Lehigh celebrates Pride Month by holding up a few alumni who made significant contributions to the LGBTQ+ community.
Amelia Conway ’20 ’21G
Integrated Business and Engineering with a Minor in Computer Science
Master’s Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering
Out on Campus
I didn’t transition until after I graduated from Lehigh. I never even went to the Pride Center.
Lehigh Experience
I was goal driven, so I focused on my coursework, study abroad, internship, research, and thesis. I wanted to earn a presidential scholarship. So I stayed in my room and studied. Still, I knew that something was missing, that I didn’t really feel like me. It was like I was a co-pilot in my own head. I had expectations to meet — both my own and those from my family. I worked to fit that mold and loved how appreciated I felt when I did so. I did struggle to connect with people and was not living authentically or working to understand myself well.
It was only after I finished my graduate degree that I began to process things. I had a month before my job started. Over those days, I had to piece together my experiences, thoughts, and feelings while growing up and face some emotional ups and downs. That’s when I had to accept that I was transgender.
Life Today
I am a project manager, strategy analyst, and programmer at Sanofi. My employer was fantastic, supportive, and inclusive during my physical and legal transition. This is why I want to be active with the Lehigh Alumni Pride Association. I am one voice among many, but maybe can make one person happier by speaking to them and sharing my story.
Tell Yourself Back Then
You have a duty to yourself to be the best version of yourself. That is the real accomplishment and goal. You won’t remember the grades. Self-discovery is important. Such work pays dividends down the line. So look at your blind spots and see what you are missing out on in life.
Keeping yourself in ignorance, not wanting to face the truth, and living a beautiful lie will not keep you from confronting what’s inside you. Don’t choose short-term ease when you want to find meaning and connection in yourself and with others.
Advice for Students Today
When you first handle what seems the most tough, everything else can be easier. So if you are feeling comfortable, then you probably aren’t growing enough or pushing yourself in new directions.
Chris Diggs ’07 ’09G
Political Science and Religious Studies
Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership
Out on Campus
I had decided to be out when I went to college, which I hadn't done in high school. I was ready to live my life more openly in that way, even though I was only one of a few people who were out on campus at the time. Spectrum, the club for LGBTQ+ students, had just been created the semester before I arrived and I participated in their meetings, eventually taking on a leadership role. At that time, it was advised through the Multicultural Center and a part time role supported by the Residence Life staff.
Lehigh Experience
I was a Gryphon beginning my sophomore year and worked to create more connection and support for LGBTQ+ students through my role with Spectrum. We brought speakers to campus and proposed the first Drag Show, which took place in the spring of 2005. We brought external performers from the Lehigh Valley to campus and staged it in the faculty dining room in the University Center. That was a big moment. The campus was completing a climate survey at that time as well. I was on one of the Action Planning Committees following that process.
Several racist and homophobic acts that took place on campus generated student-led activism that helped propel our work forward. I was quoted in The Brown and White a lot because there weren't many other students talking openly about sexuality and gender identity on campus. The combination of the University's response to the climate survey as well as the student activism led to the creation of what is today the Pride Center. I was privileged to be involved during a period of significant visible change to resources and structure. There were meaningful partnerships amongst students, faculty, and staff that drove that work. It shaped me in so many ways and illustrated the power of showing up, participating, and asking. I learned that change is possible.
Life Today
I met my wife at Lehigh. We’ve been together for 15 years. We are married and have two children. We live in a city where we are openly accepted. I am out in my career. It is possible to create a life that you envision. It is the outcome of making an investment to build community and stay connected.
While there is still a lot at stake and support for our community faces significant challenges, I can see what is possible. I don’t have to think about being LGBTQ+ on a daily basis; It’s not a weight on my shoulders the way it felt early in my coming out process. I have been honored to stay involved with Lehigh through the Lehigh Alumni Pride Association, going back to Reunion and connecting with alumni through our other events. Our work also aims to support and connect with current students, building generational ties across the LGBTQ+ community.
Tell Yourself Back Then
I’d say to be myself–that there is no explanation needed of who you are. To find support around you. Build community and know what you are seeking from your Lehigh experience. I put myself in a leadership role which prepared me for the reality of the world–how to navigate, develop skills, and advocate for myself and others. The hard moments and scary moments were also part of what got me to where I am today. Those are all things I continue to use beyond my life at Lehigh.
Advice for Students Today
The experience is what you make it. While I was on campus, we decided what we wanted to make happen. We made the community we wished was there. We created the world we wanted to see. The outcomes you seek are possible if you make the investment.
Daniel Bahner ’09
Classics with a Minor in Religious Studies
Out on Campus
I was closeted when I arrived on campus. I came to Lehigh from a conservative Midwestern city. I wanted to experience the more liberal East Coast. And Lehigh looked magical, like Hogwarts.
I came out my sophomore year. It was October 11, National Coming Out Day. My family was on campus, my turf, so I told them. There was shock and tears, but it wasn’t traumatic.
Lehigh Experience
The Rainbow Room, the new Pride Center, opened during my sophomore year with a first director hired. It was in an annex in the University Center. Not many people were out on campus. So going to the Rainbow Room somehow meant you had to be gay. I became a Gryphon my sophomore year and joined the LGBTQ+ group during my junior year.
As one of the few out gay men on campus, I was known. I got involved. I was a member of Leadership at Lehigh, the social justice peer educators, and an early DEI initiative called The Movement. I pushed for progress. I won a leadership award for the Drag Show. At Lehigh I really found myself in spite of itself. I am the person I am today because of that experience.
Life Today
I’m currently earning a master’s degree in counseling psychology. I have worked in DEI for years, advocating for students in residential life and advancing several nonprofits, including Keshet, dedicated to the full equality of all LGBTQ Jews and their families in Jewish life.
Tell Yourself Back Then
Love Lehigh for what it can be. Be proud of where you started. Work for institutional change because if not you, then who will?
Advice for Students Today
The world is much bigger today, and life is so much bigger. The seeds you plant now will grow. Don’t regret what you didn’t experience. Don’t wish for something different. Live your authentic self. Despair and cynicism are the tools of the oppressor. Joy is resistance in the face of the world. Alumni are ready to welcome you when you are ready to join us.