On Saturday, Nov. 4, a line of tables in the Schultz East Alcove featured an array of neatly-folded clothing organized by size. In the center of one of the tables was a selection of binder tops as well as a stack of canvas tote bags for attendees to use while shopping. The event, a gender-affirming closet hosted by All Gender Equity Society, was free and open to all students, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Attendees could bring clothing of their own to donate or to take what they wanted from the selection.
AGES President Cam Lesher, ’24, said that the closet event helps to fulfill the mission of AGES in providing accessible outlets for gender expression while remaining a resource for the broader campus community.
“I think that one, it fits within our mission for providing an exploration of gender expression and gender identity,” Lesher said. “But also, there are lots of students on this campus that might not have the opportunity to go shopping for clothes or might not have the ability to get things that are warmer for the winter.”
AGES hosted a similar closet event last semester at French Creek Coffee and Tea in Meadville and was in partnership with the Crawford County Mental Health Awareness Program. In addition to CHAPS, AGES has collaborated with a number of clubs on campus to bring the closet event to students, including the college chapter of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and Students for Environmental Action.
“We’re looking forward to more collaborations,” Lesher said. “I’m just always nervous to set up collaborations if we aren’t going to have a decent attendance.”
Attendance at Saturday’s closet event was minimal, but Lesher explained that there are a number of reasons why the event would turn out low numbers, despite students voicing a high level of interest.
“I feel like sometimes people are a little nervous about coming in because they don’t want to do it around a lot of people, or they’re just busy during the times that we normally meet, or when we organize the events,” Lesher said. “So we’re going to continue doing them, but we might change the ways in which we do them or the times that we do it.”
People filtered in and out of the event throughout the day, and a significant amount of clothing was gone by 1 p.m. Lesher suggested in an interview earlier that day that the wide variety of clothing would hopefully help students find something that matches what they are looking to express.
“I’m really happy because we keep getting a lot more clothes, a lot of different kinds of expression, and we have a decent size range,” Lesher said.
One of the attendees was August McCannon, ’25, who has worked with AGES in the past as a board member and was excited to see variety in the clothing options.
“It’s nice that there’s an event where people can come get clothing that is gender affirming,” McCannon said.
Lesher said that AGES is looking to have at least one more closet event next semester, and that the future of the event and the club as a whole is up in the air given how many seniors are on board.
“I plan to at least have one at the start or beginning of next semester,” Lesher said. “I might move over to doing some sort of form that someone can submit and then we’ll just organize a private time for them to go through things.”