The Daily Evergay, Part II
You can read Part I of this story at https://historicalspaghetti.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-daily-evergay-part-i.html.
Quotes from LGBT students at WSU published in The Evergreen during the 1970s. On display in the WSU library.
A brief recap: Beginning in the early 1970s, lesbians and gay men at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington began to organize themselves into a conscious community. One aspect of this newfound community was the creation of student organization Gay Awareness (GA) in November of 1975. In Part II I detail debates about the organization's funding and its early activities. Click on the images in the article to read the issue in which they were printed.
Between November 1975 and July 1976, the WSU student newspaper The Daily Evergreen ran more than 45 articles discussing the activities of the newly-formed student organization Gay Awareness (GA). It was the first organization of its type on the Pullman campus. Many of these Evergreen articles debated whether student organization funds should be used to support a gay awareness organization. This blog post uses those newspaper articles to chart how gay activism at WSU in the middle of the 1970s made some important progress in the community, even if it did not make all the changes activists had hoped.
Despite Gay Awareness repeatedly advertising that meetings and events were open to all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, those opposing GA funding in the mid-1970s most often complained that the organization-and other minority organizations like the Black Student Union, Mesa Directiva, and Speelya-only existed for a minority of the student body.[i]. The most admitted reason for opposing funding these organizations was not open homophobia or racism, but a belief that because white and/or straight people were not incidental to the main focus of the organization, that they should not be forced to contribute any money to it. Those in opposition to funding these minority groups did not reply to others who questioned them about whether Jewish or atheist students should be refunded their portion of student fees spent on an Easter Egg Hunt. That such debates occurred over funding organizations devoted to issues of sexuality and race, and not whenever fees were spent on programs only serving part of the student body, points to the uneasiness students had with organizations like GA.
Many opposing GA funding did try to conceal their uneasiness towards lesbians and gays by pointing to other concerns, But the biggest fuel for the anti-funding fire was open homophobia. Examples were seemingly everywhere. One author of a letter to the editor, despite mentioning that they believed gays had the right to exist, felt it necessary to question whether the money requested by Gay Awareness would "really go for a phone and general office supplies or for cases of Vaseline?"[ii]
Another editorial sarcastically adopted the language of Gay Awareness to argue for the recognition of a bestiality organization-"the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Lovers."[iii] As one writer opposing GA funding made perfectly clear in 1976, "What it all boils down to is what is right and what is wrong. I believe (and most of the "normal" folks do) that homosexuality is wrong. What I can't understand is why people try and twist it to make it right."[iv] Homophobia permeated the discussions of the 1970s, even as some people tried to claim it was not an aspect of their reasoning.
It is important to point out that this homophobia did not require a religious angle. While some articles certainly cited their religion's opposition to homosexuality the two were not diametric opposites. In fact, for more than five years Gay Awareness held their meetings in the University's Interfaith House (then called the Koinoinia House, or K-House for short). Religion could be used to support homophobia, and it often was, but a rural and heavily Christian area also allows for forms of Christian tolerance, including towards its lesbian and gay residents.
Those who supported funding GA also wrote to the Evergreen and petitioned ASWSU to make their case. One editorial writer argued GA funding was appropriate because members of a fraternity had "waterballooned" a gay person walking by their fraternity house and were not held accountable for the assault. Another reminded readers that "All of the gay people I have ever been acquainted with are gentle, intelligent, men and women who have done nothing to warrant such attacks."[v]
On December 3, 1975 GA finally received ASWSU funding, but that was only the beginning of the controversy. Citing a WSU telephone poll taken more than a year beforehand which showed only 27% of students in favor of funding any kind of gay awareness group, many senators voted against the measure. Particularly jarring was an effort led by WSU student Tom Garrison. Along with John Barkley and one other student, they organized a petition to take away the organization's funding. On December 17, 1975 they presented to ASWSU a petition to remove GA funding, signed by 2,170 students, and thanked the fraternities in particular for their support. ASWSU denied the petitioners' request. GA Club President Dennis Moore was an important advocate pushing back against these reactions.[vi]
During another debate to approve funding in May of 1976 Moore, spoke to the ASWSU Senate about the death threats he had received and fears he faced given the publicity of the issue. A representative from Stephenson South responded to Moore's fears of death threats by saying "Maybe somebody will get lucky," before submitting a petition to strip Gay Awareness of all its funding.[vii]
Some ASWSU members who chose to stand for funding Gay Awareness faced a backlash from their constituents who had opposed it. After approving this funding, three districts began recall efforts against their senators, although it does not appear that any recall petitions were ever filed.[viii] For all the homophobia faced by early gay activists at WSU it must have been a relief to see the petitioners turned down. One editorial no doubt summed up the feelings of many: "The parallels between the reasoning for the assembly's action and the Civil Rights legislation passed by Congress in the 1960's are remarkably similar. During that time, the emotional, bigotry of a vocal majority was placed aside in order to vote on the basis of principles and precedents established in the founding documents of this nation."[ix]
But like all good controversies, debates over GA did not end with ASWSU approval. In January 1976, the Washington State University Board of Regents complained that they had learned about the heated debates over funding Gay Awareness not from WSU's President Terrell but from reporting in The Daily Evergreen. In response, some WSU students argued that this oversight would not happen if the board had a student representative and thus tried to use this controversy to leverage a place on the Board of Regents. Those who opposed funding Gay Awareness because they believed it only served gay people may have missed the irony of their actions; the controversy caused by voicing unsubstantiated concerns about GA exclusivity led to greater student involvement by the entire campus community. Funding gay people benefited everyone, if sometimes in a roundabout way.[x]
ASWSU support for Gay Awareness continued into the spring semester of the '75/76 school year. At a March 10, 1976 meeting, ASWSU and the Pullman City Council supported a GA petition that called for a ban to discriminatory hiring practices based on sexual orientation.[xi] Theresa Doherty, a student running for an at-large position in the ASWSU assembly during the 1976 election, made support for GA funding part of her election platform. While homophobia was an unfortunate part of the gay experience at WSU, some ASWSU representatives did much during these years to foster an inclusive environment for lesbians and gays, even if it meant facing personal attacks.[xii]
In April of 1976 Gay Awareness found itself it yet another budget battle when planning for the next academic year. At the April 14th ASWSU meeting Dennis Moore proposed a budget of $1,264. His request sought to bring in gay speakers and performance artists. Indicative of the contentious debates and misunderstandings about GA funding was a correction that The Evergreen ran following this meeting. The paper explained that Gay Awareness' $200 budget request for "fruit punch" was not asking for large quantities of flavored beverages but instead a request to bring a group named "Fruit Punch" to campus.[xiii]
Additionally, and to much consternation from some members of the straight community, GA requested a $325 break-even budget to bring Western Washington State College graduate Rebecca Valrejean-aka the Lavender Troubadour-to campus during Mothers' Weekend in early-May 1976. Making the point that gay people have mothers also, GA hoped that Valrejean's performance, consisting of "mime, interpretation and dance" and presenting "a true story about the theme of lesbianism," would educate the WSU community about lesbian and gay issues."[xiv]
The Gay Awareness statement that gay people also have mothers was a particular point of contention. One opposing editorial snidely questioned "how many homosexual unions ever have or ever will lead to motherhood?"[xv] What was particularly uninformed about this comment was that GA had also budgeted money for the 1976-1977 school year to bring to campus two lesbian mothers who would speak about the very topic that this letter-writer believed did not exist. Yet despite this backlash against GA based on the perception of disrespecting mothers by allowing a lesbian to perform during Mothers Weekend, ASWSU held firm and supported the event.
When final budget approvals came up for debate in May 1976 the impact of Gay Awareness' activism was made clear. Although they were still met with a petition opposing their funding, this was signed by "only" 1,330 people-a significant decrease from the 2,170 supporting the removal of their funding just five months earlier.[xvi] Likewise, that year a local television station ran a 30-minute program that interviewed lesbian and gay people in the community. In response, the Moscow Idaho Chamber of Commerce to threaten to pull the station's funding. But this still represented a step forward for the awareness campaigns which gays and lesbians had started back in 1970. During 1975 and 1976, as Washington State decriminalized homosexuality when reforming the criminal code, gay activism at WSU flourished.[xvii]
The controversies of the 1975-1976 school year led to political activism in the 1976-1977 school year, which is perhaps a nice way to end this post. During that year, Gay Awareness built off the momentum they had worked so hard to gain. That October, Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson spoke at Bryan Auditorium and took questions from the audience. Members of Gay Awareness used this as an opportunity to challenge the Senator about his support for the dishonorable discharge of gays and lesbians from the military. Although the senator's reply that "I wouldn't want any son of mine aboard a ship that was overwhelmingly made up of homosexuals" was met with applause by the audience, Gay Awareness members made such an uproar that their opposition took the main headlines in The Evergreen. Gay Awareness still focused on community building, but by 1976 it was also time for politics.[xviii]
In 1975 and 1976 Gay Awareness did not eradicate homophobia on the Washington State University campus or even change the minds of most students about lesbian and gay issues. But they set in motion some important events that could have an impact for years to come. They put gay issues out into the open, challenged homophobia outright, invited gay speakers to campus, and worked with ASWSU and the Pullman City Council to create institutional change at WSU.
About the author: Brian Stack is a Ph.D.candidate working with Dr. Peter Boag. His dissertation examines the history of bestiality in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century American West with particular emphasis on human-animal relationships, power, and sexual assault.
[i]"A Touch of Bias," Daily Evergreen, April 28, 1976, 4. For two letter writers who both refused to see GA as anything other than a "gays only" organization see "Perspectives," Daily Evergreen, May 26, 1976, 5.
[ii]"More letters on gay funding issue," Daily Evergreen, May 14, 1976, 4.
[iii]"Minority Rights (and Wrongs)," Daily Evergreen, Dec. 9, 1975, 4.
[iv]"Gay Funding: Freedom OK; no money," Daily Evergreen, May 7, 1976, 5.
[v]"Group Need Shown," Daily Evergreen, May 7, 1976, 5; "Perspectives," Daily Evergreen, May 26, 1976, 5.
[vi]"Who should get paid?" Daily Evergreen, Dec. 16, 1975, 4; "2,000 Sign Gay Petition," Daily Evergreen, Dec. 17, 1975, 9.
[vii]"Assembly OK's funds for Gay Awareness," Daily Evergreen, May 20, 1976, 1.
[viii]"Assembly Absences Kill Another Bill," Daily Evergreen, May, 27, 1976, 1; "Lewis and Block Working," Daily Evergreen, July 6, 1976, 8.
[ix]"Enlightened Decision," Daily Evergreen, Dec. 19, 1975, 4.
[x]"Write A Regent," Daily Evergreen, Feb., 27, 1976, 4.
[xi]"Assembly Endorses Gay Bias Petition,"Daily Evergreen, March 11, 1976, 1.
[xii]"More Candidates, Platforms," Daily Evergreen, March 29, 1976, 6.
[xiii]"Fees, Budget for Gays, Reform Bill Go To Assembly," Daily Evergreen, April 13, 1976, 2; "Increased Budget Requests May Not Be Met," Daily Evergreen, April 16, 1976, 1; "'Fruit Punch' is a gay group," Daily Evergreen, Apr. 21, 1976, 7.
[xiv]"One Woman Show Receives ASWSU Funding," Daily Evergreen, April 20, 1976, 1.
[xv]"Gays Said Not Honoring Moms," Daily Evergreen, April 23, 1976, 4.
[xvi]"Assembly OK's funds for Gay Awareness." Daily Evergreen, May 20, 1976, 1.
[xvii]"Moscow Chamber Pushes Restraints on KUID TV," Daily Evergreen, April, 29, 1976, 1. The Washington State Legislature repealed the state sodomy law criminalizing same-sex sex in 1975. It went into effect in 1976.
[xviii]"Merry-Gay-Round," Daily Evergreen, Oct. 13, 1976, 4.
A brief recap: Beginning in the early 1970s, lesbians and gay men at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington began to organize themselves into a conscious community. One aspect of this newfound community was the creation of student organization Gay Awareness (GA) in November of 1975. In Part II I detail debates about the organization's funding and its early activities. Click on the images in the article to read the issue in which they were printed.
Between November 1975 and July 1976, the WSU student newspaper The Daily Evergreen ran more than 45 articles discussing the activities of the newly-formed student organization Gay Awareness (GA). It was the first organization of its type on the Pullman campus. Many of these Evergreen articles debated whether student organization funds should be used to support a gay awareness organization. This blog post uses those newspaper articles to chart how gay activism at WSU in the middle of the 1970s made some important progress in the community, even if it did not make all the changes activists had hoped.
Despite Gay Awareness repeatedly advertising that meetings and events were open to all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, those opposing GA funding in the mid-1970s most often complained that the organization-and other minority organizations like the Black Student Union, Mesa Directiva, and Speelya-only existed for a minority of the student body.[i]. The most admitted reason for opposing funding these organizations was not open homophobia or racism, but a belief that because white and/or straight people were not incidental to the main focus of the organization, that they should not be forced to contribute any money to it. Those in opposition to funding these minority groups did not reply to others who questioned them about whether Jewish or atheist students should be refunded their portion of student fees spent on an Easter Egg Hunt. That such debates occurred over funding organizations devoted to issues of sexuality and race, and not whenever fees were spent on programs only serving part of the student body, points to the uneasiness students had with organizations like GA.
Many opposing GA funding did try to conceal their uneasiness towards lesbians and gays by pointing to other concerns, But the biggest fuel for the anti-funding fire was open homophobia. Examples were seemingly everywhere. One author of a letter to the editor, despite mentioning that they believed gays had the right to exist, felt it necessary to question whether the money requested by Gay Awareness would "really go for a phone and general office supplies or for cases of Vaseline?"[ii]
Another editorial sarcastically adopted the language of Gay Awareness to argue for the recognition of a bestiality organization-"the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Lovers."[iii] As one writer opposing GA funding made perfectly clear in 1976, "What it all boils down to is what is right and what is wrong. I believe (and most of the "normal" folks do) that homosexuality is wrong. What I can't understand is why people try and twist it to make it right."[iv] Homophobia permeated the discussions of the 1970s, even as some people tried to claim it was not an aspect of their reasoning.
It is important to point out that this homophobia did not require a religious angle. While some articles certainly cited their religion's opposition to homosexuality the two were not diametric opposites. In fact, for more than five years Gay Awareness held their meetings in the University's Interfaith House (then called the Koinoinia House, or K-House for short). Religion could be used to support homophobia, and it often was, but a rural and heavily Christian area also allows for forms of Christian tolerance, including towards its lesbian and gay residents.
Those who supported funding GA also wrote to the Evergreen and petitioned ASWSU to make their case. One editorial writer argued GA funding was appropriate because members of a fraternity had "waterballooned" a gay person walking by their fraternity house and were not held accountable for the assault. Another reminded readers that "All of the gay people I have ever been acquainted with are gentle, intelligent, men and women who have done nothing to warrant such attacks."[v]
On December 3, 1975 GA finally received ASWSU funding, but that was only the beginning of the controversy. Citing a WSU telephone poll taken more than a year beforehand which showed only 27% of students in favor of funding any kind of gay awareness group, many senators voted against the measure. Particularly jarring was an effort led by WSU student Tom Garrison. Along with John Barkley and one other student, they organized a petition to take away the organization's funding. On December 17, 1975 they presented to ASWSU a petition to remove GA funding, signed by 2,170 students, and thanked the fraternities in particular for their support. ASWSU denied the petitioners' request. GA Club President Dennis Moore was an important advocate pushing back against these reactions.[vi]
During another debate to approve funding in May of 1976 Moore, spoke to the ASWSU Senate about the death threats he had received and fears he faced given the publicity of the issue. A representative from Stephenson South responded to Moore's fears of death threats by saying "Maybe somebody will get lucky," before submitting a petition to strip Gay Awareness of all its funding.[vii]
Some ASWSU members who chose to stand for funding Gay Awareness faced a backlash from their constituents who had opposed it. After approving this funding, three districts began recall efforts against their senators, although it does not appear that any recall petitions were ever filed.[viii] For all the homophobia faced by early gay activists at WSU it must have been a relief to see the petitioners turned down. One editorial no doubt summed up the feelings of many: "The parallels between the reasoning for the assembly's action and the Civil Rights legislation passed by Congress in the 1960's are remarkably similar. During that time, the emotional, bigotry of a vocal majority was placed aside in order to vote on the basis of principles and precedents established in the founding documents of this nation."[ix]
But like all good controversies, debates over GA did not end with ASWSU approval. In January 1976, the Washington State University Board of Regents complained that they had learned about the heated debates over funding Gay Awareness not from WSU's President Terrell but from reporting in The Daily Evergreen. In response, some WSU students argued that this oversight would not happen if the board had a student representative and thus tried to use this controversy to leverage a place on the Board of Regents. Those who opposed funding Gay Awareness because they believed it only served gay people may have missed the irony of their actions; the controversy caused by voicing unsubstantiated concerns about GA exclusivity led to greater student involvement by the entire campus community. Funding gay people benefited everyone, if sometimes in a roundabout way.[x]
ASWSU support for Gay Awareness continued into the spring semester of the '75/76 school year. At a March 10, 1976 meeting, ASWSU and the Pullman City Council supported a GA petition that called for a ban to discriminatory hiring practices based on sexual orientation.[xi] Theresa Doherty, a student running for an at-large position in the ASWSU assembly during the 1976 election, made support for GA funding part of her election platform. While homophobia was an unfortunate part of the gay experience at WSU, some ASWSU representatives did much during these years to foster an inclusive environment for lesbians and gays, even if it meant facing personal attacks.[xii]
In April of 1976 Gay Awareness found itself it yet another budget battle when planning for the next academic year. At the April 14th ASWSU meeting Dennis Moore proposed a budget of $1,264. His request sought to bring in gay speakers and performance artists. Indicative of the contentious debates and misunderstandings about GA funding was a correction that The Evergreen ran following this meeting. The paper explained that Gay Awareness' $200 budget request for "fruit punch" was not asking for large quantities of flavored beverages but instead a request to bring a group named "Fruit Punch" to campus.[xiii]
Additionally, and to much consternation from some members of the straight community, GA requested a $325 break-even budget to bring Western Washington State College graduate Rebecca Valrejean-aka the Lavender Troubadour-to campus during Mothers' Weekend in early-May 1976. Making the point that gay people have mothers also, GA hoped that Valrejean's performance, consisting of "mime, interpretation and dance" and presenting "a true story about the theme of lesbianism," would educate the WSU community about lesbian and gay issues."[xiv]
The Gay Awareness statement that gay people also have mothers was a particular point of contention. One opposing editorial snidely questioned "how many homosexual unions ever have or ever will lead to motherhood?"[xv] What was particularly uninformed about this comment was that GA had also budgeted money for the 1976-1977 school year to bring to campus two lesbian mothers who would speak about the very topic that this letter-writer believed did not exist. Yet despite this backlash against GA based on the perception of disrespecting mothers by allowing a lesbian to perform during Mothers Weekend, ASWSU held firm and supported the event.
When final budget approvals came up for debate in May 1976 the impact of Gay Awareness' activism was made clear. Although they were still met with a petition opposing their funding, this was signed by "only" 1,330 people-a significant decrease from the 2,170 supporting the removal of their funding just five months earlier.[xvi] Likewise, that year a local television station ran a 30-minute program that interviewed lesbian and gay people in the community. In response, the Moscow Idaho Chamber of Commerce to threaten to pull the station's funding. But this still represented a step forward for the awareness campaigns which gays and lesbians had started back in 1970. During 1975 and 1976, as Washington State decriminalized homosexuality when reforming the criminal code, gay activism at WSU flourished.[xvii]
The controversies of the 1975-1976 school year led to political activism in the 1976-1977 school year, which is perhaps a nice way to end this post. During that year, Gay Awareness built off the momentum they had worked so hard to gain. That October, Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson spoke at Bryan Auditorium and took questions from the audience. Members of Gay Awareness used this as an opportunity to challenge the Senator about his support for the dishonorable discharge of gays and lesbians from the military. Although the senator's reply that "I wouldn't want any son of mine aboard a ship that was overwhelmingly made up of homosexuals" was met with applause by the audience, Gay Awareness members made such an uproar that their opposition took the main headlines in The Evergreen. Gay Awareness still focused on community building, but by 1976 it was also time for politics.[xviii]
In 1975 and 1976 Gay Awareness did not eradicate homophobia on the Washington State University campus or even change the minds of most students about lesbian and gay issues. But they set in motion some important events that could have an impact for years to come. They put gay issues out into the open, challenged homophobia outright, invited gay speakers to campus, and worked with ASWSU and the Pullman City Council to create institutional change at WSU.
About the author: Brian Stack is a Ph.D.candidate working with Dr. Peter Boag. His dissertation examines the history of bestiality in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century American West with particular emphasis on human-animal relationships, power, and sexual assault.
[i]"A Touch of Bias," Daily Evergreen, April 28, 1976, 4. For two letter writers who both refused to see GA as anything other than a "gays only" organization see "Perspectives," Daily Evergreen, May 26, 1976, 5.
[ii]"More letters on gay funding issue," Daily Evergreen, May 14, 1976, 4.
[iii]"Minority Rights (and Wrongs)," Daily Evergreen, Dec. 9, 1975, 4.
[iv]"Gay Funding: Freedom OK; no money," Daily Evergreen, May 7, 1976, 5.
[v]"Group Need Shown," Daily Evergreen, May 7, 1976, 5; "Perspectives," Daily Evergreen, May 26, 1976, 5.
[vi]"Who should get paid?" Daily Evergreen, Dec. 16, 1975, 4; "2,000 Sign Gay Petition," Daily Evergreen, Dec. 17, 1975, 9.
[vii]"Assembly OK's funds for Gay Awareness," Daily Evergreen, May 20, 1976, 1.
[viii]"Assembly Absences Kill Another Bill," Daily Evergreen, May, 27, 1976, 1; "Lewis and Block Working," Daily Evergreen, July 6, 1976, 8.
[ix]"Enlightened Decision," Daily Evergreen, Dec. 19, 1975, 4.
[x]"Write A Regent," Daily Evergreen, Feb., 27, 1976, 4.
[xi]"Assembly Endorses Gay Bias Petition,"Daily Evergreen, March 11, 1976, 1.
[xii]"More Candidates, Platforms," Daily Evergreen, March 29, 1976, 6.
[xiii]"Fees, Budget for Gays, Reform Bill Go To Assembly," Daily Evergreen, April 13, 1976, 2; "Increased Budget Requests May Not Be Met," Daily Evergreen, April 16, 1976, 1; "'Fruit Punch' is a gay group," Daily Evergreen, Apr. 21, 1976, 7.
[xiv]"One Woman Show Receives ASWSU Funding," Daily Evergreen, April 20, 1976, 1.
[xv]"Gays Said Not Honoring Moms," Daily Evergreen, April 23, 1976, 4.
[xvi]"Assembly OK's funds for Gay Awareness." Daily Evergreen, May 20, 1976, 1.
[xvii]"Moscow Chamber Pushes Restraints on KUID TV," Daily Evergreen, April, 29, 1976, 1. The Washington State Legislature repealed the state sodomy law criminalizing same-sex sex in 1975. It went into effect in 1976.
[xviii]"Merry-Gay-Round," Daily Evergreen, Oct. 13, 1976, 4.
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