The 1970s
Gay Services of Kansas
Despite its legal victory against the Lawrence Gay Liberation Front, the University and its Student Senate weren't content to let the issue rest. In 1973, the Student Senate issued new guidelines concerning student groups. All could be registered, but they couldn't all be recognized.
The new policy on recognition stated: “To be recognized and eligible for Student Senate funds, an organization cannot be substantially oriented in support or in opposition to: a.) particular religious institutions, activities or beliefs, b.) particular political party activities or programs, or c.) particular and customarily private activities, habits or proclivities.”
The GLF was the only student group to ever fall under section “c” of the policy. Although the group continued applying for student senate recognition each year, thanks to regulation they continued to be denied. Money to sustain the group was raised through dances held at the Kansas Union ballroom.
As Ruth Lichtwardt wrote in “A Stroll Down Gayhawk Lane,” the introduction to a volume of KU gay and lesbian history:
“The dance was in the Union ballroom. Several hundred people were already there when we arrived, including many from Kansas City who would normally have been at the bars. A DJ with a huge light and sound system was at one end of the room, booming out disco music (yes, it was that era). Crowded tables were set up around the sides, and beer was being sold from a booth…. People we talked to had come in from Manhattan, Topeka and even Omaha for this dance.”
A few posters from dances of that era have survived. Themes for the dances included “In the Mood”—the coyly retro 1972 edition of the event. September 18, 1976 saw a no-nonsense “disco dance.” By 1979, the “Too Hot to Stop: First Annual Summer Fling” dance was advertised with a picture of a chic couple (male and female, although facing away from each other, and with male-male and female-female symbols on their skimpy shirts).
The dances continued through the '90s—although they slowly lost the importance and prominence of these pioneering efforts in the '70s.
In 1976, the name of the group officially changed from the Lawrence Gay Liberation Front to Gay Services of Kansas. It's not clear why the change was made. No documents in the Queers & Allies office offer any clue why, although it's easy to guess that the emphasis of the group was shifting from late-'60s radical activism to lower-key supportive roles.
In 1977, the group sent a letter to David Ambler (then and now the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University) detailing its services. According to director Todd VanLaningham and coordinator Jean Ireland, Gay Services of Kansas offered: counseling, a legal referral service, information on venereal diseases, 5-6 dances a year along with other social events, speaker's bureau services, a newsletter, a resource center, regular meetings, and a chance to become involved in political activism.
“We are a unique organization and our services generally are not duplicated anywhere else within the University,” VanLaningham and Ireland wrote. “It is our concern that these services be maintained and that the Student Senate be able to fund them, at least partially.”
The group was still pressing for official recognition. But it didn't come from the meeting with Ambler referred to later in the same letter. Gay Services of Kansas would have to wait until the 1980s for that to happen.
Part 3: The 1980s
Despite its legal victory against the Lawrence Gay Liberation Front, the University and its Student Senate weren't content to let the issue rest. In 1973, the Student Senate issued new guidelines concerning student groups. All could be registered, but they couldn't all be recognized.
The new policy on recognition stated: “To be recognized and eligible for Student Senate funds, an organization cannot be substantially oriented in support or in opposition to: a.) particular religious institutions, activities or beliefs, b.) particular political party activities or programs, or c.) particular and customarily private activities, habits or proclivities.”
The GLF was the only student group to ever fall under section “c” of the policy. Although the group continued applying for student senate recognition each year, thanks to regulation they continued to be denied. Money to sustain the group was raised through dances held at the Kansas Union ballroom.
As Ruth Lichtwardt wrote in “A Stroll Down Gayhawk Lane,” the introduction to a volume of KU gay and lesbian history:
“The dance was in the Union ballroom. Several hundred people were already there when we arrived, including many from Kansas City who would normally have been at the bars. A DJ with a huge light and sound system was at one end of the room, booming out disco music (yes, it was that era). Crowded tables were set up around the sides, and beer was being sold from a booth…. People we talked to had come in from Manhattan, Topeka and even Omaha for this dance.”
A few posters from dances of that era have survived. Themes for the dances included “In the Mood”—the coyly retro 1972 edition of the event. September 18, 1976 saw a no-nonsense “disco dance.” By 1979, the “Too Hot to Stop: First Annual Summer Fling” dance was advertised with a picture of a chic couple (male and female, although facing away from each other, and with male-male and female-female symbols on their skimpy shirts).
The dances continued through the '90s—although they slowly lost the importance and prominence of these pioneering efforts in the '70s.
In 1976, the name of the group officially changed from the Lawrence Gay Liberation Front to Gay Services of Kansas. It's not clear why the change was made. No documents in the Queers & Allies office offer any clue why, although it's easy to guess that the emphasis of the group was shifting from late-'60s radical activism to lower-key supportive roles.
In 1977, the group sent a letter to David Ambler (then and now the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University) detailing its services. According to director Todd VanLaningham and coordinator Jean Ireland, Gay Services of Kansas offered: counseling, a legal referral service, information on venereal diseases, 5-6 dances a year along with other social events, speaker's bureau services, a newsletter, a resource center, regular meetings, and a chance to become involved in political activism.
“We are a unique organization and our services generally are not duplicated anywhere else within the University,” VanLaningham and Ireland wrote. “It is our concern that these services be maintained and that the Student Senate be able to fund them, at least partially.”
The group was still pressing for official recognition. But it didn't come from the meeting with Ambler referred to later in the same letter. Gay Services of Kansas would have to wait until the 1980s for that to happen.
Part 3: The 1980s