No, we will not change our minds and no, we will not talk to you!
That was one of the more poignant moments in GAS’s two year struggle to gain recognition, a fight we eventually won completely, setting precedent in five Southern states.
You can imagine then the immense satisfaction I took from sitting in the front row at the VCU Burnside Watstein Award Ceremony yesterday, waiting to receive an award for my work forty some years ago. On my right were my fellow recipients and on my immediately left was the brilliant VCU President, Michael Rao. He and I had had a nice chat over lunch and continued to visit while waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Rao is all the things a university official should be: warm, welcoming, open to new learning, supportive and loving. In fact “love” was the central theme of his brief remarks after each of us had spoken. He is a far, and welcome, cry from the VCU leadership of old.
It was a glorious day that started with a panel where the four of us faced hundreds of assembled students, faculty, staff and onlookers. We were introduced with an oral history that told the story of the GAS lawsuit and after the formal questions from the presenters we tried our best to answer the sometimes very direct questions from the especially engaged students. It was remarkable.
In 1975 and 1976 Brenda, Frances, Sharon and I were just doing what we thought was right. We didn’t give any thought to history or precedent. We wanted to be in a student group and we were outraged that the university said no. We enlisted the aid of the ACLU, Lambda Legal Defense and the National Gay Task Force to fight for our rights. When we won the case we were thrilled but I was happy to go back to being a private citizen and to get on with my life. It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve come to appreciate how important was the work we did and to feel thankful for being in the right place at the the right time.
Several people weren’t in attendance yesterday who fully deserved to be there. Number one on that list is Stephen Lenton who was my mentor and the faculty advisor to the Gay Alliance of Students. His gentle guiding hand and abundant wisdom supported all of us and made our victory possible. He died in 2001. (You can read more about him here).
Steve Pierce was my boyfriend at the time and worked tirelessly to promote a fund-raiser to pay our legal costs. He was so happy when we won the appeal that he memorized part of the court’s decision and thirty years later was still able to quote it to me. He too died of AIDS.
Don Dale was the the news director of the CBS TV affiliate in Richmond and of course, my best friend. He made sure the story got all the coverage it deserved. He died last December; had he lived I know he would have been cheering us on yesterday.
I accepted my award in Steve’s name and I dedicated it to the Trevor Project, telling the audience that as much as we accomplished there was still much more work to do. We will not have finished until all LGBTQIA youth feel safe and free to be who they are. We joined the fight forty-two years ago; I invite those of you reading these words to continue that fight today.
I also invite you to read more about this chapter of my life by following these two links. The first article is pretty long, I know, but I think it’s a good read. The second is coverage of yesterday’s events.
Poster at the entrance to the hall.
Detail of poster; note the hottie on the left.
Visiting with VCU president Michael Rao
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