MISSIOn

Bear Closet aims to create a platform for the LGBTQ+ community to share their personal narratives with middle school and high school students in the Berkeley area. We encourage members and supporters of LGBTQ+ community to serve as mentors and advocates for the equality of all identities by sharing their personal journey toward self-love and acceptance. We hope to inspire youth to take pride in their own identity and fight for a stronger, more inclusive future.

What We Do

Bear Closet is a DeCal course offered at UC Berkeley dedicated to training and preparing students to speak at middle and high schools regarding LGBTQ life at college, through the Pacific Center’s Speaker’s Bureau program. Such services are essential to motivate LGBTQ adolescents to pursue higher education with the reassurance of a better, more inclusive future they may look forward to in college. This course is open to students of all genders and sexualities (including straight, cisgender allies), and will facilitate students’ volunteer work with LGBTQ support organizations, including the Pacific Center and Center for Educational Partnerships.

We welcome anyone interested in sharing their queer-related stories and experiences (i.e. personal, of a friend/family member, etc.) at middle and high school classrooms, in hopes of motivating out or closeted youth to pursue college education with the assurance of a better future. Rather than strictly focusing on assignments and deadlines, this two-unit DeCal prioritizes class discussion and bonding among its members, for the sake of establishing a strong base for community service.

For more information on our DeCal, feel free to read the syllabus here.