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{shortcode-e64d65eabc2c8945c17364f3d09655b667e30e03}ast week, under the vaulted ceilings and the watchful eyes of Annenberg’s stained-glass poets, lay a powerful sight: a vanilla sheet cake topped with a glossy fondant Pride flag. The gayke, as it was affectionately dubbed, was served by HUDS in honor of National Coming Out Day.
The cake was colorful and moist, with the perfect hint of vanilla and a whisper of cinnamon. The buttercream melted on the tongue, the fondant was unusually edible (read: did not taste like plastic), and the almond notes were bright and pleasant. The Red 40 was chemical, yes — but deliciously so.
Just kidding. I didn’t actually try it. Honestly, I don’t know anyone who did. But it sure looked pretty.
“Yeah, not sure who the cake was for. Everyone I know is vegan or gluten-free,” says Girl N. Red ’29, balancing her phone, matcha latte, and keys in a single hand.
The cake appeared in Annenberg shortly after the University quietly gutted several Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and dismantled the Quoffice — the LGBTQ+ student resource space formerly located in the basement of Thayer. Students held a somber funeral for the Quoffice, complete with eulogies, a casket, and, reportedly, southern widow hats.
But despair not. From the ashes of DEI rises dessert.
As an incoming freshman, I was worried about the loss of queer spaces on campus. But immediately after laying my eyes upon the gayke, I realized that Harvard really gets us. Who needs community when you have buttercream?
“Yeah, at a time when the Trump administration is taking sweeping action against the trans community and I’m worried that I can’t get a passport with the correct gender marker, it’s nice that HUDS supports me in eating my feelings,” Man M. Manning ’26, a transgender student, says. “Way better than the individualized support the Quoffice used to give.”
Shortly after the gayke made its Annenberg debut, Quincy House hosted an oobleck-making event. Some students saw the event as a subtle nod of solidarity to how genderfluid students have handled the pressure of the Trump administration.
But not everyone was thrilled about the cake. “Personally, I am shocked that the university is trying to indoctrinate us with their woke liberal mindset,” Chadwick R. Freedom-Eagle ’27 says. “First, they make the frogs gay with the water. Now, the Queer Agenda is coming after the Harvard students with baked goods.”
(Fellas, is it gay to eat dessert?)
Rumor has it the administration is considering further edible initiatives: an aromatic spiced meal for Aromantic Visibility Day, pronoun cupcakes in the House dining halls, and an ambitious “Intersectionali-tea” event featuring one tea bag per student.
Until then, we take what we can get. Harvard may have taken our Quoffice, but at least we still have the gayke.
