Last month, I spent several hours in the Trinitonian newsroom flipping through our vast archive of old Trinitonian issues that live in a filing cabinet tucked away in a back office. I was searching for inspiration for my fashion edition editorial and hoping to see what people have had to say about fashion throughout the Trinitonian’s history. I found an advice column about ways to wear costume jewelry from a 1959 Trinitonian, an overview of men’s spring fashion trends from a 1962 Trinitonian and many more windows into the styles of the past throughout issues from the 1970s and 1980s.

While I started out laser-focused on anything having to do with fashion, something else quickly caught my eye: LGBTQ+ identity on campus. Since its beginning over 100 years ago, the Trinitonian has captured Trinity’s extensive and vibrant queer history.

In honor of LGBTQ+ history month, I have compiled a far-from-exhaustive list of some moments of queer history the Trinitonian has captured.

1978

A Feb. 24, 1978, edition of the Trinitonian contained the special section “Sexuality is the issue: The controversy continues between Anita and gay community.” In it were articles such as “Sociologist views gay as lifestyle,” “Trinity’s gays speak out” and “Crusade draws strong support from audience.” The special section was published in response to an event that anti-gay activist Anita Bryant held in San Antonio, which several Trinity students protested.

“‘[My] only crime is to love and care for woman rather than men,’” said Carol Cockrell, a graduate sociology student and lesbian, in “Trinity’s gays speak out.”

Two other queer students, who chose to stay anonymous, were also interviewed for the article. “‘I think we need to view people as people, in terms of who they are instead of their sexual framing,’” one said.

In “Sociologist views gay as lifestyle,” O.Z. White, a sociology professor at Trinity, predicted “‘Gay people will receive their rights, but it will be in a few years. I don’t believe it will happen in my lifetime.”

1986

In a Sept. 12, 1986, edition of the Trinitonian, Gay/Lesbian Support Group (GLSG) president Jeffery Graham wrote to the Trinitonian explaining the need for a group like theirs on campus. That semester would be the first that GLSG was an official organization at Trinity.

“One of the easiest methods of learning to feel comfortable with one’s own sexual identity is to meet and discuss problems with those who have similar desires, experiences and questions,” Graham wrote. “For heterosexual people this is often done in a very public, day-to-day manner. For people with different sexual orientations, however, this is much harder to do. Often men and women who are gay see themselves as alone in a world of straight people.”

Graham also expressed his hopes for the GLSG in this column.

“The GLSG tries to be more than a meeting place for people of similar sexual orientation,” Graham wrote. “We strive to ‘focus on self discovery and self image on the whole and unique individual rather than a limited definition based solely on sexual orientation.’”

As explained in a Feb. 15, 1985, Trinitonian issue, the GLSG first attempted to receive recognition in 1983, and in the years following was rejected a total of three times after numerous appeals.

1991

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Jeff Leiman wrote a column in the Trinitonian about the impact of AIDS on Trinity students and the desperate need to save lives. Leiman urged Trinity parents to provide their children with condoms and concluded with a powerful call-to-action.

“We, the students of this university, are going to have sex. We are at that age, as you were once. We are going to engage in a dangerous activity. Devote your energies not in trying to stop it: you can’t. Help make it as safe as possible; help us bring condoms to campus.”

In response, Stan Leland wrote a letter to the editor, calling Leiman a “condomentalist” who promotes “condomentalism,” “primitivism” and “immoral behavior.”

1998

In an Oct. 16, 1998, issue of the Trinitonian, Trinitonian staff member Sam Brannen reported on the student-run Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Straight Alliance’s efforts to host a National Coming Out Day event in light of the Oct. 12, 1998, murder of Matthew Shepard.

“This Monday, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was beaten to death by two men who are now in custody. This anti-homosexual hate crime has not failed to touch college campuses,” Brannen wrote.

During their event, LGBSA passed out more than 200 rainbow ribbons in honor of National Coming Out Day.

2002

In an Oct. 11, 2002, issue of the Trinitonian, Heather Ross reflected on Matthew Shepard’s legacy and anti-gay hate crimes in the US in a column titled “Hate lingers four years later.”

“According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, there have been more than 50 gays and lesbians reported killed in anti-gay attacks since Matthew’s murder, just as there were many before it,” Ross wrote. “The key to preventing these heinous crimes and bringing an end to bigotry and discrimination of all kinds is changing people’s hearts.”

Ross concluded the column with a plea to end hate crimes.

“In Matthew’s memory, and the memory of all those who have suffered at the hands of intolerance, we must stand up and say ‘Enough,”” Ross wrote.

As Trinity University’s sole student-run newspaper, we are honored to be able to record and preserve a history of life at Trinity, and we look forward to capturing many more moments of queer history to come.

Thank you to all of those who have trusted the Trinitonian with their stories.