The Gay Academic Union (GAU) was a group of LGBT academics who aimed at making the academia more amenable to the LGBT community in the United States. It was formed in April 1973, just four years after the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

, held 4 yearly conferences (the last in November, 1976) and conducted other scholarly activities. It disbanded some time after that.

History

Members included

Martin Duberman Martin Bauml Duberman (born August 6, 1930) is an American historian, biographer, playwright, and gay rights activist. Duberman is Professor of History Emeritus at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York City. Early life Duberman was born into ...

, Bertha Harris,

Karla Jay Karla Jay (born February 22, 1947) is an American retired academic. She is a professor emerita at Pace University, where she taught English and directed the women's and gender studies program between 1974 and 2009. A pioneer in the field of l ...

, Jonathan Dunn-Rankin,

John D'Emilio John D'Emilio (born 1948) is a professor emeritus of history and of women's and gender studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He earned his B.A. from Columbia College and Ph ...

Joan Nestle Joan Nestle (born May 12, 1940) is a Lambda Award-winning writer and editor and a founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives. She is openly lesbian and sees her work of archival work as critical to her identity as "a woman, as a lesbian, and as a ...

Jonathan Ned Katz Jonathan Ned Katz (born 1938) is an American author of human sexuality who has focused on same-sex attraction and changes in the social organization of sexuality over time. His works focus on the idea, rooted in social constructionism, that the ...

Barbara Gittings Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 – February 18, 2007) was an American LGBTQ movements, LGBTQ activist. She started the New York City, New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in 1958, edited the national DOB magazine ''The Ladde ...

, George Whitmore,

Andrea Dworkin Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen sol ...

, Dawn M. Atkins and Michael Lynch. They held their first conference on November 23 and 24, 1973, at

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts col ...

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Martin Duberman remembers that lesbians were often discriminated against by other white male homosexuals. He recalls an argument with George Whitmore. The

Lesbian Herstory Archives The Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA) is a New York City-based archive, community center, and museum dedicated to preserving history of lesbianism, lesbian history, located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The Archives contain the world's largest collection ...

were founded in 1974 by lesbian members of the Gay Academic Union who had organized a group to discuss sexism within that organization. Co-founders

Deborah Edel Deborah Edel (born June 23, 1944) is an American activist, archivist, and psychologist. She is best known for co-founding the Lesbian Herstory Archives with Joan Nestle. Biography Deborah Edel was born on June 23, 1944, to anthropologist May ...

, Sahli Cavallo, Pamela Oline, and Julia Stanley wanted to ensure that the stories of the lesbian community were protected for future generations. By 1975, many radicals had left the group and conferences were moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, although

Wayne R. Dynes Wayne R. Dynes (August 23, 1934 – late July 2021) was an American art historian, encyclopedist, and bibliographer. He was professor emeritus in the Art Department at Hunter College, where he taught from 1972 to 2005. Dynes spent his early yea ...

and others stayed in New York. The 1976 conference, however, was held at Columbia University in New York City. Jonathan Dunn-Rankin was National President from 1981 to 1987 and traveled from city to city trying to organize all the chapters together.

References

Defunct LGBTQ organizations based in New York City LGBTQ studies organizations Organizations established in 1973 1973 in LGBTQ history 1973 establishments in New York City {{LGBTQ-org-stub