The Gay Morning Star was Duke University's first queer publication of any kind. It was a once-a-semester publication done by the Duke Gay Alliance between 1973 and 1975. Duke's Gay Alliance was chartered by the Student Government Association (SGA) in 1972 and despite this support from the students, queer students were still met with vitriol on campus. 

Interestingly Duke's Gay Alliance charter was approved unanimously (despite laughter breaking out from the gathered SGA). The next day, an unsigned editorial appeared describing the conditions that queer students faced at the university. The noted that the must appear "sexless" or "not interested in chasing girls right now" in order to satisfy the questioning minds of heterosexual students. 

The opening article to first appear in The Gay Morning Star was titled "Who ARE WE?" and some quotes from it remain poignant: 

“We live on your floor in the dorm. We eat with you. We play Frisbee with you. We get high with you. We are women and men who believe it is beautiful to express love and affection and friendship rather than repress it due to fear of stereotyped and outmoded notions of sexuality, masculinity, and femininity."

“Gay people are individuals, not a category. No single generalization about the nature of Gay people can be applied to all Gay people. It is no more possible to stereotype Gays than it is to stereotype, say, all registered voters. On the contrary, we exist in all walks of life, all professions, with a full spectrum of social, political, and economic ideas, and a wide range of lifestyles.”

From the beginning, the mission of the Duke Gay Alliance and The Gay Morning Star was twofold. First, was to provide a support system to queer individuals at the university. Second was to provide resources such as: "Demystifying Gayness and explaining the new Gay consciousness".

Another significant success of the Duke Gay Alliance and The Gay Morning Star came when the two collaborated with the Carolina Gay Alliance to hold the first openly gay dance on Duke University's campus in April of 1974 with over 200 guests in attendance. The Duke Gay Alliance had another success in 1974 when they held an audience with then Duke University President Terry Sanford to advocate for expanding the university's.

Much of Duke Gay Alliance's and The Gay Morning Star's work led to dispelling of myths about queer culture and a more positive atmosphere towards inclusion. Today, Duke commits to non-discrimination policies and also has a Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity on campus. (Gillispie, 2023).  

The University of Florida (UF) plays a significant role in queer activism history because the State of Florida had state sanctioned queer persecution through something called the Johns Committee from 1956-1964. In a national climate that had seen activism at the Stonewall Riots in New York City, Florida was a much more conservative place. Queer students, faculty, and staff were hunted in a "Red Scare" like atmosphere where witnesses would be interviewed which led to mass firings and expulsions from the institution. 

A massive shift occurred when queer students allied themselves with the student-run, controversial, and independent newspaper The Independent Florida Alligator. The newspaper was a thorn in the side of administration as it did not follow their rules and worked independently of administration. 

The Independent Florida Alligator began providing a space for queer students to express what it was to be queer in public. Additionally, they intentionally decided to muckrake investigators of the Johns Committee by publishing their pictures along with scathing editorials. This all irked University President J. Wayne Reitz. 

Soon, a young, queer, black student by the name of Julius M. Johnson started an organization known as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). Johnson was inspired by queer sit-ins known as "love-ins" that took place at fellow Florida college, Florida State University. Johnson was willing at the time to ally the GLF with more liberal organizations on campus at the time such as the Student Mobilization Committee and the Young Socialist Alliance. This helped the young GLF get access to resources and speakers. What was clear was that the GLF and Johnson, while someone radical in their politics were willing to work with straight allies in their struggle. 

Johnson and the GLF also worked with Florida State University's more established GLF and another student group called Accent to secure speakers. Their first speaker occurred in 1970 where more than 300 individuals showed up to hear a talk about the dangers that queer people faced in society and how this violence was protected by Florida laws. 

The GLF had three main goals, first was to gain campus recognition, second was to educate on homosexuality, and third was to have a course on queer psychology. 

Finally, through a reorganization into a less radical organization called Gay Community Service Center (GCSC) the first queer student organization was recognized by UF in 1976. To celebrate, GCSC decided to throw a queer dance (with hired extra security just in case), the event was a success and the security wasn't needed. 

Queer students would organize again in 1982 and get office space on campus for their organization UFLAGS.  However, this would end up in a court battle as the office space was taken away. Finally, after a short battle in court, the Board of Regents would be convinced to restore office space to UFLAGS and they faced little formal administrative challenges in the future. (Clawson, 2014) (Bihm-Manuel, Laue, & Cusick, 2022)

Reed Erickson was a transgender man who was born Rita Alma Erickson in Texas in 1917 and attended university at Louisiana State University (LSU). Before transitioning, Erickson became the first female graduate of LSU's Engineering school. In the early 1960's Erickson inherited a significant amount of wealth after his father's death and began to transition. In 1964 he established the Erickson Educational Foundation (EEF). It was because of his extreme wealth that he was able to afford what few medical opportunities there were to masculinize and transition from female to male. 

With this immense wealth and the EEF behind him, Erickson began donating to advocacy groups, education, medical research, and doctors. All in the name of fighting for transgender individuals so that the process of transitioning would not only be attainable but also well researched and medically viable as opposed to the limited options Erickson himself faced. Additionally, the EEF provided one-on-one counseling for individuals who were transitioning and many say saved a number of lives of people that may have sought suicide had the resources the EEF provided had not been in place. (Devor & Matte, 2007). 

The primary military college in the state of South Carolina, The Citadel is an institution that has a history that is long and reaching. The Citadel for much of it's existence was an all-male academy. Interestingly when the "culture wars" of the 1980's and 1990's reached the iconic institution located in Charleston, South Carolina one of the questions at play was should the citadel allow female cadets. 

Surprisingly, many queer individuals on campus formed a coalition with both white and black male cadets in opposition of integration. They tried to make "separate but equal" arguments, but ultimately lost. Shannon Faulkner, the first female cadet was admitted. (Estes, 2010). 

Texas A&M University's (TAMU) campus was once home to an LGBTQ+ Cultural Center and numerous student organizations that fight for the rights of those in the queer community. This is in large part due to the work done by members of Gay Student Services (GSS) in the 1980's at TAMU. 

GSS originally met off campus, but decided to try to meet on campus. It was when trying to do this that members of the group had knives pulled on them by Corps Cadets while trying to hang signs for their meetings. The Cadets made them go around and take the signs down. 

GSS continued to fight for recognition on campus and were turned down at every corner by TAMU. TAMU's official reasoning was that GSS was a "social organization" and that TAMU did not have any fraternities on campus. However, GSS did provide services to their members including a "Gayline" (a hotline for organizing) and a gay roommate service for individuals that wanted to live with fellow queer individuals. This ruling was upheld by a lower court. 

The GSS appealed this to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals who agreed with GSS that TAMU was violating GSS' 1st Amendment Rights. TAMU attempted to appeal to the Supreme Court, who refused to hear the case. (Rush, 2021). 

• The Haresfoot Club Inc. UW-Madison: “Haresfoot” Photographs, UW-Madison Libraries.

• *The Empty Closet (1971-Current) | River Campus Libraries Digital Collections

https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/university-of-rochesters-online-archive-of the-empty-closet-chronicles-four-decades-of-the-gay-rights-movement/