Introduction
In 1996, a group of YDS students in Dr. Letty Russell’s Gay and Liberation Theologies course focused their final project on collecting and organizing historical records to document the Coalition’s presence at YDS over the years. Currently, these materials are stored in Series VII of the Yale University Divinity School Memorabilia Collection (Record Group 53) and include materials from as early as 1985, up until the collection's creation in 1996.
More recent materials continue to be added to the collection as they are received. This exhibit was created to highlight early LGBTQ+ student organizing at YDS.
"While some scholars dedicate themselves to finding the brief records of the past, their work must be complimented by the records of the present.
What good is it to know that there were lesbians in early Christian Hell if we do not know whether there were lesbians in the 1980's at YDS?"
-Laura C. Wood, “Making History (and Trying to Organize It)," 7.
A Note On Names: In 1985, the group was called the Gay/Lesbian/Straight (G/L/S) Coalition. In 1993, it underwent a formal name-switch and was called the Gay/Lesbian/Straight/ Bisexual (G/L/S/B) Coalition. During this time, many still referred to the group as "The Coalition."