LGBTQ+: Fighting for Equity
Creative engagement is an approach to connect with a community using creative tools and artistic experiences. This type of approach may allow individuals to understand the community that is being represented on a deeper level. This type of approach may also provide a more meaningful interpretation of life. Art can explain experiences, situations, or difficulties that we may have a hard time explaining with words. A creative intervention can serve an underrepresented community through art by allowing this community to be seen in a much larger way.
Within my creative engagement project, I have chosen to represent the LGBTQ+ community. As a student at Rutgers, New Brunswick, I have noticed very little conversation surrounding the topic of this community. The lack of support has raised many questions and concerns for me as an individual and a student of Rutgers. Some of my concerns include the awareness students have relating to the topic of LGBTQ+. This makes me question the safety for these members on campus. These two concerns of mine relate to one another because if people aren’t familiar regarding the history or background of LGBTQ+ then how can they play a part in keeping the campus safe for these members specifically. My goal in representing this community is ultimately finding a way to improve the quality of life for all LGBTQ+ members.
In representing the LGBTQ+ community, I am looking to normalize these human relationships and enforce a more protected environment on campus. It is extremely important for the people of New Brunswick to familiarize themselves with the history of the LGBTQ+ community. Fighting for their rights and fighting to feel accepted and loved are only a few challenges that these individuals have faced. By implementing a sculpture on College Avenue in the Yard, I am looking to shed light on the LGBTQ+ community while also enforcing an all around safer environment for the members of this community. The sculpture I am looking to contribute to the city of New Brunswick will represent two individuals laying beside one another in the grass of the Yard. The reason I chose the Yard is because of the traffic surrounding this space. With several food spots and the RU Bus only a few feet away, all members of the Rutgers community will have an opportunity to view this art piece. Within my sculpture, neither individual will identify a specific gender. This will send a message that not identifying with a gender does not make someone less than. Some may assume this sculpture represents two non-binary individuals– this will start more conversations around LGBTQ+ which is the first step in raising awareness.
My community engagement project looks to connect with a group that encompasses those of all ages. The LGBTQ+ community is wonderfully diverse, identifying groups of all ages, races, creeds, backgrounds, etc. So, the stakeholders in my sculpture can be attributed to anyone willing to listen to the stories of those in the community (allies included). Those who have friends and families in the LGBTQ+ community, fraternities and sororities, even teaching faculty and staff can benefit from the message of my sculpture.
How do we know there is danger on campus when it seems to be safe? The Center of Violence Against Women and Children, a group of the social work school, placed a survey in 2018 that questioned students in areas such as sexual harassment and feelings around campus safety. The survey shows that twenty-seven percent of queer women were sexually harassed after coming to Rutgers, twenty percent queer men, and nineteen percent transgender as well. (School of Social Work 2019). In ensuring the safety of the LGBTQ+ community and ending sexual violence, the community must do a better job at protecting one another. To facilitate my sculpture in the Yard, I would ask the students at Rutgers similar questions today. A few additional questions I would add may consist of, how often they have felt unsafe, how many instances they were uncomfortable in and where they were specifically, and what they would want from their peers in making their lives easier.
This sculpture has an opportunity to impact the students of Rutgers and the people of New Brunswick by opening a door for many to feel important, supported, and encouraged. In addition to new, updated surveys around the safety of the campus, it is also important to take action. Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance is a department at Rutgers that offers counseling, education, and programming to address and prevent violence that impacts the campus. Working with VPVA will contribute towards the main goal of ending sexual violence and improving the quality of life for this vulnerable community. Engaging with the community of New Brunswick, through creativity and art, representing the LGBTQ+ community will remind everyone of certain issues they may have become blind to. It is our job to keep our campus a safe place and to ensure the people of this city are safe as well.
