The sound of song engulfed Emerson Suites last Friday night as Ithaca College and Cornell University a cappella groups began their rehearsals. In one corner, members of Premium Blend, Ithaca’s only all-female a cappella group, began warming up their vocal chords in unison. In another, IC Pitch Please and IC Voicestream ran through their set for the tenth time that day.

All of them here, united in song, for one important cause: The Trevor Project– an organization that provides crisis counseling and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth.

According to the CDC:

• Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth.
• Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.

Ithacappella director Alex Kosick came up with the idea this summer for the event, while listening to The Village by Wrabel.

“I heard the song and I knew it was a song Ithacappella needed to sing,” said Kosick. “And I talked to the board and said ‘why don’t we do a block-three fundraising concert for the Trevor Project and have it all be LGBTQ+ music and artists,’ so we could give this amazing concert that just represents queer culture and normalizes it.”

The Trevor Project was founded in 1998 following the release of the Academy Award winning short film TREVOR. 

“The Trevor Project is really important to me because it’s an LGBTQ+ organization that raises money for homeless youth and it literally is out there saving LGBTQ+ lives.”
  – Alex Kosick, Ithacappella Director

The concert featured IC Voicestream, Premium Blend, Ithaca College Accidentals A Cappella, IC Pitch Please, The Class Notes and Rock Hard Dance Company. During intermission, Ithaca College student organizations centered on LGBTQ+ issues offered  information about campus resources for LGBTQ+ youth.

The night was a mixture of advocacy and activism, performance and inclusivity- a celebratory event for people of all races, genders and sexes.

Ithacappella member Connor Shea reflected on the night through the lens of his own experiences within the LGBTQ+ community.

“I am very lucky that I can live my life openly as a gay man, I am very lucky and very privileged to have such a strong community support me, that’s not the reality for everyone who identifies as LGBTQ+,” said Shea.

“What the Trevor Project does is provide resources, it provides programs and it provides crisis help to those who need that support, so that they can live their most authentic life.” – Connor Shea, Ithacappella Member

For Kosick, in particular, he hopes that more people understand and appreciate the hard work people put in to raising awareness about the LGBTQ+ community.

“I hope that [people] come and that they see all of this beauty that is in queer culture and in LGBTQ+ music and representation,” said Kosick. “I hope that they leave feeling excited about the Trevor Project and excited about all the things we can do on campus, because this is just one small example of how Ithaca College is totally able to do anything we put our minds to.”