Remembering the Evolution of Queer-Centered Organizations at SU
Building and maintaining official student groups that are publicly supported by both the university and the campus community has been integral to creating concrete positive change for LGBTQ students at Southwestern.
One signifier of a clear increase in campus support for queer rights and establishing queer spaces within the last half-century is the gradual rise in both attendance at and publicity for queer-based student groups at Southwestern. Because many of these organizations held meetings and events in the McCombs Campus Center and the Student Union Building before that on the same site, that is where we have placed this pin, but some events have been held elsewhere, most notably Dragball, which was held in the Mood-Bridwell Atrium in the early years.
In 1991, the Gay and Lesbian Student Association (GLSA) became the first official queer student organization on campus. While the name shifted to the Sexual Orientation Awareness League (SOAL) by 1993 to broaden the group’s mission to include allies of the queer community, the central purpose of both organizations was the same: to provide support and community for queer students, who were often closeted.
This change was the first sign that the goals of a queer-centered group could strive beyond just creating a safe space. However, this was still the main priority due to the lack of support from both Southwestern and the broader lack of state or federal protection from discrimination at the time.
SOAL sponsored talks on campus advocating for queer rights, and created and sponsored Coming Out Week, which concluded with a Drag Ball open to the campus. These events really picked up steam in the late ‘90’s, with a few hundred attendees at their annual Drag Ball in 1996.
In a surprisingly progressive move in contrast to SU’s history as a heteronormative religiously-affiliated institution, the school’s anti-discrimination policy finally being expanded in 2000 to include sexual orientation was a major victory for the growing queer community at SU. Queer students, faculty, and staff were now granted legal protection of their marginalized status at a time where state-wide or federal protections were not yet in place.
This change was a result of the significant advocacy work done by both students, faculty, and staff, as they had already petitioned twice prior for the same request in the 1990’s, but had been rejected at the Board level. However, the petition in 2000 was finally approved by the Board, and the advocacy group, as well as all of the queer people on campus who gained protected legal status, was victorious.
Not only was this a contrasting move with the Methodist ties that have always connected Southwestern, but it went directly against both state and federal laws at the time. It took until 2014 for sexual orientation to be explicitly protected under federal law against discrimination by an employer. No state-level law in Texas currently exists that includes sexual orientation in employee nondiscrimination standards.
This affirmation of LGBTQ rights kickstarted a period in the 2000’s at Southwestern that highlighted increased involvement in queer-centered organizations on campus.
The group named Allies was founded in 2005, right after SOAL disbanded, and ended up being one of the most successful queer-related groups in SU’s history in terms of attendance and advertisement. They continued to host notable events that had begun to resonate with the campus community, like Drag Ball and Coming Out Week, both of which steadily gained traction over the years with the student body.
Allies remained as a pillar of community and support for queer students until 2014, where it morphed into its current group: Pirates For Pride.
While one can draw many similarities from Pirates for Pride to groups like GLSA or SOAL from the ‘90’s, an observable shift in mission makes the marked difference between the purposes of a queer-centered organization clear. Pirates for Pride focuses primarily on advocacy, and while they exist as a safe space for queer folks on campus, their goals reach beyond that.
This change is a byproduct of the time period and ever-changing campus climate students exist in. In the ‘90’s, when it was significantly less safe to be publicly out, safe spaces in the form of those early queer-centered groups were paramount to laying the groundwork for advocacy to even occur. Presently, the focus has evolved past this because the world has also progressed.
However, this does not mean the work is done, and the queer students of today know this. Queer rights are constantly under attack, especially in Southern states like Texas, and organizations like Pirates for Pride are an essential aspect of that grassroots counter-resistance.
Pirates for Pride has been an integral platform for queer students on campus in terms of both publicity and advocacy. They host events like Drag Me To Brunch, which seems to be an event akin to Allies’s former event, Drag Ball, and have weekly meetings that include activities for members to connect over. However, these events do more than simply exist. They sell out.
Pirates for Pride has now hit a decade since their foundation date back in 2014, making it the longest-running queer organization in Southwestern’s history, showing how the queer community has continued to expand its visibility as more people are comfortable attending an event in a queer space or even being out in public on campus.
Today, Pirates for Pride continues to advocate for queer rights at all levels: from on campus, to the local Georgetown area, to the entire state. However, it is equally important to remember those who laid this path–the founding members of GLSA and SOAL–who had hoped a time like this would come to exist at Southwestern, where both local and federal-level progress is being made and the queer community has carved out places to be unequivocally celebrated.
