A History of LGBTQ Activism and Life at Cornell University

by Kayla Koroma, Class of 2022, Human Development

In 1998, a poster from Cornell’s LGBT Resource Center was hung up in Annabel Taylor Hall to promote “Coming Out Week.” A day later, it was vandalized with the message, “Don’t Spread AIDS to Children and the Poor.” The incident took place four years after the Resource Center was first established in 1994. This was not an isolated event. There were many incidents of hate speech and expression targeted towards the Resource Center and LGBTQ students, especially in the center’s early years. The Resource Center archives include records of hate mail, other poster vandalism, and harassment – each incident documented on a Hate Expression form, like the one below.

Hate Expression Form, documenting harassment of the Resource Center’s new director, Gwendolyn Dean, January 1999. Cornell LGBT Resource Center Collection, Box 1, Folder 33. Human Sexuality Collection, Rare and Manuscript Collections. Cornell University Libraries

Many of the hate expressions were not anonymous. For example, a hate email written to the Resource Center had the clear signature of the student who wrote it. There was also an incident of a student who wrote hateful speech on the pamphlets that were being handed out by the resource center right in front of the people who were tabling. And there were student-run organizations who would hang posters around campus expressing anti-LGBT propaganda.

Vandalized poster for Gay Jeans Day, c. 1999, sponsored by the LGBT Resource Center and new student group DASH (Direct Action to Stop Homophobia).

The Hate Expression sheets reveal that discrimination towards LGBT students on campus was a common occurrence in the 1990s. They were also a form of activism. In spring 1999, the Resource Center compiled a list of all the incidents that occurred over the previous year and sent the list to administration, providing direct evidence that there was a major problem on campus.

Sources

Cornell LGBT Resource Center, Coming Out Week poster and report, 1998. Cornell LGBT Resource Center Collection, Box 1, Folder 33. Human Sexuality Collection, Rare and Manuscript Collections. Cornell University Libraries

LGBT Resource Center. Student & Campus Life | Cornell University.

Kayla Koroma is a recent graduate from Cornell University majoring in Human Development. During her time at Cornell, she was involved in research in the Child Witness Cognition Lab, Body Positive Cornell, and EARS. She was introduced to archival work and exhibit curation through the course “Making of Public Queer History.” Although Kayla hopes to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology, she hopes to have the opportunity to further her experience in archival research surrounding LGBTQ history in the future.