A new gender-affirming closet on the University of Illinois campus opened Monday at the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center.
The Q-Closet will be filled with a variety of secondhand clothing, shoes and accessories for students to select from during the center’s hours of operation. Soon, the closet will also have brand-new makeup products.
Priscilla Martinez is a student intern and the Campus Engagement Team Lead at the center. She helps organize events for the center and its Queer Campus Coalition.
Martinez said the GSRC has wanted to open a gender-affirming closet on campus for some time. She said the center usually holds on to extra clothing from swaps hosted by the Campus Union for Trans Equality and Support, but they wanted to create a dedicated place for people to access those items throughout the semester.
This past summer, the center moved into a new space on campus. Martinez said the bigger space allowed them to create the Q-Closet.
“It is more or less for queer, trans and gender-nonconforming students to be able to combat the anxiety and dysphoria that they may be feeling when trying to develop their most authentic selves,” Martinez said.
She added that some queer students might not feel safe buying the clothes they need to feel like themselves, and the Q-Closet will serve as a safe space for them to do that.
On the closet walls, there are instructions and tips for how students can tuck or use a binder safely. There are also several notes with positive affirmations for people to read.
Yolanda V. Williams-Goliday, the director of the GSRC, spoke at the opening ceremony. She said she also helped open a gender-affirming closet at the university where she previously worked.
Williams-Goliday said the impact of the closet goes beyond fashion.
“This freedom of expression is crucial for personal development and mental well-being,” she said. “When students feel comfortable in their own skin, they are more likely to thrive academically, socially and emotionally.”
The reveal of the Q-Closet was followed up by free gender-affirming haircut sessions and a presentation from the UP-Center about how to safely use binders and waist cinchers.
Students, faculty and staff attended the ceremony, including Mary Long, the Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Belonging Fellow for the Illinois Athletics Department. As part of her fellowship, Long leads a student-athlete affinity group for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Illini Allies.
Last year, the group hosted a clothing drive and had extra items, Long said. Now, if the group has extra clothing from its upcoming drives, she said she is glad there will be a place on campus to donate them.
Students and community members interested in donating or learning more about the closet can email Williams-Goliday for more information at yvwilli2@illinois.edu.