jewell, Senior Associate at Bartholomew Lighting and the national Financial Chair for NACLIQ, said. “Most chapters happen because an enthusiastic person approaches us at a trade show asking, ‘Do you have a chapter in…?’ From there, word spreads, events form, and a chapter sprouts up.”
The NYC chapter is especially exciting given the city’s vibrant and deeply connected lighting and design community. At its core, however, the mission remains the same: creating a space where people feel understood.
“My wife can’t commiserate with a battle to balance LPDs and light levels,” Jewell joked, “and queer topics are not something most feel comfortable talking about at work, even in the most supportive environments. NACLIQ gives us the space to meet people who also live in both these worlds.”
As the chapter grows, NYCLIQ aims to expand its impact through networking mixers, mentorship opportunities, student outreach initiatives, and partnerships with other organizations across the lighting and design industry. IESNYC’s Illuminating Equity Committee hopes that NYCLIQ not only strengthens the LGBTQ+ community itself but also helps raise awareness and encourages more allies and supporters to get involved.
And we are not alone. NYCLIQ partners with great groups like Equity in Lighting, the IES DEIR committee, Women in Lighting + Design, Black United in Lighting Design, Light Justice, and others. All minority groups feel similar pressures, just in different ways. “Diversity breeds innovation, but only when those diverse minds feel comfortable enough to speak up.”
NACLIQ teamed up with WILD, Equity in Light, Light Justice, and BUILD at IES25 The Lighting Conference. Terry Jewell (at far right) hopes that NYCLIQ provides a more connected community right here in NYC.
Building an inclusive community
For NYCLIQ, Pride Month is both a celebration and a reminder that advocacy does not end in June.
“Our work is especially important today,” Jewell emphasized. “Like so many minority groups across our country, the queer community and our history are actively being erased.”
He went on to describe the growing weight many LGBTQ+ individuals are carrying amid ongoing legislative and social challenges, particularly for transgender individuals like himself.
“As a lighting designer, who happens to be a trans person, all I want to care about is if my project materials are shipping on time, if my REVIT model is updated appropriately, if my kid remembered to bring his lunch to school… not if I will have access to simple things like a flight to get to a job site tomorrow, or if I’ll even have a job.
Visibility is vital. The more of us there are, the more we know we are supported by a community, the more mental power we can put toward our jobs and our lives instead of just survival.”
NYCLIQ hopes to become a visible and trusted presence within the industry, a place where LGBTQ+ professionals can focus on growing both personally and professionally.
According to Jewell, that sense of support has already been one of the most rewarding parts of building the NYC chapter. “Meeting the amazing people and seeing the local support…. The NYC flood of love we have seen since it launched has been rather overwhelming.”
For those considering joining, the message is simple: “We’re a kind and welcoming bunch of very diverse individuals who are only intolerant of intolerance itself.”
Interested in learning more or getting involved with NYCLIQ? The registration information can be found through their sign-up form: NYCLIQ Chapter Registration.
While June is a great time to celebrate who we are and what we have done, the hard work is a year-round commitment. Host a queer event in November, hit a drag show in August, and be kind every day just because you can.
