If there were a phrase I could shout from the rooftops for the whole world to hear it would be this: the first Pride was a riot. The fight for queer liberation is fundamentally rooted in disrupting social norms and oppressive systems of power, and Pride is a continual joy, struggle, and reminder of the historic and ongoing resilience, creativity, and strength of queer people despite systemic and cultural oppression.
The importance of queer community – queer bodies taking up space, living unapologetically, and mutually aiding one another – to resistance and acceptance can’t be understated. Despite hegemonic political and cultural structures, queer community has always found a way to thrive. In the 1970s, queer UNC students would meet each other in secret in the basement bathrooms of Wilson Library or Carroll Hall because they couldn’t be queer in public. Those students found community in the shadows and pushed for acceptance in daylight. Students began organizing themselves through the Carolina Gay Association (now the Sexuality and Gender Alliance, SAGA) in 1974, and publishing one of the country’s oldest queer-affirming student magazines (Lambda) in 1976, all while other students, administrators, politicians, and community members attempted to demonize their existence, defund their activism efforts, and force them into a heteropatriarchal way of living.
As we reflect on the interpersonal and political activism of queer people who have made spaces and visibility more accessible to us today, we must remember that the same people that historically persecuted queer people have not gone away. In fact, they still hold a terrifying amount of institutional power at UNC.
As a UNC student in 1988, UNC System President Peter Hans actively worked to defund our campus’s oldest queer-affirming organization, SAGA. As a law student in 1993, BoG member Woody White (appointed to the position by the Republican state legislature) said during testimony that homosexuals should be tried as criminals. As a UNC student in 1991, Speaker of the House Tim Moore (who holds power over who is appointed to the BoG and BoT) became the speaker of student congress and openly attacked SAGA and the Black Student Movement, ultimately cutting SAGA funding and attempting to remove SAGA and BSM representation from student governance. In 2016 (under the Pat McCrory administration to which Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts served as state budget director), millionaire and BoG member Art Pope was a vital funder of NC HB2, more commonly known as the “bathroom bill,” which prevented transgender people from using their preferred restroom.
The conservative movement in North Carolina – led by Moore, staffed by Hans and Roberts, and lavishly funded by Pope – has been fighting against the social acceptance and political equality of queer people for decades and it is part of a larger sweeping national conservative movement. It is this movement that has captured our education policy, from Pre-K through college. It is this movement that in 2023 passed the NC “Parents Bill of Rights” which forcibly outs queer children to their parents. It is this movement that has fueled “Don’t Say Gay” bills. It is this movement that overturned DEI throughout the UNC system, a policy that in many other states has led to queer-affirming spaces being shut down. It is this movement that decided to shut down the Campus Y, which houses social justice and identity-affirming organizations, accessible and gender-neutral bathrooms, a mutual aid pantry, and community space.
This institution has both a long history of oppression and a beautiful legacy of resistance. While this university’s administration may claim all the best parts of this history, it is only thanks to the students who have pushed against them that this university has become a safe and welcoming space for so many. With those gains under grave threat from a reactionary State Legislature, Board of Governors, Trustees, and administration, we remember that the first Pride was a riot. We will continue to proudly resist until we are liberated.
As you continue to celebrate queer resistance and liberation, I highly recommend checking out Queerolina (an online interactive map of UNC’s LGBTQ history including interview audios), visiting UNC’s LGBTQ Center on the 3rd floor of SASB South (where you can find a lovely queer library), and connecting with SAGA (who host community-building events year-round)!
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