Rainbow Turtle Sticker
When freshman Sam Hajarian sees other people display the revamped rainbow terrapin logo stickers, she knows they are an ally, or part of the LGBTQ community — and that comforts her.
“[The stickers] identify me as part of a community,” said Hajarian, an English major who identifies as queer.
The LGBT Equity Center’s redesigned terrapin logo features a black-outlined terrapin filled in with the colors of the rainbow. The logos feature the email of the center and are available for people to wear as lapel pins as well as available in two different size stickers.
The logo is available for anyone to obtain and display, not limited to a specific campus group or person.
“It was this great mixture of a turtle, which already had pride for our Terp and also the rainbow, which [showed] we had pride,” said Cori Carfagno, the Center for Campus Life assistant director of engagement. “I really loved the idea of the combination, and since I work with veterans, graduate students, transfer students, office campus students and chaplains, I had the perfect constituency to also bring in this identity.”
A previous equity-center logo was used for years in conjunction with the Rainbow Terrapin Network Program, a group of staff, students and faculty who want to advocate for the LGBT community after extensive training, Carfagno said.
A few years ago, the center began using a logo specific to the Rainbow Terrapin Network Program. But the center’s staff then decided to create a separate logo for anyone to display, said Luke Jensen, the equity center’s director.
“We are really grateful starting to see all these stickers on campus and helps promote a more positive climate,” Jensen said.
One challenging issue people see when advocating for LGBTQ is creating a sense of community on a large college campus, Jensen said, and this simple logo can help bring identities to light and foster conversation.
Carfagno echoed Jensen, and added that logo visibility is key even when she is not directly talking about it. For example, when she teaches a class, she makes sure to wear the pin so students know they can ask questions regarding it.
“The symbol is such a recognizable symbol,” she said, “and at the same time, it’s the perfect thing for students, faculty, staff, for them to come up and say, ‘I actually like that, what is it for?’”
The more university community members can show students different support systems, the more comfortable they can feel, which can lead to increased LGBT advocacy support, Carfagno said.
“Anyone who’s displaying a logo, it doesn’t mean that they are an LGBTQ person, but it does show that they support LGBTQ people, and also that this is a place … that is working towards full inclusion,” Jensen said. “Together, we will make the University of Maryland even better than it already is.”
