Activism and Advocacy
In November of 1991, Coordinator of the G/L/S Coalition, Julia Belian, wrote a letter to the Dean of YDS, Thomas Ogletree. In the letter, Belian calls for Dean Ogletree to release an official statement regarding the divinity school’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights. There is nothing in the collection indicating that the dean responded to this letter.
“We of the Coalition respectfully ask that you, the dean, in conversation with the faculty, the Board of Permanent Officers, the alumni and the students, make a plan to develop an official policy statement on gay and lesbian rights.”
-Julia Belian to YDS Dean Thomas Ogletree (November, 1991)
In 1996, the Coalition held a candlelight vigil to protest the passage of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA defined marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman, and allowed the federal government, and states in which same-sex marriage remained illegal, to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages legally recognized by other states.