UK hires LGBTQ director

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By Rachel Minogue

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With plans to build an office that will serve as a central hub for all LGBTQ education, advocacy and community building efforts, the university hired Lance Poston as the first ever Director of LGBTQ Resources.

“We have needed a Director in order to make the kind of progress we are capable of making on this campus,” said Dr. Kristen Mark, Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Director of Sexual Health Promotion Lab. “It provides a unified voice and demonstrates that our campus is paying attention to diversity needs.”

Poston will spend the summer meeting with campus leaders and student organizations to learn the best way to move forward with the office. This is the first time UK has hired a professional staff to lead an LGBTQ movement on campus.

Poston studied the history of gender and sexuality at at Ohio University and was a faculty member at Ohio University’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program.

“Lance couldn’t be a better fit for this position,” Mark said. “He will make a difference on this campus. And this position made that possible.”

Poston said he plants to retire the names “OutSource” and “LGBTQ Task Force,” to shift away from a solely student-led movement and turn it into an administrative, professional office. In addition, Poston launched social media and online advocacy campaigns to reach out to students, faculty and staff.

The summer will act as a testing ground for the new office and will give Poston a better idea of what tangible effects the university can expect from the new department.

Poston said decreasing marginalization and increasing visibility of LGBTQ groups sums up his goals, but the real effects and plan of action have not yet been determined.