OUT AND PROUD: QUEST members Erik Klavon, Peter Chou, and Andres Leming.

The QUEST for pride, good food, and good friends

When Queers in Engineering, Science and Technology (QUEST) was founded in 1994 members called themselves Quengrs (pronounced "Kwangers") short for Queer Engineers.

The student group was started by two lesbian graduate students in mechanical engineering as a biweekly lunch to meet other queer engineers. The group grew purely by word of mouth until members decided to increase visibility with a reception during National Coming Out Week. Only 30 people showed up.

A year later the group changed its name to QUEST to be more inclusive of different majors. Five years later the group boasts more than 140 members.

The group’s decision to describe itself as queer may seem odd because of the word’s derogatory connotation. Members say the negativity is gone. “The word queer has been repossessed by the community and now is a label of pride,” says the group’s coordinator Andres Leming.

Queer is the preferred term among the younger generation and embodies gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender categories.
QUEST is a social organization that gives members a support network and sense of belonging.
Leming says that there is a greater need for a group like QUEST in the sciences, where students have fewer queer role models to look to.

EECS senior Erik Klavon says QUEST is an important outlet within the rigid engineering environment at Berkeley. “Engineering culture is homogeneous and has a structured mindset that is often not accepting of different things. The student population tends to be less expressive of its own identity,” he adds.

QUEST meets the first Friday and third Thursday for lunch of the month at a local restaurant. They typically spend half the time talking shop, says Klovan.

The difference between QUEST and other student groups is the touchiness of publishing member names. Some members are wary of having their names posted on the QUEST Web site. This fear makes QUEST’s mission, the building of a visible community among queer students in science, engineering and technology, a more difficult task.

ME graduate student Peter Chou came out while studying at Berkeley. A year later he joined QUEST but had reservations about being identified as a member. He eventually came to terms with being openly gay and cites the camaraderie of QUEST as a source of strength. “It is important to see people who are queer out in your discipline, because it is a comfort to people who are and aren’t out,” he says.

While Berkeley has the reputation of being forward-thinking and liberal, Leming says he has only seen same sex couples holding hands on campus once every couple of years.

But slowly things are changing. Recently a reception in Tan Hall sponsored jointly by QUEST and Queer Grads was as packed as a popular bar on a weekend.

Though QUEST was started by women, it is now populated mostly by men. “Men typically take over any queer organization, but we really would love to have more women join and participate,” says Chou.

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