LGBTA Resources + Information

Your Role as a Safe Zone Member



VISIBILITY. Your main goal as a Safe Zone member is to be visible. You are expected to post your Safe Zone sticker in a visible area.  This should also be an area which is under your control.  For example, if you share an office, you should not hang the sticker on your office door but rather on your own desk or personal space in order to not falsely include non-Safe Zone members who may not feel comfortable in that role.

Once you have identified yourself and your space as a Safe Zone, you are expected to provide support, resources, and referrals to individuals who choose to approach you.  You are also expected to maintain the students’ confidentiality and requests for privacy.

This manual will only provide answers to the most basic of questions and concerns.  Should you need further information, please contact the Center for Women at Case, University Counseling Services, and/or one of the area organizations.  We will also be adding your name to an e-mail distribution list, so you will be receiving periodic articles of interest or relevance to these issues.

Safe Zone is not meant to be a support group or to be substituted for therapeutic sessions with a clinical psychologist.  In situations where you feel the student may need to speak to a professional, be sure to refer him/her to the University Counseling Services.  DO NOT handle emotionally unstable students or situations where you believe the student or someone else may be in danger on your own.  Your role is to let them know where they can turn for help if they need it.  Be sure to maintain appropriate boundaries for your own well being.

What is NOT expected from you as a Safe Zone Member

You are not expected to be an expert on GLBT issues.  Know your limits and refer a student who has needs you cannot provide rather than guessing at answers.

There will most likely be people who will want to debate the value or purpose of the Safe Zone program or who may challenge you about general LGBTQ issues.  You are not expected to defend the Safe Zone or participate in debates of this nature.  You are simply serving as a safe person and a resource.  Please refer these individuals to members of Spectrum.

(Source:  Rainbow Center, UCONN)

Although it is unclear where the "Safe Zone" idea originated, the earliest reference found is the Ball State University program called SAFE On Campus (Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay Student Association, 1992) -- from Safe Zones: Creating LGBT Safe Space Ally Programs (to be published in 2006)