1970
· April 28: Daily Texan announces first public meeting of gays & lesbians in Austin history
· Spring: 'The Common Struggle' begins organizing at UT, forming the Gay Liberation Front (GLF)
· May 7: GLF attempts to register as an official UT organization
· May 12: UT Assistant Dean of Students Edward Price rejects GLF as a UT organization
· Fall: Price rejects GLF again. Cites the prevailing psychological view that homosexuality is an illness. GLF appeals to the Student Appeals Committee
· December 4: UT Student Appeals Committee grants GLF official organizational status
· December 5: less than 24 hours later, UT President Ad-Interim Bryce Jordan rescinds the
group's status
1971
· June: women from GLF form Gay Women's Liberation in a friendly split from GLF
· December 2: GLF files suit charging the University with discrimination, demands official
recognization as a campus organization
1972
· February 23: Student Government votes to sponsor a fundraising dance to help cover court costsfor GLF's suit. UT administration quickly vetoes the plan, but SG and GLF hold the dance anyway.The police arrive and rough up and arrest several individuals
1973
· June 25: The Rag declares GLF dead
1974
· January: Gay People of Austin (GPA) holds first meeting. Founded by former GLF members,
registers as a formal UT organization without incident
· March 26: UT recognizes Gay Liberation Front as a campus organization in an out-of-court
settlement
· June: GPA sponsors a Gay Pride Picnic and Cultural Celebration for GPA's victory in registering as a UT organization
1976
· October: Homophilic League, a lesbian and gay organization at UT, starts up but fails to thrive almost immediately
1977
· May: University Lesbian/Gay Alliance forms in response to a bill proposed by Rep. Clay
Smothers, D-Dallas that would make it a criminal act to register gay groups at public Universities.The bill is defeated
1978
· Fall: the new Lesbian and Gay Students Alliance is granted UT campus recognition
1979
· June 4: Samshasha, first known gay activist of Asian descent at the University visits the White House as part of a multicultural gay delegation, 10 years after the Stonewall riots. He, along with a delegation of gay rights activists meets with a secretary of Jimmy Carter and discusses the difficulties gay people have with immigration to the United States
1980
· November 19: GLSA, now LBGSA, is first registered
1985
· the Gay and Lesbian Student Association's (now LBGSA) float was pummeled with beer bottles,
cans, and trash thrown from dormitory balconies
· the GLSA proclaims Valentine's Day as Gay and Lesbian Blue Jeans Day and "urges all people
who support equal rights for homosexuals to wear jeans." Many rush home to change clothes
1986
· University Student Senate refuses to fund a gay awareness week
1987
· gay awareness culminates in a "Lavender Menace" rally where GLSA members laugh at heterosexual's fears that homosexuals destroy the Family and threaten to destroy the human race
1988
· GLSA lobbies for a UT non-discrimination policy inclusive of sexual orientation
· October: GLSA holds the first annual National Coming Out Day on campus
1989
· student members of the Young Conservatives of Texas meet the annual gay rally with signs that say "Stop AIDS, Stomp Out Homosexuality," and "Hooray for the Earthquake," in reference to the earthquake that devastated San Francisco the Tuesday before
1990
· Spring: University Lesbians helps Toni Luckett, black lesbian, win UT Student Assembly
presidency (now Student Government)
· Summer: GLSA successfully rallies for the passing of the Nondiscrimination Policy inclusive of sexual orientation
· August 29: Queers United in Envisioning an Egalitarian Restructuring of Society holds week long demonstrations, including a kiss-in on the West Mall that exposed homophobia and queer bashing at the University
· Parents of gay and lesbian students are anonymously mailed clippings from the Texan that include their child's name and report on gay and lesbian student activism. Attached notes said, "This is what I'm doing with my education, Mom and Dad. Aren't you proud of me?"
1992
· September 3: GLSA changes its name to LBGSA to include bisexuals
1995
· Valentine's Day: LBGSA gathers on the West Mall to hold a kiss-in and claim queer public
space at the University
· October: Young Conservatives of Texas protests at the LBGSA Nat'l Coming Out Day Rally
1996
· February 4: The University Alliance is founded by Nick Will as a GLBT issues discussion group
1997
· The Big Split: LBGSA, the largest and oldest GLBT group, grows too large and too divided
· March 31: OUTLaw, the LGB Law School Alliance, registers
· October 9: Trikone-Tejas, the pan-Asian alliance, is registered
· November 19: Safe Space, the gay/straight alliance, is registered
· October: LBGSA holds the 10th anniversary National Coming Out Day Rally
1999
· Summer: the GLBT groups organize the summer orienation GLBT meeting for the first time,
establishing the Mentor Program
· August: the GLBT groups organize the first Welcome Picnic for GLBT students
2000
· March 7: UT GLBT groups hold a Gay Day Rally and protest university policies
· March 29: Rainbow Summit, organized in 1999, registers as an official UT organization replacing the failed Rainbow Alliance
· September 26: Student Government creates the GLBTAlly Affairs Agency
· November 18: LBGSA, the oldest surviving UT GLBT group, turns 20 years old
2001
· January 29: GLGBN, the Gay & Lesbian Graduate Business Network, first registers
· April: the Rainbow Summit first participates in Day of Silence
· Spring: Revolution, a new group for black GLBT students, is formed by Andre Lancaster
· Summer: Texas 360, for GLBT swimmers, is formed
· October 1: Revolution dissolves and QPOC, Queer People of Color, is formed
· October 3: the first ever UT queer web is launched: queerUT
· October 8: UT holds its first ever Pride Week around NCOD
(source: queerTX.org)
Analysis
LGBT activism has a long history at the university, stretching back to the early 1970s. The LGBT community hence has greatly benefited from the hard work of many people. In a sense the progressive changes that have shaped how LGBT students live at the university can be traced back to that activism. The long hisorty of activism can also explain the relative ease of being open at the university, and the general accepteding nature of regular students towards LGBTs
No comments:
Post a Comment