This research guide has been organized to increase access to materials that may interest researchers seeking to learn more about LGBTQ+ history. Collecting these materials demonstrates the impact of student activism, showcases the vibrancy of queer student life at Oberlin, and demonstrates Oberlin students’ contributions to national queer organizing efforts.
A strong throughline in the archival records relating to LGBTQ+ history at Oberlin College are the records of the student organization ultimately known as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Union (LGBTU). The LGBTU, founded as Gay Liberation in 1971, had several names during its existence, from the 1970s until about 2016. Ultimately, the LGBTU was absorbed by the Multicultural Resource Commons (MRC). The MRC now maintains the programming and community engagement and education efforts that Gay Liberation began over 50 years ago.
Events such as the notoriously fun Drag Ball have roots in the early decades of the LGBTU. The 1970s and 1980s saw a series of “gay dances” held as the primary social gatherings for queer students, alongside educational symposia on queer identities, the emergence of Oberlin Gay Radio, and the creation of an intern position by the Dean of Students dedicated to addressing the needs of LGBTQ+ students at Oberlin. In 1980, the Oberlin College Gay Union volunteered Oberlin College as a site for a conference led the national steering committee of the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This event was followed by a Lesbian and Gay Dance in Hales Gymnasium. Drag Ball, Trans Awareness Week, Pride Week, Coming Out Week, Year of the Queer, Queerfest, and many other campus-wide and queer events are documented in several of the record groups within this guide.
In the 1980s, students began to teach Experimental College (ExCo) courses on LGBTQ+ topics. Courses included “The Gay Subculture” (1982), “Lesbianism” (1983), “Lesbian and Gay Experience” (1985-1987), and “Afro-American Gay/Lesbian Literature” (1989). Conferences were held throughout the 1980s; one from 1987 focused on reducing homophobia and was co-sponsored by the Men’s Center, Women’s Center, and Office of Chaplains. In 1988, the then-LGBU launched Oberlin’s first-ever Coming Out Week program. Coming Out dances and days of celebration follow in later decades.
Oberlin College hosted its inaugural Drag Ball around 1991. Although many dances were held over the 1970s and 1980s, the annual event known as Drag Ball was held in April. Throughout the 1990s, Drag Ball continued to grow larger in both spectacle and attendance. In 1997, the Oberlin Review reported that there were 1,600 attendees. In the 1990s, the event typically followed Pride Week celebrations. The earliest instance of Pride Week occurred in 1991.
In 1998, the Oberlin College LGBTU held Oberlin College’s first Trans Awareness Week. The LGBTU planned the week’s programming after adding the “T” to its name the year prior and receiving criticism for the perceived lack of effort to increase programming and support for Oberlin’s trans community. Students urged the LGBTU to back up its gesture of inclusion with actions, and Trans Awareness Week emerged. Several items in the collection refer to the week as the first of its kind on a college campus in the United States. This does seem to be the case; staff have not yet found a record of an earlier, student-planned trans awareness week on an American college campus. Materials in the MRC Collection relate to the planning and advertising of Trans Awareness Week from 1998-2001. Support for transgender students increased throughout the early 2000s with discussions of housing policies and gender-neutral restrooms within the College. OSCA records are sparser but the association had transgender friendly housing policies that predate the College’s.
In 1999, Joey Plaster ’01 began a project to document the history of queerness at Oberlin College. He advertised his project in the Oberlin Lambda Alumni 1999 newsletter, noting that he would be working with the Archives, the Oberlin Review, administrative records, and that he wished to conduct oral histories with alumni who graduated around or before the mid 1970s. Joey’s project was published online as a website, which included interviews with alumni, personal documents such as diary entries, and links to additional history projects.
In 2002, the Student Union Board changed three existing restrooms on the second, third, and fourth floor of Wilder Hall to multi-stall gender neutral restrooms. The Board stated that their objective was to provide support for the Oberlin transgender community, believing that the change was “possible and even necessary.” These are the earliest noted instance of multi-stall gender neutral restrooms at Oberlin College. In 2004, Noah Hall was designated as gender neutral housing by Residential Life. Previously, single rooms were the only existing housing option for students desiring a non-gendered living arrangement. In Noah Hall, students would be able to request a gender neutral double room. In 2009, the Student Union Board added a fourth gender neutral restroom to Wilder Hall: a single-occupant restroom in the basement.
In 2012, there was a college-wide celebration known as Year of the Queer, which focused on the celebration and exploration of queerness and queer theory at Oberlin College. Throughout the 2010s, there were several student-led projects published online. Trans at Oberlin was a Wordpress site that collected resources for transgender students, created in January 2014. It was inspired by a similar site, the Trans at Oberlin Oberwiki, but updated and expanded the resources offered. From 2016-2025, the Archives’ records related to queer history on campus are relatively sparse. A timeline of LGBTQ+ history at Oberlin drew from Oberlin Review articles to fill gaps in the collection. Gender neutral restrooms were added to academic buildings across campus as a result of student advocacy in 2017, the College held Trans Week of Action in 2018, Oberlin receiving the 2023 NCAA LGBTQ+ Institution of the Year award, and the 2024 “The Body, The Host” symposium was held at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title.
This brief overview of LGBTQ+ history at Oberlin College was created by drawing on materials from collections and sources available in the Oberlin College Archives. Materials cited in the timeline include articles from the Oberlin Review; academic materials from the William P. Norris Papers and the Daniel Chapin Kinsey Papers; administrative materials from the Paula Goldsmid Papers and the Dean of Students Records; records from the Lambda Alumni Association in the Alumni Association Records; and papers from the LGBTU Collection and the MRC Collection, which reflect printed materials from the respective offices related to organizing LGBTQ+ programming.
The collection has gaps related to the support and organizing of transgender students and issues at Oberlin College. Materials related to trans students become visible beginning in the late 1990s, with the 1998 Trans Awareness Week and its subsequent annual occurrence. However, documentation of groups, initiatives, and projects that may be addressed in the Oberlin Review articles contained in the subject files is relatively sparse. Posters advertising transgender-related programming and events center mainly on Trans Awareness Week, spanning 1998-2001, the early 2010s, and mid 2020s. There are also gaps related to lesbians and queer women throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Introduction written by Lee Must '25.