Creating spaces for LGBTQ+ students on campus

Before Liam Sanders ’28 ever stepped into a UD classroom, he already knew how isolating life could be for LGBTQ+ youth — and how powerful it feels when someone shows up for you. That understanding is what drives him now as he works to build safer, more welcoming spaces on campus. 

As a senior in high school, Liam joined Visible and Resilient, a Dayton-based youth-led organization supporting and educating students in grades 7-12 while working to prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youth. He became a prevention education participant, planning events and helping with marketing, as well as supporting other students through discussions and activities.

 “I joined Visible and Resilient because I know that a lot of LGBTQ+ youth don’t have support,” Liam said. 

When he came out as queer — an umbrella term many in the LGBTQ+ community use to describe identities outside heterosexual or cisgender norms — he said he was incredibly lucky to have the support of his mom, but knows not everyone has that experience. 

“I wanted to make a world where you didn’t have to be lucky to have a supportive parent or system,” he said.

As a freshman, Liam joined Q*mmunity Leaders, a UD peer education group that hosts programming for and by queer students and increases awareness of LGBTQ+ services on campus. 

Liam said he’s thankful to bring knowledge from his time at Visible and Resilient to campus, as his overall goal is to “create a more inclusive campus and campus culture” with Q*mmunity Leaders. The student-led organization holds educational and community-focused events throughout the year, including activities for National Coming Out Day and Transgender Day of Remembrance. 

“For Transgender Day of Remembrance, we set up flags in the KU field and tables with things like art stations and written words to share feelings, raise awareness and honor lives of those affected by anti-transgender violence,” Liam said.

Liam said one of his greatest challenges is creating spaces for conversation with his fellow students. He wants to help the UD community build an understanding among their queer peers, thus strengthening the community as a whole.

“Ignorance creates the biggest disparities. Ignorance is what causes people to hate one another,” he said. “This is why education is so important; the more education, the bigger the difference we will make.”

As he continues on his advocacy journey, Liam hopes to help strengthen not only the UD community, but the broader communities students become part of beyond campus, shown through his advocacy and education work with Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Dayton and the Q+ Youth Center. 

By emphasizing education and understanding, he wants this advocacy to create lasting change wherever people are willing to listen and learn. His goal is to leave a lasting impact by helping build spaces where understanding and inclusion continue long after a student leaves UD.