--- title: Out of the Shell date: 2024-01-16T11:00:00-05:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/out-of-the-shell" section: Articles --- # Out of the Shell *January 16, 2024* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/authors/karen-shih-09) - *Archival materials courtesy of the LGBTQ+ Equity Center* - *Archival materials courtesy of the The LGBT Studies Office* > Twenty-five years ago, the LGBTQ+ Equity Center opened to support queer Terps who felt invisible, isolated and harassed. Some of the founders recount its humble start and hard-won victories. *rainbow turtle, turtle with pink and light blue pattern, "Support #TransTerps" pin. "Debilitating Queerness", "they" pin* **NADRA WASS ’99, ’00 REMEMBERS THE HECKLERS.** On a cool spring evening, she marched with more than a hundred female students across the University of Maryland during the annual “Take Back the Night” rally to end sexual and domestic violence. As they wound their way around McKeldin Mall and up toward North Hill, male students stuck their heads out of their dorm windows and hurled the worst insults they could think of: lesbians, f---ing d----s. “It wasn’t a huge surprise,” says Wass, who is pansexual and had heard disparaging—if less crude—sentiments about queer people in her engineering classes. “I didn’t necessarily feel unsafe because we were a sizeable group, but anytime you’re out walking at night and someone is yelling, there is the feeling of, ‘What’s going to happen now?’” *a pronoun pin given out by the LGBTQ+ Equity Center; a first-year experience for LGBTQ and LGBTQ student allies; protestors object to a Maryland Board of Regents decision not to recognize domestic partnerships in a 1996 Washington Blade clipping. — Clockwise from top left: a pronoun pin given out by the LGBTQ+ Equity Center; a first-year experience for LGBTQ and LGBTQ student allies; protestors object to a Maryland Board of Regents decision not to recognize domestic partnerships in a 1996 Washington Blade clipping.* - **1.7%** — of college students identify as transgender, nonbinary or questioning _(2020 survey by the Association of American Universities)_ *Luke Jensen headshot* *Marilee Lindemann headshot* *Kevin Fries headshot* *Nadra Wass headshot* *Safe Person, Safe Place card — A “safe space” card from the 1990s that faculty and staff could display to support queer students.* --- *Lindemann, Fries and Wass were also part of that group. Its 1996 “Embracing Diversity” report documented heartbreaking examples of harassment and erasure of LGBTQ+ students and employees, such as a female professor called “mentally unstable” for having a female partner, and the lack of institutional support, contrasting with what the report called UMD’s “vigorous response” to addressing discrimination against people of color or women.* **JENSEN:** We came up with three recommendations: 1. a presidential commission on LGBT issues, 2. the creation of a resource center and 3. the creation of a LGBT studies program. Luckily, Provost Greg Geoffroy arrived in 1997, and he had come from Penn State, where they had a coordinator for LGBT equity in his office, so he supported creating one here. It started with just me overseeing a couple of undergrads in Fall 1998. *Joey DeSanto Jones headshot* *"out" lists in The Diamondback — For about a decade, starting in 1993, the Lesbian and Gay Staff and Faculty Association, then the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equity paid to print the “out” list in The Diamondback for National Coming Out Day, sharing names and titles of UMD community members who were queer.* *Adriana Falco headshot* --- *In the 1970s, well before formal LGBTQ+ resources were offered at Maryland, gay and lesbian students created the Speakers Bureau, which sent queer students to classes to speak about their experiences. Jensen in the 1990s pushed for speakers, now known as peer educators, to get credit for their work. It’s now offered as LGBT350, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People and Communication.”* **FALCO:** It was a great experience. We opened people’s eyes to the types of struggles that LGBTQ+ people had with mental health. That opened the door for a lot of people to talk to us, whether students were identifying that way or thinking about it. **JENSEN:** Classes about lesbian and gay topics had existed since the 1970s, but nothing cohesive. When we submitted the request for an LGBT Studies Program to the Faculty Senate, we had some absolutely horrific and silly things said by senior faculty in a couple committees. One of them actually said, “What’s next, bestiality studies? Man on dog?” **LINDEMANN:** Universities are seen as a hotbed of leftist radical activism, chasing trends and all that. But in trying to establish the program, we encountered resistance at every step. **JENSEN:** When it came for the full Senate vote, this guy raised his hand again. Ruth Fassinger, a counseling psychology professor, put him in his place. Then nobody else had anything else to say. I started panicking, thinking that was a bad sign. But it passed almost unanimously. It was understood: We needed the program. **LINDEMANN:** I was delighted that from the moment the program formally started in 2002, we had lots of allies sign up. That speaks well of Maryland’s students. The same couldn’t be said of the tailgaters in Lot 1. The program used to be in Tawes, and the main restroom they’d use was down the hall from our office. On Mondays, we would find posters or our bulletin board defaced. We started coming in on game days and sitting outside the office. It felt important to me to put names and faces: This is who you are attacking when you’re writing crude and nasty things. I gave out bumper stickers that said “Real Terps Support LGBT Studies.” **JENSEN:** A lot of people needed education, even allies. We developed the Rainbow Terrapin Network to train units like housing, finance and health. Because for students, if your parents cut you off and you needed financial aid, would you feel comfortable coming out to people in that office? We gave pins and a card to everyone who participated so they could visibly show their support. - **17%** — Nearly 17% of college students identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, queer, or questioning _(2020 survey by the Association of American Universities)_ *That training helped open the eyes of faculty and staff across campus, including at the University Health Center.* *Penny Jacobs headshot* --- *A decade later, the office had three full-time staff members and moved again, this time from the basement of Cole Field House to its current space in Marie Mount Hall, featuring a library full of LGBTQ+ books and space for student groups to meet.* *Shige Sakurai headshot* *Trans Terps Project group — Shige Sakurai (left) and UMD staff who supported the Trans Terps Project. (Photo courtesy of Shige Sakurai)* *Madeleine Moore headshot* **SAKURAI:** When we created the honor society, we considered including GPA as a component, but for us, it was more about alignment with a set of values: inclusion, kindness and authenticity. We looked for folks who had put those values into action on and off campus. All kinds of people came out of the woodwork that we had no idea even existed. That was one of the ways we built capacity, so others could lead and work on their own in different segments of the institution. With just three full-time staff, how do you impact 50,000 people? We didn’t want people to just rely on this one center to do all the things. We wanted them to see us as a usefulpartner and supporter and convener, but remind people that everyone has a role being engaged as LGBTQ+ advocates and allies. - **11%** — of U.S. four-year colleges have LGBTQ+ equity centers _(*Campus Pride*)_ *students crafting — Students in the new Queer Crafting club, one of many LGBTQ+ groups on campus. (Photo by Riley N. Sims)* *Lavender Graduation programs — Lavender Graduation programs and pronoun pins* *Kristopher Oliveira headshot* **Issue:** [Winter 2024](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/winter-2024) **Types:** [Features](https://terp.umd.edu/category/features)