Pride posters kept in the closet at U. Utah
by Carlos Mayorga | Daily Utah Chronicle (University of Utah)
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: News
(U-WIRE) SALT LAKE CITY — After several hours of photo shoots and layout design, Bonnie Owens marveled over what she had created.
Owens, an intern at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center at the University of Utah, received the assignment of creating posters to advertise events during the weeklong Pride celebration, and used students from the Queer Student Union as models. Five photos of students in sexually suggestive poses were selected as the backdrop for the posters.
She presented the posters to Cathy Martinez, the director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center, for approval. Martinez rejected all but one of them.
Martinez later approached Kari Ellingson, associate vice president for student affairs, with the posters, and they decided to reject all five.
"When Cathy and I talked about this, we thought it would be important to break stereotypes that being queer is just about sex," Ellingson said. "The pictures would take away from all the other events going on that week."
After the administration's decision, Kevin Ingraham, co-president of QSU and a sophomore in gender studies, started discussions with QSU members to determine how to respond to the decision.
"These images are portraits and expression of the gender identities we express on a daily basis," Ingraham said. "I felt that when the images were denied, I was essentially being told that I as an individual was deemed inappropriate and obscene."
At a meeting Monday most of the 35 QSU members in attendance said they felt like they had been silenced by administrators. QSU officers said they will protest what they feel is censorship and might display the posters at the upcoming queer art show.
"I know that the students may say it's censorship, but the posters were depicting the community in a sexual way," Martinez said. "My concern was that it would distract what we were trying to do with pride and that it would stereotype gay people in a negative way."
Owens, an intern at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center at the University of Utah, received the assignment of creating posters to advertise events during the weeklong Pride celebration, and used students from the Queer Student Union as models. Five photos of students in sexually suggestive poses were selected as the backdrop for the posters.
She presented the posters to Cathy Martinez, the director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center, for approval. Martinez rejected all but one of them.
Martinez later approached Kari Ellingson, associate vice president for student affairs, with the posters, and they decided to reject all five.
"When Cathy and I talked about this, we thought it would be important to break stereotypes that being queer is just about sex," Ellingson said. "The pictures would take away from all the other events going on that week."
After the administration's decision, Kevin Ingraham, co-president of QSU and a sophomore in gender studies, started discussions with QSU members to determine how to respond to the decision.
"These images are portraits and expression of the gender identities we express on a daily basis," Ingraham said. "I felt that when the images were denied, I was essentially being told that I as an individual was deemed inappropriate and obscene."
At a meeting Monday most of the 35 QSU members in attendance said they felt like they had been silenced by administrators. QSU officers said they will protest what they feel is censorship and might display the posters at the upcoming queer art show.
"I know that the students may say it's censorship, but the posters were depicting the community in a sexual way," Martinez said. "My concern was that it would distract what we were trying to do with pride and that it would stereotype gay people in a negative way."
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