GLBTSA from its creation through 2004
The GLBT-SA was founded in the Spring Semester of the 2001-2002 School Year by former co-chair Alice Newton. The founding board was largely organized out of the class "Politics of Sexuality" (POLI 73) taught by Pamela Cover that spring.
Spring 2004
Billed as our most successful semester yet, our efforts benefited greatly from the efforts in the Fall to revamp the organization. We helped launch a research project to survey LGBTQ students' experiences at UNC-Chapel Hill. Also, thanks to the hard work of a number of GLBT-SA members, the campus LGBTQ publication LAMBDA was put back into print after a 4-year hiatus. Two issues were put out in the Spring semester (see website). We also organized the most successful Celebration Week in anyone's memory. The week included a Drag Show attended by over 400 students that raised over $1500 for the GLBT-SA. They keynote for the week was author Augusten Burroughs, who spoke about his crazy adventures growing up. We also organized the Second Annual North Carolina Unity Conference (see website), attended by over 100 students from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Finally, we successfully lobbied Student Congress to receive $16,454.00 for the 2004-2005 school year - more than any other student organization.
Fall 2003
We celebrated NC Pride at the Festival's annual gathering in Durham. We also organized a lovely Coming Out Week that included a "Sextravaganza" - spreading the word about safe sex with good cake in the shape of... well, we'll let you fill in the blanks. We also collaborated with death penalty activists in lobbying to prevent Eddie Hartman's execution (ultimately the state of North Carolina did not listen and executed Hartman, who was convicted with the help of testimony about his sexuality). In a dramatic effort to make the organization more accountable and accessible, the GLBT-SA was temporarily shut down in November while we held a series of Community Forums for students to voice their concerns and ideas for revamping the organization.
Spring 2003
We hosted a student body president endorsement forum on February 5th and organized an LGBTQ social on February 6th. We also celebrated the arrival of the new LGBT Office on campus. We collaborated with AQUADuke at Duke University to put on the 1st Annual Triangle Lavender Ball held at the Doris Duke Center. With over 150 attendees, it was a huge success. We also helped to organize a highly successful forum on the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship's (IVCF) position on non-"Christian" leaders. The planning committee for the 2003 North Carolina Unity Conference, along with volunteers from the GLBT-SA and the UNC LGBT Office, presented the 2003 NC Unity Conference. With leaders such as Urvashi Vaid, Loree Erickson, and Mandy Carter present, the event was a huge success over the weekend of April 11th-13th. Over 120 people from across the Southeast attended, and it set a precedent for LGBT organizing at UNC. We also sponsored a Genderqueer event during Human Rights Week and a sexuality event during Womyn's Week.
Fall 2002
We held a preliminary meeting on September 4th to get ideas for the upcoming semester. The staff had a lovely retreat with our advisor Dr. Conover and planned many exciting events for the year. We co-hosted a movie night with QNC on 9/12 ("But I'm a Cheerleader"); we also hosted a viewing of "Broken Heart's Club" on 10/2. We put on a series of events over coming out week including co-sponsoring a visit from Rebecca Walker and a reception afterwards, an ice cream social, a bi/trans table-talk, and a day of awareness (10/7-10/11). We hosted a fantastic "Queer Theory 101" panel discussion that was very successful. We also sent three students to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's annual Creating Change Conference in Portland, Oregon. We also formed a planning committee for a statewide LGBTQ conference in November.
Spring 2002
In our first semester, we accomplished a great deal. We collected nearly 200 letters to be sent to florida in regards to gay adoption on March 20th; we co-sponsored celebration week and raised awareness the first week of April; we raised $420 with a date auction on April 1st; we rallied on the National Day of Silence (April 10th) and participated in a "gagging" in the pit; we co-sponsored a meeting with UNC's Young Democrats and educated many on April 15th; we sponsored a night out at Gotham night club and raised $150; we educated and raised awareness at Apple Chill and raised $60; and we took a group of UNC'ers to Charlotte Pride and had a blast at "Gay Day" at Carowinds.