Pauley Ballroom and the GSU

History of Berkeley's Gay Student Union (GSU)

The group was actually founded back in 1969, as ONLY the 2nd ever openly gay student group in the USA, under the name "UC Berkeley Students for Gay Power" (1). It's important to understand the enormity of that statement, as the LGBT community at UC Berkeley took the risk to create their group in order to centrally organize a space for the growing Berkley Gay Community. The first president of the GSU, Robert Plantz, demonstrated that the group directly sprung from "the gay liberation movement that was just growing in the Bay Area" (1). He also stated that the GSU was "the first time most of us got to see that there were others like us who were just regular people and students" (1). The group was founded soon after as a response to Stonewall, the spark of the liberation movement itself. It's also important to understand the importance of a group like this at UC Berkeley, a school at the front of the Free Speech Movement that started just 5 years earlier in 1964. Today the group is known as the Queer Alliance Resource Center (QARC) and located in the Ceasar Chavez Student Center.


An Interview with Robert Plantz

This video attached is an actual interview that the current modern GSU at UC Berkeley conducted with the founder, Robert Plantz! In it he discusses how he started the Students for Gay Power as a PhD student on campus.

He describes that it at the height of the anti-war protests, and in fact, he states that "the day before the article which he was publishing to start the group, was actually the protests at People's Park" during the height of the anti-war movement in 1969. (2)

One of my favorite quotes from this video that I wanted to share is when Plantz discusses how the liberal viewpoint at the time hat "he might be psychologically screwed up, but not nearly as much as somebody who cares about me and what I'm doing in bed" (2). I think that this quote demonstrates perfectly how members of the Gay Liberation Movement saw those who actively criticized and worked against them.

Plantz also says that the majority of students who attended the meetings that the group held were there because "they simply felt isolated and they just wanted to meet other gay and lesbian people", which prompted the name change from Gay Power to Gay Student Union (2). It's important to emphasize, however, that without the actions of the Gay Liberation Movement itself, Plantz says that communities of LGBT people "just didn't exist" and would not have been able to create this group without these events (2).

Honestly, watching this video and the pure emotion you can see in Plantz's eyes is moving, and I hope you'll give it a watch!

The GSU's Big Dance at Pauley Ballroom

In the spring of 1970, just a few months after the GSU was founded in the fall of 1969, the organization decided to put on the first openly gay dance in UC Berkeley history in the Pauley Ballroom space of the M.L.K. Student Union. When the dance was announced by the group, it gained media attention due to its "first-of-a-kind" nature and departure from the status quo (3). One man who had a close eye on the happenings at Berkeley, the then-Governor of California, Ronald Reagan, satirically commented that he "hadn't been invited yet" to the dance being held (3).

For context, Reagan was vehemently against the student movements at UC Berkeley itself. In fact, Reagan once referred to the campus as "a rallying point for Communism and a center of sexual misconduct," (4). Just prior to this dance, in 1969 at the People's Park protests, Reagan actively chose to initiate violence against the protesters in order to subdue them, just one of his many actions against students on campus (4). Obviously, he was not being serious about attending the dance, but rather, sarcastically expressed his disdain for yet another student event that threatened his policy of order and safety. The history of political protest at Berkeley served as a direct obstacle for Reagan's plan and promise of stability, and therefore, he was quite involved in limiting events, groups, and students at UC Berkeley that would compromise his mission (4).

When the GSU learned about these comments from their less than favorable Governor, they organized Gay students throughout campus to sign a letter which they drafted as a formal invitation to the dance itself. The actual letter in its original form is located in the Bancroft Library at Berkeley (3). However, I've transcribed the contents of this letter below so you can read it yourself!


Governor and Mrs. Ronald Reagan

Governor’s Mansion

Sacramento, California

Dear Governor and Mrs. Reagan,

I was sorry to hear that you had not yet received an invitation to the People’s Dance sponsored by the Gay Students Union at UC Berkeley next Friday, May 22, 1970 in Pauley Ballroom at 9:00 P.M.

I am sure the members in no way meant to slight you, and I hereby extend my personal invitation for you both to attend, with sincere apologies and a promise that this won’t happen again.

Tickets are $1.50 per person, and all proceeds are going to be donated to the Free Clinic, a commendable organization in Berkeley which has for several years now made free medical services available to the poor people of Berkeley and Oakland.

If you find you are unable to attend, I hope you will consider donating the price of two tickets to the Free Clinic as a token of your concern not only for the clinic but for the age-old oppression of gay people of which this dance symbolizes the end.

Sincerely yours,

May 15, 1970 (3)

This letter was ACTUALLY sent to Reagan himself from the GSU! Upon reading it, the sarcastic tone and scathing opinion of Reagan's policies immediately are seen. In addition, the emphasis on the donations for the Free Clinic of Berkeley and the request for them to donate is a direct jab at Reagan's conservative policies which directly worked against the poorer communities in Berkeley and Oakland (4). This letter, however, also demonstrates the sheer importance of having this dance itself. It refers to the dance as the symbol of the end of the "age-old oppression of gay people" and does not stray from emphasizing this importance. The GSU knew that putting on an event this large would gain much attention. The comments from Reagan are a perfect example of this attention which publicized their event even more.

Why Pauley Ballroom?

As an RSO, Plantz explained that the GSU was entitled to utilize all spaces on campus to them that are available (2). Therefore, they were able to hold an event in Pauley Ballroom, something multiple RSO's that I am a member of do to this day. This event in essence also normalized the GSU as a regular group on campus. They were just functioning as any other group would, regardless of the identities of their members. The dance was a space to exercise this normalcy and in doing so, continued to solidify their place as a legitimate organization on campus.

In addition, Pauley Ballroom is arguably the largest and most prominent space for Student RSOs to have an event on campus. The student union and Ballroom are largely the same as they were upon creation back in 1964, albeit with interior modernization. However, the design of Pauley Ballroom is one where few can hide the events taking place inside. There are floor-to-ceiling windows that surround the building, and an exterior patio that extends around the building (6). With a capacity of 900, it is actually the 2nd largest venue in the entire East Bay! (6). In addition, the windows are able to be seen in from below on Sproul Plaza to most all passing by (6).

By having their event in Pauley Ballroom, the GSU was able to demonstrate their normalcy but also have a high-capacity event that could accommodate all the LGBT students who wanted to attend. In addition, the grandeur of the venue directly translated to the dance itself, as holding an event in Pauley Ballroom is not like holding one in Dwinelle Hall. The large windows and ability to be seen is also a key detail in the story of the dance. The GSU knew that by holding their openly Gay dance in this venue, they would not be hidden. They would be seen by everyone who could see there was an event happening in this space. However, this choice had to have been deliberate, as I could imagine they wanted to be seen, to be recognized, and to be understood as a permanent fixture on the UC Berkeley campus. With the introduction of the GSU, the days of invisibility for the LGBT community that occurred before were gone (1). This dance solidified the visible and EQUAL nature of Gay students living the college experience on the UC Berkeley campus. Unfortunately, there is scarce information on how the dance went itself, but my hope is that it went just like any other RSO event would have, smooth and fun for all involved!

Berkeley's unique nature at the forefront of political and social activism, combined with the formation of LGBT student groups at the very start of the Gay Liberation Movement, demonstrates that Gay students at UC Berkeley were actively working to subvert dominant ideologies and fight discrimination against their very existence.

Below are some images of Pauley Ballroom itself that demonstrate its grandeur and large space!

  1. Emma Talia, "UC Berkeley alumni reflect on Berkeley's LGBTQ+ history," The Daily Californian, June 17, 2021. https://www.dailycal.org/2021/06/17/uc-berkeley-alumni-reflect-on-berkeleys-lgbtq-history/

  2. .Bob Plantz, "Establishing the first LGBTQ+ campus organization," interview by Elena Mateus, Gender Equity and Resource Center, UC Berkeley, July 9, 2020. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-lBKDD1PvE&list=PLYL32awLJf-CTLvEAJYDCOQusPBXA6XgG&index=4

  3. Gay Students Union, "Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Reagan," Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley, May 15, 1970. https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/gaybears/reagan/

  4. Gerard J. De Groot, “Ronald Reagan and Student Unrest in California, 1966-1970,” Pacific Historical Review 65, no. 1 (1996): 107–29. https://doi.org/10.2307/3640829.

  5. UC Berkeley Event Services, "Pauley Ballroom," Accessed May 4, 2022. https://eventservices.berkeley.edu/venues/indoor-venues/mlk-building/pauley-ballroom/