CHICAGO – When the United Nations signs off on something happening in your city, it’s a big deal.
Two women built something here that caught their eye, and it started with an idea they couldn’t find anywhere else.
What we know:
Queer Quest is a new two-day experience built by Emily Esquivel and Dr. Jessica Esquivel.
“Our first date lasted three days. Yeah, and we just couldn’t stop talking. And I don’t think we’ve stopped talking since,” Emily said.
“Yep, 15 years later,” Jessica said.
A married couple mix science and soul – one’s a therapist and one is a physicist. Together, they turn learning into liberation.
“QueerQuest really is us in event form,” Jessica said. “Our universe is built on it being non-binary. It’s built on queerness and weirdness and chaos. And while society currently is telling us that as queer people, as Black and Brown people, that we don’t belong.”
The “why” starts with hurt. Jessica is one of only 150 Black women to ever earn a physics PhD in the U.S.
Out of more than 58,000, she made history and then fell into a dark depression.
“What she went through, it was just really sad to watch and be on the phone calls with her, trying to get her to continue one and then during her graduation, which was so exciting, just her being kind of blank and not really being able to engage,” Emily said.
Emily saw the same lack of representation in mental health.
“Therapy is helpful, but it’s not one size fits all. It doesn’t have to be this white, Westernized, standard model. There are other ways of healing,” Emily said.
That is the turn. They stopped waiting for a seat and built the table. When funds ran low, Chicago stepped up.
“Queer Quest would not have happened if it weren’t for the community members and the organizations that said, ‘Yeah, no, I see this. We need this. Let’s do it,'” Jessica said.
Now it’s global. The United Nations agency UNESCO recognized QueerQuest as part of its International Year of Quantum 2025, which is a worldwide honor given to projects using science to lift humanity.
UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural organization. Its recognition puts QueerQuest on the same global list as major scientific events from Paris to Tokyo.
QueerQuest is the only one centering on Black, brown, and queer people.
“It’s a huge deal,” Emily said. “We were in shock when we got the notice that we had been accepted to be recognized by them.”
QueerQuest will be held Oct. 11–12 at Chicago’s Center on Halsted, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ community hub.
Inside, you’ll find a quantum escape room from the University of Illinois, hammocks and tea from a Black queer woman-owned tea shop in Chicago, talks from scientists, therapists, and healers leading new ways to learn and rest, and different performers such as African drummers.
The founders say you don’t need to know physics to show up. Just curiosity, and heart.
The Source: This story contains reporting from Fox 32’s Terrence Lee.