The Gender, Race and Identity (GRI) Club at the University of Nevada, Reno is accepting donations for the Club’s new Gender Affirming Closet. Since its start in 2019 the GRI Club has created an environment in which students can explore, learn more about and express issues surrounding gender, race and identity topics. The GRI club welcomes and serves students from all communities but places a special emphasis on LGBTQIA+ matters. Indigo Hinojos, the club’s co-founder, says that the Gender Affirming Closet is dedicated to transgender, nonbinary, gender queer, and any other student or faculty/staff member who is looking for clothes to express their identity.

“The purpose of the closet is to provide a free way that will allow a safe way for students to be able to be themselves without fear of having to go shopping at a mall, if their family watches their bank account, or if they just haven’t been able to buy new clothes in a while due to financial reasons,” says Hinojos.

While the closet currently has no permanent location, an inaugural pop-up event will be held Wednesday, March 2. Donations are being accepted through the end of February on campus at:

• GRI department in the Thompson Building, room 106
• Joe Crowley Student Union in the Multicultural Center on the third floor

“The Gender Affirming Closet will hopefully at some point have a permanent location on campus, but for now it will be a pop-up event consisting of clothing, accessories and other items that have been donated by the campus and Reno community.”

The GRI Club is asking for donations of gently used clothing. They are especially in need of masculine and gender-neural clothing. Accessories of any kind are great donations including jewelry, shoes, bags or wallets. If you do donate jewelry, please make sure earrings have never been worn or are properly sanitized. New items include cosmetics, such as makeup and hair styling products. Other items for donation include gift cards for salons and barbers accepting of all gender identities and financial donations to purchase binders, packers and other gender affirming products.

“Access to gender expression and transition are essential for queer, trans, and nonbinary people, but clothes and beauty products cost money, and LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately poor due to ongoing discrimination at work, in housing, and in our families," Chair of the Department of Gender, Race, and Identity and Associate Professor Emily Hobson said. "The Gender Affirming Closet project is a wonderful way to provide support to students and to build mutual care and community at UNR.”