The Central Connecticut State University LGBTQ Center unveiled a new logo at its annual Rainbow Breakfast on March 31.

The logo was part of a contest where students could create a new logo for the center and submit it in a contest which was then voted on by the CCSU community. The contest had three finalists and totaled 449 votes.

The winner of the contest was Brianna Miranda, a sophomore majoring in graphic design.

“I was pretty surprised because I did it without the intention of really winning.  I just did it kind of for fun, I didn’t expect to even be in the top three and end up going to the breakfast,” Miranda said. “I was really surprised, but I was really grateful also because since I’m a beginner designer, having my logo voted and picked kind of helped my confidence as a designer.”

Miranda said that going to an event that the center put on and having a connection to the LGBTQ community influenced her decision to participate in the contest.

“Having friends and family that are in the LGBTQ community, I have pretty strong ties in the community,” Miranda said. “So I thought that I would love to make a logo for them.”

Dusty Rader, the interim coordinator for the LGBTQ center, said that the Rainbow Breakfast is one of several events the center has put on.

“We had our safe sex event earlier, that was in February, right before Valentine’s Day. We’ve also collaborated with the sociology department and a few other departments, including the Women’s Center,” Rader said.

The center has also had events with guest speakers.

“Also, at the Curtis Chan event, where Curtis Chan came and read a section of his book,” Rader said. “Then we engaged in a conversation about it, so we were part of that.” 

Rader said the Rainbow Breakfast is a major event for the LGBTQ Center.

“We have run our big event, which was the Rainbow Breakfast, where we announced the winner of our logo design contest,” Rader said. “We also recognized that event and everyone at the breakfast. We had our rainbow awards and announced our rainbow scholarships. That was really awesome and just supported the community, we had a really great speaker.”

Rader said that the center will also be re-establishing safe zone training in the future.

“Generally it’s a two-hour training to get certified, we can do it in a shorter amount of time,” Rader said. “It doesn’t have the same effect or purpose of it beyond just, you know, basic education. It’s building empathy and compassion for the LGBTQ+ community, both within our community and from people who are allies to our community. So, it helps people who are not part of the community understand better what gender is, as a social construct, what sexual orientation is and goes into those and helps people explore those things for themselves. Because everybody has a gender identity and expression, everybody has a sexual orientation and understanding the variations in those is really the hardest thing I think for people to get, so that’s what we try to focus on the most.”

The LGBTQ center is located on the first floor of Mildred Barrows Hall and is accessible to all CCSU students, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center features a lounge space, a small library, a gender-neutral bathroom with a shower and a clothing donation space with a changing room.