LGBTQ+ Student Organizations

LGBTQ+ student organizations emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students organized for visibility, rights, and safe community on college campuses. These organizations emerged in the immediate aftermath of the Stonewall uprising (1969), a pivotal moment when queer people resisted police harassment at a New York gay bar and catalyzed the modern LGBTQ+ movement. Early LGBTQ+ student organizations were explicitly political and often explicitly radical, rejecting assimilationist approaches and instead asserting queer identity, celebrating sexual liberation and gender nonconformity, and working toward systemic social change. A distinctive aspect of LGBTQ+ student organizing has been its inherent intersectionality. While some early LGBTQ+ organizations were dominated by white, middle-class, cisgender gay and lesbian students, more progressive organizations have worked to center the experiences of LGBTQ+ students of color, trans and non-binary students, gender nonconforming students, low-income LGBTQ+ students, and others holding multiple marginalized identities. Scholars and activists have emphasized that Stonewall and the modern LGBTQ+ movement were catalyzed by trans women of color and that authentic LGBTQ+ liberation requires centering the most marginalized within queer communities. Contemporary LGBTQ+ student organizations have increasingly become spaces for addressing the particular vulnerability of transgender and non-binary students. As societal awareness of transgender identities has grown and more students have come out as transgender or non-binary, LGBTQ+ organizations have had to address institutional barriers facing trans students including lack of bathroom access, pronoun and name policies, healthcare access, and safety from harassment and violence. Many organizations now focus substantial energy on creating explicitly trans-affirming spaces, supporting trans students' legal name and gender marker changes, and advocating for institutional policies protecting trans students' safety and dignity. LGBTQ+ student organizations also serve critical mental health and substance abuse prevention functions. LGBTQ+ youth face substantially elevated rates of suicide, depression, and substance abuse—consequences of societal stigma, family rejection, victimization, and discrimination. LGBTQ+ student organizations create peer support groups, provide crisis support, connect students with mental health services affirming LGBTQ+ identities, and work to reduce isolation and increase sense of belonging. Organizations increasingly recognize that mental health work must be situated within broader anti-oppression work that challenges the systemic discrimination causing much LGBTQ+ psychological distress. Contemporary LGBTQ+ student organizations also work extensively on sex education and sexual health, understanding that comprehensive, affirming sex education is a social justice issue. Organizations provide workshops on sexual health, consent, pleasure, and safety—information that is not always available through institutional health services or comprehensive sex education programs. Organizations work to counteract shame around sexuality, celebrate sex positivity, and ensure that LGBTQ+ students have access to affirming, medically accurate sexual health information. Another important focus of contemporary LGBTQ+ organizations has been family acceptance work. Many LGBTQ+ students come from families with limited acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities, and family rejection is a significant risk factor for depression, suicide, and homelessness. LGBTQ+ organizations provide support groups for students navigating family rejection, host events bringing together accepting family members, and provide resources for coming out and family communication. This work recognizes that family relationships significantly impact student well-being and success. Contemporary LGBTQ+ student organizations also work explicitly against anti-Black racism, transphobia from within queer communities, fat phobia, ableism, and other oppressions that have sometimes characterized LGBTQ+ spaces. Progressive organizations work toward what is sometimes called "queering queerness"—recognizing that LGBTQ+ liberation requires not just acceptance of sexual orientation and gender diversity but also commitment to racial justice, economic justice, disability justice, and liberation of all marginalized communities.