Cold War Era
Academic Freedom and Free Speech at U of I
The Broyles’ Bills
Clabaugh Act (1947)
The Leo Koch Case
The Fight for Freedom of Speech and Expression in the 1960s
Student Life during the Cold War Era
The GI Bill and the U of I
Sex, Censorship, and the College Scene
Conservatives on Campus
The Black Athlete at the U of I
Women’s Athletics at the University of Illinois
The Struggle for Integration in the 1940s and 50s
Affirmative Action at the University of Illinois
Project 500
Second Wave Feminism on Campus
Gay Rights on Campus
Latina/o Students at U of I
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at U of I
U of I students and the draft
1967 Protest-Sit-In against DOW Chemical
Publication of “Walrus”
October 15, 1969 Moratorium
March 1970 Rally Against GE
March Riots (1970)
May Student Strike (1970)
The Rise and Fall of President George D. Stoddard
The U of I and the Defense Department
Surveillance, Discipline and the University of Illinois
Lesbian Events: Potluck Dinner, 1976
Lesbian Events: Potluck Dinner, sponsored by Gay Illini, 1976
Lesbian Events: Potluck Dinner, sponsored by Gay Illini, Found in RS 41/2/46 Box 1.
Flyer announcing a strictly lesbian event. Presumably the Gay Illini group felt that the term "gay" was encompassing of lesbian women, although the presence of the address for a separate group is shown on the bottom of the flyer. The group went through a myriad of name changes reflective of changes in LGBT culture throughout the years.
Gay Rights on Campus
To be gay on college campuses prior to the late 1960s and early 70s was to live a closeted existence. Gay students faced ridicule from other students, a clandestine social atmosphere, and a psychological establishment that believed that homosexuality was something that could be, and should be, “cured.” The social movements of the 1960s such as Black Power and the anti-war protests also stirred the consciousness of gay men and women on college campuses. At the University of Illinois, the first gay rights’ group, “Gay Liberation” was formed in 1971 with the stated purpose of advancing “the political and social rights or homosexuals through education of the heterosexual community.” Throughout the 1970s gay-rights activists worked to pass anti-discrimination ordinances in Champaign and Urbana and to create a more tolerant educational and social environment on the campus and in the community.
University of Illinois Sources:
LGBT at UIUC Digital Collection, 1970-2015: Includes event flyers, posters, calendars, RSO cards, and student organization advertisements from Gay Illini, the Gay Women's Group, the Gay Students' Alliance, and more.
Office for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns, 1942-2001 (RS 41/2/46): Includes ephemera relating to gay issues as well as three scrapbooks compiled by Buell Dwight Huggins, a University student, and, later, a member of the Mattachine Society, an early gay activist group.
Student Organizations Publications, 1871- (RS 41/6/840): Includes information from the Gay Community AIDS Project, Gay Liberation, and the Lesbian and Gay Illini.
Student and Faculty Org. Constitutions & Registration Cards, (RS 41/2/41): Includes information on the Gay Illini, Gay Students Alliance, and Gay Liberation, and others.
Daily Illini, digitized and searchable from1871-2010.
Bibliography:
John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago: 1998).
Shane L. Windmeyer and Pamela W. Freeman, eds, Out on Fraternity Row: Personal Accounts of Being Gay in a College Fraternity (Los Angeles: 1998).
Nancy Moran and Charlotte Bunch, eds., Lesbianism and the Women's Movement (Baltimore: 1975).