Thank you to Marlene Moreno, for her research on Queer spaces at UCSB and for assisting in the creation and edting of a chronological history of Queer student organizing at UCSB! 

The Gay Student Union was established at UCSB 

1971 

The Gay Student Union name is changed to  the Gay People’s Union.  The goals of GPU consisted of increasing Gay student visibility on campus, providing educational services to all students and community members, and providing alternative social outlets for Gay students.  The continuation of activities such as the GPU Library, newsletter, participation in state-wide conferences, speaker and film series, hosting general meetings, coffee houses, dances, potlucks, and picnics.  

1975  

The Gay and Lesbian Resource Center was founded at 417 Santa Barbara Street.

The UCSB Coalition Against Homophobia was formed.  

1982  

The Gay People’s Union name is changed to the the Gay Lesbian Student Union [GLSU].

UCSB students fought for several years for the establishment of an Ethnicity General Education Requirement.  By the end of the the decade an Ethnic Studies requirement was established.  The requirement was supposed to be a dual requirement originally, one dealing with ethnic studies and the other dealing with gender studies.  However, somewhere along the way, the Gender requirement did not go into affect.

1983 

The UC Regents accept testimony from the U.C. Lesbian and Gay Intercampus Network.  The UC Regents resolve to include sexual orientation as an area which is recognized and protected and orders the UC President to take action to implement the resolution  

The UCSB Counseling Center adopts a resolution urging adoption by the UC Regents of a policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  The contact person for this resolution was Dr. Carol A. Geer. 

GLSU puts together Gay Jeans Day, in support of gay and lesbian rights 

Santa Barbara has it’s first Lesbian and Gay Formal hosted by GLSU, GLRC, and the Metropolitan Community Church.  Two of a Kind: The Prom That Dare Not Speak It’s Name 

United States blood banks have been asking men whether they have had sex with other men to screen out “risky” donors to protect the blood supply.  Question 14 specifically asks:  Are you a male how has had sex, even once, with another male since 1977. The question does not make inquiry into specific types of sex acts, whether condoms were used, or whether the donor had multiple partners. This blatantly discriminatory question has been cause of much debate and protest at the UCSB campus from various queer student groups over the years. 

UCSB AIDS Task Force is constituted, by Vice Chancellor Edward E. Birch, to identify campus issues associated with AIDS and to provide direction for programs addressing the issue.  

Condom vending machines were installed on campus.  They were placed in residence hall restrooms and in the UCEN. Cost is 50 cents per condom. 

5:00 -7pm there was a live satellite broadcast of “AIDS On Campus”.  This was produced by the College Satellite Network and sponsored by SHS and Television Services.  The broadcast was seen at Broida Hall 1610 and in the residence hall lounges. 

Six UCSB students, faculty, and staff convened a committee to address heterosexism and homophobia at UCSB.  In order to address the systemic causes if heterosexism and homophobia a UC system-wide conference was organized on May 26, 1990

 

Organized by the UCSB LGBA, a group of 50 gay rights activist protested Spike’s Place for refusing to serve a patron because it was learned she was a lesbian.  

UCSB RHA brings attention to the distribution of homophobic and sexist fraternity rush flyers in the residence halls.  

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alliance make a bid to occupy space in Building 434 which the MCC was relocating out of.

1995 

First UC system-wide LGBT Conference was held at UCSB

The Disposable Boy Toys [DBT], a self-titled ‘political feminist collective drag troupe, was formed in Santa Barbara.  At its peak, the group comprised of seventeen performers who danced, synched, and entertained on stages all around california and the rest of the United States.  Click here to read  Eve Ilana Shapiro’s dissertation titled, The Disposable Boy Toys: Identity Transformation in a Drag King Community.

Queer Student Union and A.S. State-wide Affairs Organizing Director, Sergio Morales, and A.S.   Student Advocate Rodney Clara organize protest of UCSB blood drives.  Citing the blood bank as a violation of the university system’s anti-discrimination policy.  The goal at this point was to continue to put pressure on the university and bring a lawsuit to bar blood drives on the nine UC campuses until the wording on the questionnaire is changed to something that does not stigmatize homosexual activity. 

 

Students organized a massive walkout, where over 1,500 students walked out of their courses and went into Cheadle Hall with a  list of demands to the Chancellor.  One of the demands was the establishment of an Ethnic, Gender, Queer General Education requirement, which the Chancellor Yang signed off on. 

1999 

The Queer Resource Center [QRC] opens on the 3rd floor of the UCen

 

2001 

The name of the QRC changes to the Resource Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity

2001  

Chancellor Yang did not have the power to implement a GE requirement; that power lies with the 900 member Academic Senate.  In 2001-2002, A.S. President Christyne Lawson and Legislative Council member Marshall Hiega brought back the campaign [QGS:  Quuer, Gender, and Sexual Identities and Communities] to establish the EGQ requirement promised by Chancellor Yang three years prior.  

 

2002  

Friendly Undergraduate Queers In It Together [FUQIT] was formed

 

2004 

Queer Bombing arose for the need to heighten Queer visibility in and around UCSB and to reclaim hetero-dominated spaces for the UCSB Queer community to connect and celebrate.  Kiely Hosman and Kalaya’an Mendoza initiated the first Queer Bombing events in the Spring of 2004, after researching innovative tactics of non-violent direct action to combat heterosexist/transphobic/homophobic behavior at UCSB.  They found an activist/improv group called Guerrilla Queer Bar whose sole mission was to infiltrate traditionally heterosexual social venues and bomb/overwhelm it with Queer Fabulousity!  

 

Kiely Hosman and Kalaya’an Mendoza decided to use that concept along with the iconic “Queer Bomb” t-shirts to actively engage the UCSB community and to celebrate Queer identity at events ranging from bowling nights to Queer bombing UCSB’s graduation.  Queer activism has always had a history of being in-your-face, media-savvy, and effective. “We Queer  Bomb because in a hostile world, our civil rights and our access to space are constantly attacked, we refuse to take it lying down because we’re not ‘gay’ as in ‘happy’, we’re Queer as in “FUCK YOU.”

2006  

A.S. Queer Commission was formed; becomes active in 2007

2007 

RCSGD moves from UCen to the Student Resource Building

2008  

De Colores is formed

2009  

Queer Asian Pacific Islanders [QAPI] was formed

 

In response to the increasing number of hate crimes across college campuses, UCSB Office of Judicial Affairs produced this Hate Crimes Public Service Announcement to educate students.

Project Queer Love

Director: Shae Xu Editors: Evan Gillogley, Daniel Kennedy, RJ Thompson Music: Kristianne Bautista 

Project Queer Love is a 12 mins interview-based documentary featuring queer identified people and allies in UCSB campus. It’s a warm, lighthearted glimpse into the local queer community showing that love transcends all notions of sexual and gender identity. 30+ participants with diverse identities and at various stages of their academic/professional lives share their very personal experiences on gender, sexuality, love and relationship.

 

This documentary was started in 2011, as a year-long project at UCSB Associated Student Queer Commission. Instead of an academic campaign or political forum, this documentary reveals a narrative story of queer identified peoples’ day-to-day thoughts and concerns, and introduces the viewers into their community. It’s the first video documentary made by, and made for our beautiful community and beyond. The documentary was premiere screened in March 2012, in MCC Theater.