Claiming Space: A History of LGBTQ Advocacy at UWSP
By Shane Olsen
This June, in honor of Pride Month, the UWSP Libraries
highlights the rich history of LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff on our
campus. Much like their peers across the country, the LGBTQ community at UWSP
have long faced discrimination, erasure, and institutional barriers. Today,
with book bans and attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
initiatives on the rise, preserving these histories feels more urgent than
ever.
As archival theorist Terry Cook has noted, traditional
archival practices often silence marginalized voices.[1]
If we are to tell a complete and honest story of UWSP’s past, we must
intentionally center those voices that were too often ignored or deliberately
excluded. But the history of LGBTQ organizing at UWSP is not just a record of
struggle—it’s a story of courage, joy, creativity, and community.
 |
| GPU Newsletter 1980 |
The Early Years of LGBTQ Organizing
LGBTQ history at UWSP is often fragmented—an absence shaped
by decades of social ostracism and risk. The first known public call for LGBTQ
organizing at UWSP appears in the November 1, 1973 issue of The Pointer,
where a student advocated for a resource center and support group.[2]
A follow-up article ran two weeks later, but the paper provides no further
documentation of what, if anything, came next.[3]
The next significant mention occurs in 1975, when The
Pointer announced a meeting for lesbian students and community members at
the Stevens Point Women Helping Women (WHW) office, a nonprofit coordinated by
UWSP alum Maggi Cage.[4]
WHW provided healthcare, counseling, and social support for women—and a safe
space for LGBTQ individuals.[5]
The group that met there eventually became known as the Lesbian Task Force.[6]
When WHW closed in May 1976 due to financial hardship, the
Lesbian Task Force transitioned to campus. According to Student Involvement and
Employment Office (SIEO) files, the group became an officially recognized
student organization on September 1, 1976. That same semester, the group hosted
a seminar to “educate the people of Stevens Point about its gay and lesbian
populations”[7]
and began organizing discussions around creating a similar space for gay men.
Organizing the Gay People’s Union
In the years that followed, LGBTQ organizing at UWSP became
more structured. Although the Lesbian Task Force went inactive in 1977, a new
group—the Gay Women’s Association—emerged in 1978. Around the same time, the
Stevens Point Gay Student Union applied for official recognition.[8]
These efforts came together on February 14, 1979, when the two groups merged to
form the Gay People’s Union (GPU).[9]
A Pointer feature later that month documented the GPU’s
founding and their twin goals: to make campus safer and more welcoming for
LGBTQ students, and to educate the wider community. The GPU organized peer
support and discussion groups, outreach events, and educational programming.
But visibility came at a cost. GPU members were routinely harassed, and GPU posters advertising events were frequently vandalized. The GPU’s mail was tampered with, and their banners were defaced with hateful graffiti. One religious group allowed the GPU to use their meeting space—on the condition they not use the GPU name for fear of offending parishioners. The GPU’s faculty advisor even received death threats.[10]
 |
| GPU Newsletter 1987 |
Community and Resilience
Despite this hostility, the GPU continued to build a
vibrant, resilient community. In 1980, they hosted the Wisconsin Lesbian-Gay
Informational-Communication Networking Conference at UWSP, bringing together
LGBTQ organizations from across the state.[11]
Throughout the 1980s, they organized annual Lesbian/Gay Awareness Weeks with
lectures, poetry readings, art shows, and social gatherings.[12]
GPU newsletters—Hale and later New Directions—offer
an invaluable window into this era. These publications announced support group
meetings, lectures, music festival trips, and self-defense classes. They also
featured students' poetry and prose and tackled everyday issues—like finding a
local bar that wouldn’t discriminate against LGBTQ students and community
members. These newsletters helped LGBTQ students feel seen, connected, and
celebrated.
Our Commitment to LGBTQ History
The histories of the GPU and other LGBTQ student groups
offer more than a glimpse into the past—they challenge us to remember that
inclusion doesn’t happen by accident. If not for these newsletters, files, and
first-person accounts, we might never know the full extent of LGBTQ presence,
struggle, and joy at UWSP during the 1970s and ’80s.
Preserving these materials ensures that future generations
understand not only what LGBTQ students faced—but how they organized, thrived,
and shaped the university we know today. The Gay People’s Union laid the
groundwork for the activism that continues today. Their legacy is a reminder of
how far we’ve come—and how much work still lies ahead to make UWSP a place
where everyone can live, learn, and lead with pride.
[2]
Letters to the editor section, The Pointer, November 1, 1973, page 6.
[3]
“Gay meeting a success,” The Pointer, November 15, 1973, page 16.
[4]
Classifieds section, The Pointer, November 21, 1975, page 19.
[5]
Bee Ling Chua, “A center for women’s problems,” The Pointer, November
21, 1975, page 9.
[6]
Classifieds section, The Pointer, February 20, 1976, page 19.
[7]
Jim Siegman, “Lesbian awareness,” The Pointer, September 24, 1976, page
8.
[8] Gay
People’s Union, 1976-1988. In Student Organization Files, Student
Involvement and Employment Office Records.
[9]
Quince Adams, “Coming out of the closet in Stevens Point,” The Pointer,
February 22, 1979, pages 12-13.
[10] Gay
Issues, 1980-1990. In the Office of the Chancellor Subject Files.
[11] Gay
People’s Union, 1980-1982; 1984-1988. In UWSP Small Series collection.
[12] Hale (newsletter of the Gay People’s Union), Volume 1, Number 5, February 1981. In Gay People’s Union, UWSP Small Series collection.
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