April is "Celebrate Diversity Month" and visitors to James Branch Cabell Library can view items celebrating the diversity within the LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersex) community. The month-long display features two components, one focused on current resources and groups at VCU and in the community, and another featuring the history of VCU's Gay Alliance of Students.
Current resource participants include VCU's Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (OMSA), VCU's Safe Zone, Richmond Triangle Players, and ROSMY. OMSA, Richmond Triangle Players and ROSMY have also provided statements describing what diversity means to their communities. Brochures are available on a variety of LGBTQI topics.
Organized in 1974, the Gay Alliance of Students was denied registration as a campus organization by the Board of Visitors at Virginia Commonwealth University. The Board argued that the existence of the group would, among other things "increase the opportunity for homosexual contacts." The students brought a suit against VCU. In October 1976, the United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, ordered VCU to give the group full recognition as an official student organization. That ruling entitled other gay and lesbian student organizations across the south to be recognized by state universities. Today, there are two student gay organizations at VCU - the Sexual Minority Student Alliance and Queer Action.
The materials for this part of the exhibit were donated in 2007 to VCU Libraries' Special Collections and Archives by Walter Foery, one of the founding members of the Gay Alliance of Students.
Learn more by visiting VCU's Diversity page or VCU Libraries Diversity Resource Guide. For suggestions on future diversity displays or events, contact the co-chairs of VCU Libraries Diversity Work Group.