On Saturday, August 23, 2025 the Old Admin Building at Fresno City College hosted the 3rd annual Queer Housing Summit (QHS), a gathering of community members and visionaries. QHS was imagined by a group of Tower activists and realized in 2023.
“The Queer Housing Summit is a space dedicated to learning about the experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals related to housing in our community. A place to build shared understanding, access resources, and collaborate on building an actionable vision for safe & affirming housing for all, led by radical Queer joy.” Source: Community Spaces Network
This year's summit was centered on queer joy and collective action and was actualized by volunteers, sponsors, and presenters.
We spoke to Jasmine Leiva (she/they), a community member who has been involved in Fresno activism for 20+ years and who has been part of the QHS since its inception.
“...it might've been January ‘23 or maybe end of ‘22, Kiel mentioned that he wanted to put this program together, a space for queer folks to talk about housing solutions,” Jasmine told uSpark.
Jasmine has had multiple roles in the planning committee, handling outreach, marketing, and program development, as well as facilitating informational sessions and participating in panels.
Jasmine Leiva (pictured top left) facilitating a session on the history of housing and tenant protections featuring a walking timeline.
She’s Growing
When asked about changes from the summit’s previous years, Jasmine noted substantial growth. In the past, organizers had to directly reach out to invite folks to fill gaps. This year, when they put out the call for proposals at the beginning of the year, the queers answered.
“This year we just got such a robust response and it was so cool. I mean… we had a presenter from Italy talking about housing solutions. We had folks from different states, but always centering in the Central Valley, which I think is really cool. And so just that growth, that healthy growth,” she shared.
In addition to the influx in interest and proposals, there were “so many people on the sponsorship list” including organizations on a national and state level, out of towners who showed up to support, to local organizations and individuals.
Coffee from Cafe Rose, lunch from Tower Tea, a pop-up from Judging by the Cover Bookstore, and the courtyard lined with Fresno organizations reinforced the value of community care through supporting local businesses and efforts to uplift our neighborhoods.
She’s Taking Up Space
Jasmine also reflected on how the new venue affected the event’s layout and room for creative planning.
“Having the Old Admin Building at city was so cool because there's classrooms, there's the auditorium space, there's the hallways…we had more space to grow, which was really nice.”
Attendees and representatives from different organizations.
The auditorium served as the summit’s heartbeat, where the program began with a grounding practice—a collective breathing exercise–followed by opening words and rapid presentations.
The first keynote speaker, writer KB Brookins of Texas, author of Pretty: A Memoir, set the tone when reflecting on writing about his life experience. He shared with the audience, “Joy is a sibling of honesty” before reading an excerpt from Pretty which centers black queer joy and weaves themes of resilience and beauty throughout.
Apart from the auditorium, across five classrooms, fifteen sessions explored topics from cooperative housing to creative resistance. Visionaries and advocates exchanged ideas for collective action. Everywhere, conversations flowed—about policy, art, and how to build belonging into Fresno’s future.
“It echoes the comfort of home, which is what we're trying to uplift. Having a home is not just about the tangible four walls to be, but it's about emotional safety,” said Jasmine.
Grounding session with Jocelynn Suarez and Keynote Speaker, author KB Brookins (top left to top right). Kiel Lopez-Schmidt (he/they), South Tower CLT executive director and Splash Queen, Lucy Yale (bottom left to bottom right).
More About This Year and on the Horizon
This year's summit, entitled “Resistance Through Queer Joy: Our Collective Action” was co-hosted by South Tower Community Land Trust, Housing Now! California, Fresno City College Social Justice Center, Youth Leadership Institute, Gender Alchemy, and BlaQueer Fresno.
Keynote speakers included KB Brookins, author of Pretty: A Memoir and Tracy Rosenthal, author of Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis (both books are available for purchase at Judging by the Cover: A Bookstore online or in-person).
Other highlights included a grounding exercise to start the day, performance by the Aleno Dance Project, Drag Show, an offering table and a closing poem, to name a few.
Video from Aleno Dance Project's Instagram.
“This year, our resistance looked like ‘Joy’. Our activism looked like ‘Belonging’. Our collective action was simply this: Showing up as our whole selves and refusing to shrink,” QHS posted on their Instagram.
If you are experiencing post summit FOMO and want to be in a safe space with like minded folx, the community is here year round.
“Something I hear a lot here is, where are queer folks at? Where's queer community? And it's like, we're here. There's so many ways to be plugged in, whether it's social or making art or working on policy. There's so many ways to be together, and I just want people to know that, because I mentioned in my workshop, it can be very isolating and alienating…So sometimes it's like you feel like, where are my people? Where are my people? And so I just want folks to know we're here.” -Jasmine Leiva
And if you are really bummed about missing the summit, remember there is a space for you next year.
“We're going to keep it going as long as we can because it's just such a cool space," Jasmine shared.
For more information about this year’s summit, including the full program and list of sponsors, please visit the website at queerhousingsummit.org
If you attended the event this year, you can fill out the post-summit survey here.