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The State News is Established
The Holcad, a completely student-run news organization, is founded at Michigan State University (then called Michigan Agricultural College). They rename themselves the Michigan State News in 1925. -
Annual Report of the Michigan State University Department of Public Safety
"Homosexual activity" is added to the Annual Report of the Michigan State University Department of Public Safety as a complaint. That same year, fourteen complaints and six arrests were reported. Prior to this, sexual orientation received little to no mention in any university documents. -
University Archives and Historical Collections Established
The Michigan State University Board of Trustees officially establishes the University Archives and Historical Collections with the goal of preserving university records of historical, legal, and financial value. -
University Organizations Across the US
A State News article reports that five universities in the country have gay organizations on campus, and that the only schools in the Big 10 with gay organizations were the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois. The author believes that a gay organization at Michigan State University would not be met with opposition by the student body. -
First Lesbian Organization at Michigan State University
MSU Radicalesbians forms, seeking, "a large lesbian community that gives us ways to meet together and be together and fight our opressors together." -
The First Homosexual Student Organization at Michigan State University
The Gay Liberation Movement registers as a student organization at Michigan State, stating it is open "to all persons in the greater MSU community who are interested in the following work: to work towards greater understanding and acceptance of the homosexual in modern society through educational research and publication; to provide legal, political, and social resources for the betterment of the homosexual community." -
Michigan Gay Confederation
The Michigan Gay Confederation meets at Michigan State University to discuss Gay Pride Week and the role of gays in the 1972 election. -
Pride Week Banner Stolen
A Pride Week banner flying over the university's Abbot Road entrance is stolen. The banner is recovered six days later (four days after the start of Pride Week) from the Inn America Motor Hotel. The occupants of the room are considered suspects, but are not arrested. -
Anti-Discrimination Judicial Board Decision
The Michigan State Board of Trustees formally decides "that the authority of the Anti-Discrimination Judicial Board in matters of alleged discrimination based on sexual orientation shall be limited to complaints involving job discrimination." -
Violence Against Gay Liberation Movement Members
Following a Laingsburg high school appearance that received backlash from parents, two members of the Michigan State GLM return to Laingsburg. Their car and sign are vandalized; they are assaulted and spit upon, receive death threats and are openly threatened with firearms. After police are involved, the two GLM members leave Laingsburg. -
National Organization for Women Endorses Gay Rights
The State News reprints an article from the Associated Press detailing the National Organization for Women's overwhelming support of equal rights for lesbians as well as supporting a bill to make discrimination against homosexuals a federal offense. -
Anti-Discriminatory Policy Changed
When the university's anti-discriminatory policy is ammended for the first time since 1970, Board of Trustees member Jack M. Stack moves to prohibit discrimination based on "age, political persuasion, and sexual orientation". The movement passes unanimously, and gays and lesbians are protected from discrimination on campus for the first time. -
Proposed Elimination of the Gay Council Defeated
Amidst controversy on campus surrounding Anita Bryant's anti-gay campaign, a bill is proposed by the ASMSU student body president that would eliminate the Gay Council (formerly the Gay Liberation Movement) as a minority student group based on the belief that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. The bill is defeated 8-1. -
Lansing Association for Human Rights Formed
Lansing area Gay and Lesbian organizations form the Lansing Association for Human Rights, whose mission is to improve communication in coordinating gay and lesbian activities and events as well as assisting in local, state, and national gay and lesbian activism. Their first act is to address the disparity in university apartment rental fees between legally married and unmarried couples. -
Gay Alligators
Tensions between gay and lesbian activists and the fraternity system are high due to Gay Pride Week coinciding with Greek Week, and as a result, posters across campus encourage gay people on campus to wear alligator shirts that Friday in support of Gay Pride Week. The Izod alligator had previously been associated with the fraternity system due to its "preppy" theme. -
"Lesbian-Gay Council Challenges MSU..."
The Lesbian-Gay Council publishes a full-page ad in the State News challenging administrators, faculty, and student leaders to meet with them. The Lesbian-Gay Council and State News receive strong criticism for printing the names of 377 individuals in what was perceived to be a negative light, but the Council reports a number of requests for educational panels. -
Gay Fraternity Member Suspended
On January 13, the State News reports the suspension of a then unnamed member of Delta Sigma Phi based on his alleged homosexuality. The president of the fraternity, Scott Pauley, defends the suspension on the grounds that the suspended member's lifestyle was incompatible with that of the rest of the house's. After many court decisions and appeals, the president of the university, Cecil Mackey, upholds the fraternity's decision on the basis that greek institutions are not part of the university. -
Rev. Stephen Harrison Lecture
Rev. Stephen Harrison, a "noted heterosexual Bible teacher", gives a lecture in 110 Anthony Hall titled "Gay Rights Could Be Our Nation's Last Rites" and urges students to "Take a Stand Against Homosexual Perversion". His lecture lambastes and satirizes homosexual progress and afterwards he describes a process to "eliminate homosexual perversion around campus"; referring to the pro-gay supporters present, he orders anyone who will "cause a disturbance" to "get the f--- out". -
The Impact of AIDS
In response to concerns that the use of blood tests to screen blood and plasma donors for AIDS would be used to identify and persecute homosexuals, Olin Health Center launches a major AIDS education program. -
Student Attacked In Hubbard Hall
A Michigan State student reports he was attacked in his dorm room by an assailant wearing a Frankenstein mask and weilding a piece of broken glass. The student was allegedly told during the attack to stop writing about gay issues in the State News. -
Student Leader's Room Destroyed By Fire
An MSU resident assistant who had recently led a candlelight vigil for human rights had his Holden Hall dorm room destroyed by a fire. An anonymous caller told the State News that such acts would continue if gay and lesbian activities continued on campus. Two residents were charged with igniting the fire, but both maintained it was an accident involving a firework. -
MSU Students Protest Westboro Baptist Church
Over fifty students gather in East Lansing to protest the appearance of members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a traditional Baptist church whose members have long denounced and protested against LGBT rights.
