LGBT Center launches poster campaign throughout campus

The LGBT Center launched a major poster campaign presenting portraits and quotes from students about their experiences being LGBTQIA on campus.

The campaign, which began on Oct. 3, seeks to increase the visibility of the LGBT Center and encourage students to get involved with events such as educational programs, lectures, community building, and student groups, according to Judy Jarvis, LGBT Center director.

Jarvis added that by showcasing the words and faces of real students, the posters are also meant to elevate voices in the LGBTQIA community.

“I think sometimes it can feel inevitable to students to have identity centers on campus, since for current students they’ve all been here since you’ve arrived, but we can't take this work for granted. We can’t take the importance of community building around different identities for granted,” Jarvis said.

Jarvis explained that the campaign is in part to make sure people know the kind of resources available to them and also to remind people that there are LGBTQIA students and employees in every building on campus.

“It’s a reminder to come to our events, but also a reminder that LGBTQIA people are here and that it’s really important that we are here,” she said.

Angela Xu ’17, whose quote was featured on many of the posters, said that one goal of the campaign is to spread awareness of the queer community.

“We’re showing students that LGBT students are regular people,” Xu said.

“The campaign gives visibility to the Center and to the fact that people you know may be LGBT,” said William Keiser ’19, whose quote and portrait were also featured.

The posters were created in conjunction with Isometric Studios, a New York City-based graphic design consultancy run by Andy Chen ’09 and Waqas Jawaid ’10, who were themselves active with the center as students. In addition to its work with the LGBT Center's poster campaign and website, Isometric Studios has also created designs for the Carly A. Fields Center and the Women's Center.

In order to design and implement the campaign, Chen and Jawaid visited campus to take portraits and gather quotes.

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“There were a lot of students willing to be involved, which I think says a lot about students here and their confidence and willingness to be out in the open in front of others,” Jarvis said.

“The pictures were taken last spring. We were interviewed about the climate surrounding the queer community on campus,” Jean Bellamy ’19 said.

Bellamy said that she thought the posters turned out beautifully, but wished that a more diverse set of people had participated in the photoshoot.

Ultimately, the campaign presents ten portraits and ten quotes, each varied in terms of content: positive experiences, negative experiences, and observations of campus climate. The quotes are set on a color-gradient background that is an extension of the design of the LGBT Center’s website.

Lily Gellman ’17 is another student whose portrait was used in the campaign.

“We really wanted a Center that was warm and welcoming in all these different respects, and one of the ways to do that was to take pictures of real students who actually go here and spend time in the center,” Gellman said. “You don't have to have been involved with the center to be a part of the photo campaign, you just need to be comfortable having your photo taken to make the website more friendly and by extension the space more friendly.”

The poster campaign will culminate with the LGBT Center’s tenth anniversary celebration on Friday, Oct. 14th, featuring storytelling from five LGBTQIA alumni in McCormick 101 and a reception afterwards at the LGBT Center in Frist Campus Center.