The establishment of the Resource Center for Sexual & Gender
Diversity can be credited to the efforts of many different people and
organizations throughout the years. These efforts included students,
staff and faculty whose presence, requests, demands and activism led to
the creation of the Queer Resource Center in 1999.
The history of campus organizing began when a student organization, the
Gay Students’ Union was first created at UCSB in 1972 (later becoming
the Gay People’s Union in 1977). A faculty, staff and student LGB
awareness group was formed in 1989 and one of their first goals was the
creation of a LGB Center at UCSB. A formal bid for a center was made in
1994 by a number of LGB groups including the student LGBA, GLB Graduate
Student Network, LGB Faculty Group, LGB Staff Association, University
Committee on LGBT Concerns, the rap groups and LGBs of Color. In
February of 1995, UCSB hosted the first UC system-wide LGBT conference.
Another formal proposal for a center was made to the Chancellor in 1998
by the Queer Student Union.
In October 1998, the day after the vigil for Matthew Sheppard, the Queer
Peer Intern spoke to the Chancellor about the lack of support for LGBT
students at UCSB and the need for allies. Soon after the Chancellor and
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs pledged funds for a LGBT Coordinator
and small operating budget. In Winter, 1999, a large group of students
protested for the protection and growth of Ethnic and Queer studies on
campus. Out of this protest came a commitment from the Chancellor and
Vice Chancellor to find a space for a LGBT Center on campus.
The first LGBT Coordinator was hired in June, 1999, and the center was
officially opened in fall, 1999 on the third floor of the University
Center. The center was originally called the Queer Resource Center until
the name was changed to the Resource Center for Sexual & Gender
Diversity in Spring, 2001. The first full-time Assistant Director of
LGBT Resources was hired in September 2005, thanks to additional funding
from a student-initiated mandatory fee that was passed during the
student elections the previous April. The Resource Center moved to its
current location in the Student Resource Building in February 2007.
RCSGD Staffing History:
Directors:
- 1999-2000 Debbie Bazarsky
- 2000-2001 Maurice Hudson
- 2001-2002 Stacey Shears
- 2002-2007 Kyle Richards
- 2007- 2010 Samuel Santos, Jr.
- 2010-Present Joshua Moon Johnson
Assistant Directors:
- Rebecca Chapman
- Erin McGinnis Pullin
- Stephanie Eunha Lee
- Chueh Jun-Fung
- Cristina Madrigal