Transgender UCLA Pride (TransUP) and the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center hosted the Gender Gap Clothing Drive during week 7 of fall quarter in 2017 to provide gender-affirming clothing for the LGBTQ+ community.
The LGBT Campus Resource Center accepted clothing donations during weeks 5 and 6, asking people to donate gently used clothing, especially formalwear.
During week 7, the staff members rearranged the Rae Lee Siporin library to display the donated items. Using social media, they reached out to LGBTQ+ students to promote the event and invite them to come. Later in the week, Megan van der Toorn, Assistant Director at the LGBT Campus Resource Center, reached out to other offices in the Student Activities Center to expand the reach of the drive and invite more students to come take clothes.
The event coincided with Transgender Awareness Week, the week preceding Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), November 20.
Due to popularity, the event will be held biannually and will be hosted again later this school year.
Photos taken by Kai Huang.
Featured Image: Andreas Kontonicolas, a 5th year Pre-Medicine and General Sciences student, looks through a pile of donated clothing. They later tried on and took home several articles of clothing.
