Mission and Vision
Our mission and vision
The Lionel Cantú Queer Resource Center co-creates experiences with and for students, staff, and faculty to challenge cisheteronormative understandings of gender and sexuality. We build a more inclusive campus community by providing resources, care, advocacy, and education that disrupts binaries and honors the intersecting realities and dynamics within gender and sexual diversities. We envision communities where people of all genders and sexualities are able to thrive and celebrate their whole personhood.
The Cantú logo
Designed by an alumnus in 2016, the Lionel Cantú Queer Resource Center logo is full of meaning—reflecting LGBTQIA+ history, the UCSC campus, and the spirit of the Cantú itself.
Pink triangle
The pink triangle has been a symbol for various LGBTQ identities, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, distinguishing those imprisoned because they had been identified by authorities as homosexual men, a category that also included bisexual men and transgender women. In the 1970s, it was revived as a symbol of protest against homophobia and grew more popular throughout the 1980s and late 90s as HIV and AIDS activist groups like “Act Up” often displayed the symbol at protests. It has since been adopted by the larger LGBTQ community as a popular symbol of LGBTQ pride and the LGBTQ rights movement.
Redwood trees
A gesture to UCSC’s stunning campus, and particularly to the Redwood trees that surround and nestle the wood cabin that the Cantú has called home since 1997.
House/cabin shape
Many visitors describe the Cantú’s cabin as warm, cozy, and treehouse-like. We embrace that spirit—treehouses are places where young people reimagine the world, rebuild concepts of family, escape, find safety, dream, and learn through play. That’s exactly how we hope people engage with this queer cabin in the woods, lovingly known as “The Cantú.”
Pride flag colors
The main logo’s muted colors do not represent any single pride flag, but it was designed to allow pride flag colors to shine through behind it. The LGBTQIA+ community is beautifully diverse, with many pride flags representing identities across the queer and trans diaspora. This flexible design invites more people to see themselves reflected in the logo—and feel welcome at Cantú.
Cantú logo variations
The Cantú Queer Center logo comes in several variations, each inspired by different pride flags and identities within the LGBTQIA+ community. This intentional variety reflects the spirit of inclusivity at the heart of Cantú—celebrating the diversity of queer experiences and affirming that everyone belongs. Please contact our office if you have more questions or would like to request logo files.
All Cantu resources, services, and programs are open to all students, staff, faculty, and alumni consistent with state and federal law, and the UC Nondiscrimination Statement.