Cornell Pride Timeline

By Cornell Report Staff
Stephen Lacey and 2 students prep for a Shakespeare play in what is now the Van Etten-Lacey House.
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.

Diane Crowder
Button that reads "Squash Homophobia" from Alliance in 2004-05
Alliance button from 2004-05
Jugglers Against Homophobia button
Jugglers Against Homophobia button

1977: First “out” gay faculty member hired: Stephen Lacey, English

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 

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

Wedding photo of two people at the altar in Allee Chapel
Penn-Goetsch wedding

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+) Graduation

A student production of “Rent” in 2018. 
A student production of “Rent” in 2018.

2018: Cornell’s theatre department produces the musical “Rent”

2021: Professor of Art History Christina Penn-Goetsch teaches Queer Eye for Art History 

Rupert Kinnard ’79 in Peter Paul Luce Gallery, McWethy Hall, with some of his cartoons behind him, before his artist’s reception.
Rupert Kinnard ’79 in Peter Paul Luce Gallery, McWethy Hall, before his artist’s reception.

2022: Rupert Kinnard ’79, creator of the oldest continuing Black gay and lesbian comic characters in the U.S., returns to campus for “From Cornell to Cathartica: A History of Cathartic Comics” exhibition