VCU Gay Alliance of Students collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Commonwealth University, Cabell Library
James Branch Cabell Library
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842003
901 Park Avenue
Richmond, VA 23284-2003
Contact for questions and access:
POC: SCA Staff
Phone: (804) 828-1108
Fax: (804) 828-0151
Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Preferred citation:

VCU Gay Alliance of Students Collection, Collection Number M 357, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

Summary

Extent:
0.5 Linear Feet
Creator:
Gay Alliance of Students
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

VCU Gay Alliance of Students Collection, Collection Number M 357, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection was compiled by the donor, Walter Foery, a founding member of the VCU Gay Students Alliance organization. The items date from 1974 through 1976 and include correspondence, court documents, newspaper clippings, and magazines. The materials in the collection help document the founding of the student organization at VCU, their efforts to be recognized by VCU as any other student organization, and the lawsuit initiated by the students. The case, Gay Alliance of Students v. Matthews was one of the first LGBTQ+ student organizing cases to reach the federal appellate level. The ruling effectively changed existing law in the five states within the jurisdiction of the Fourth District Circuit: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

Biographical / historical:

The Gay Alliance of Students (GAS) was founded as a student organization on September 1, 1974, at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia. GAS was organized to create a "unified support community for men and women of all sexual orientations, serve as an informative resource to the university and surrounding community, and assist the university in creating a positive institutional image by addressing and combating discrimination based on gender and sexual preference."

GAS was denied recognition as a student organization by the VCU Board of Visitors on October 17, 1974 on the grounds that the "existence of GAS as a recognized campus organization would tend to attract other homosexuals to the University." In October 1976, a civil case was brought to the U.S. District Court of Appeals Fourth District Circuit Court against VCU to allow for full funding and space allocations. The Federal Appeals Court ruled in favor of the student organization effectively changed existing law in ten southern states. The case, Gay Alliance of Students v. Matthews was one of the first LGBTQ+ student organizing cases to reach the federal appellate level. The ruling effectively changed existing law in the five states within the jurisdiction of the Fourth District Circuit: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

By the 1980s, the Gay Alliance of Students was known as the VCU Gay Student Alliance.

Sources: Hevel, M. S., & Cain, T. R. (2023). 'We Didn't Think It Would be Well Received': The Gay Alliance of Students' Legal Victory over Virginia Commonwealth University, 1974–1976. Historia y Memoria de la Educación, (18), 41–75.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Walter Foery.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged alphabetically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard