From the Archive

SAFE ZONE campaign
GLARE, Emporia State University, Kansas 1991

Being out at a small Kansas university in early 90’s wasn’t always easy. Efforts by the Gay Lesbian Alliance for Resource and Education to increase visibility were often met with hostility. While attitudes were indeed beginning to change, issues of vulnerability remained.

SAFE ZONE was a GLARE campaign to create an open, safer environment for LGB people on campus. We hadn’t gotten to the T or Q parts yet. While the idea wasn’t our own, it had come to us from a school in Missouri, the Safe Zone graphic design by Michael Hofeldt was. The funding for the campaign was granted by the Associated Student Government.

The distribution was simple; faculty or staff filled out a request, and we’d send them the card via campus mail. The campaign proved to be very powerful; when SAFE ZONE posters began appearing in numbers on faculty and staff office doors, giving them a voice, an active role in the fight for a safe, open educational community.