Yale is gay

Details

4.75 linear ft

The records are arranged chronologically

The materials consist of newsclippings, posters, meeting minutes, and ephemera documenting events and activities of the Dyke, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Cooperative at Yale

In 1969, students founded the first same-sex attracted organization at Yale, now called the Lesbian, Lgbtq+, Bisexual, Transgender Cooperative at Yale (LGBT Co-op). The LGBT Co-op is an "action organization whose purpose is to foster and encourage an environment at Yale in which all queer and LGBT identified people can express themselves academically, artistically, socially, and politically." The Co-op sponsors social and educational events and activities, including Lgbtq+ fest Week every spring

Access to the materials is partially restricted. See finding aid for details

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual person, Transgender Cooperative at Yale Records (RU 1059). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

The materials are in English

The finding aid is available in the repository and on the Internet

Forms part of Yale Write down Group 40 (YRG 40), Records of Yale clubs, societies, and organizations

Connected Resources

View a description and listing of collection conten

That’s Why I Chose Yale

Yale University, The Greatest University In The International World And Also The Gayest, recently debuted an admissions video. Oh, but it’s not just an admissions video—it’s a musical. Wow!

Don’t you hope your never-before heard-of alma mater made a musical when you were applying to college?

The modern Yale admissions video is 16 minutes long and starts with a traditional, non-singing info session. A gayish tour guide fields questions from the audience about the university. At the terminate of the session, the audience turns around turns around as a young woman in the endorse asks “Why did you chose Yale?” Audience turns support to pseudo same-sex attracted admissions dude, who gives a longing look. And BAM! The musical bust out begins. “That’s why I chose Yale.”

Instead of a traditional view book—does anybody really peruse anymore?—the video stars current undergraduates and recent alums singing and bouncing around campus landmarks, all of them shouting about the things that make Yale fabulous: the Master’s Tea’s with celebrities, such as red-hot hottie James Franco (though he does not make the video!), organic

To Be Gay at Yale

Once, this university was a hotbed of activism, but now queer students don’t even show up for protests—they’re too busy fitting in and hooking up.

Before Ethan Guillen decided to come out during his sophomore year at Yale University, he agonized over it for months. “It was all I could think about,” says Ethan. “I dropped everything I was doing that semester.” He chose to tell his roommate, Jack Rubin, first. But he was afraid of how Jack would react. “I think I’d built it up into this giant, melodramatic after-school special in my head,” says Ethan. The two of them were in the custom of having deep conversations late at night. One night, when they were both about to drop asleep, Ethan decided to do it. “Jack,” he said. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“OK,” Jack said.

“I think I’m gay,” said Ethan.

There was a silence. Ethan lay in bed, waiting, contemplating what he had done. He was expecting something big, though he wasn’t sure what.

“OK,” Jack said. “So is this a big deal?”

As one junior says,

The “Gay” Ivy? : A Queer Reputation

Her first week at Yale, Rianna Johnson-Levy ’17 was invited to have the “boyfriend talk.” Sitting in the unfamiliar common room of her Farnam Hall suite, she listened on as her suitemates gushed over summer romances and budding crushes, spilling the details of their love lives to one another.

Now it was her turn. Feeling hesitant, Johnson-Levy mulled over her options: She could either satisfy their curiosity and speak candidly, or she could boogie around what was, for her, a very sensitive topic. She opted for the latter. When pressed about her romantic history, Johnson-Levy simply replied, “Uh, I was in a relationship over the summer,” and left it at that.

She had reason to be reticent. A queer lady of color, Johnson-Levy didn’t feel ready to divulge her romantic history. Coming into college, she wanted “to carry out things on her own terms, on her own timeline.”

But Yale wouldn’t delay. The flurry of intimate conversations, dances and freshman traditions accompanying fall semester took Johnson-Levy by surprise, forcing her to make choices about what to share, when to share it and how to split it, with people she hadn’t established for much longer than

yale is gay

More Harvard, Yale freshmen detect as LGBTQ than as conservative, surveys find

More freshmen at both Harvard and Yale identify as LGBTQ than as politically conservative, according to surveys published by the universities’ scholar newspapers.

According to Yale Daily News’ “Class of 2022: By the Numbers,” approximately 23 percent of the freshman class identify somewhere along the LGBTQ spectrum. This is up from 21 percent last year and 15 percent in 2016, according to the paper.

At Harvard, a similar student survey in the Harvard Crimson found that more than 18 percent of the freshman class identify as something other than straight. This number has increased every year since 2014, when less than 10 percent of that year’s freshman class identified as nonheterosexual.

Both surveys asked students a large variety of questions, ranging from their religious affiliation to their birth organize. When it comes to political orientation, both Ivy League universities leaned heavily to the left.

Nearly three-quarters of Yale freshmen described themselves as “somewhat” or “very liberal,” while just 10 percent identified as “somewhat” or “very conservative.” The numbers at Harvard were simila