Stephen Lacey in what is now the Van Etten-Lacey House. Cornell College photo.During Pride Month in June 2022 Cornell College shared stories and celebrated along with our LGBTQIA+ community by uplifting their voices on social media.
Professor of Art History Chris Penn-Goetsch helped create this timeline, which provides a proud history beginning in 1977.
Alliance button from 2004-05Diane CrowderJugglers Against Homophobia button
1977: First “out” gay faculty member hired: Stephen Lacey, EnglishPenn-Goetsch wedding
1978: First informal private meetings for gay Cornell students at Stephen Lacey’s home
1979: Lesbians join the meetings with the support of Diane Crowder, French and Women’s Studies
1983: Counseling Center offers a support group for gay students
1993: The Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Cornell organization “Family and Friends” first meets on-campus
c. 1996: Professor Stephen Lacey establishes the Literature of AIDS class
1998-2001: Jugglers Against Homophobia forms and is active on campus A student production of “Rent” in 2018.
2002: “Family and Friends” changes its name to Alliance
2003: Students across campus hold a candle-lit rally to support the production of “The Laramie Project“
2005: First opposite-sex marriage including a transgender person is held in Cornell’s Allee Chapel on Feb. 14
2009: First same-sex marriage in Cornell’s Allee Chapel on May 2
2011: Professor Diane Crowder teaches Classics of LGBT Literature and Film
2011: Professor of Sociology Erin Davis teaches Transgendered Lives and Gender Diversity
2018: First Rainbow (LGBTQIA+) GraduationRupert Kinnard ’79 in Peter Paul Luce Gallery, McWethy Hall, before his artist’s reception.
2018: Cornell’s theatre department produces the musical “Rent”
