On the second floor of the Adanti Student Center, students walked into the Sexuality and Gender Equality SAGE Center to decorate pins to celebrate International Pronoun Day.
“Having a way to publicly portray their identities and their pronouns is really important because gender identity is not necessarily easily perceivable,” Graduate Intern Brandon Iovene said. “Somebody may look a certain way, but they might identify a different way than they look.” Coins
International Pronoun Day is celebrated every third Wednesday of October each year, dating back to 2018.
Students could come by the SAGE Center and create a pin from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“We have markers and coloring pencils to design their own pins,” Iovene said.
English major Rowan King, a sophomore, said as one of the SAGE Center ambassadors, one of their roles is to focus on setting up events and community outreach.
“We are here to be a community for people,” King said. “Sometimes, people are like, ‘Nobody is making the pins that I want to wear,’ so I guess people see it as an opportunity to make something they like rather than just seeing it on a black-on-white text.”
“This event was a way for students to self-identify,” Iovene said.
Sociology major Rain Iaccarino, a senior, said this has been an annual event for as long she has been here, which is four years.
Students like to come by the room and decorate their own pins or make them for others, SAGE Center Ambassador Iaccarino said.
Computer science major Kaye Feinberg, a junior, said having this event helps the conversation about pronouns become much easier and helps with visibility.
“Pronoun pins, especially if you’re making your own- there is a nice sense of how you can experience yourself how you want to,” Feinberg said. “It is nice to have that represented on a pin.”
As the secretary of LGBTQIA+ Prism, Feinberg said this event was a collaboration with the two organizations to celebrate International Pronoun Day.
Iaccarino said the pins allowed students who do not use traditional pronouns to express themselves by designing their pins and highlighting the pronoun of choice.
“This event let people be able to have a creative outlet for what they want to be,” King said. “It is also a good community builder.”
Iovene said creating a space for LGBTQIA+ students to express themselves was the event’s goal.
“It is good to normalize pronouns so that even if you don’t use unusual pronouns, you can support the community by displaying your pronouns so that it’s normalized,” Iaccarino said.
“Being misgendered is a challenging and upsetting experience,” Iovene said. “Respecting someone’s pronouns is a simple way to show basic human decency.”
Feinberg said people should respect others’ identities and should listen to them.
With the SAGE Center relocating to Room 235, Iovene said all are welcome to check out their new space and attend their weekly events. The SAGE Center also accepts clothing donations for their “Open Door Closet”, where students can access clothing and accessories.
Pins Designs “We are hoping to get more people to check out the space, queer and non-queer,” Iovene said.