Did I know what we were doing when we founded the Spectrum Center at the University of Michigan in the fall of 1971?
Not a clue.
There was no such office anywhere. The only resource for lesbians and gay men in Ann Arbor was a bar. (Intersex, bisexual and transgender people -- who might they be?)
In my lonely, dark and deep closet, I had moved from Manhattan to Detroit in 1957 to work in a "radical" Episcopal church devoted to justice for people of color and poor people -- often one and the same.
In December 1969, I was typing the Sunday service bulletin. On the January 1970 calendar there was a note: "January 15, 1970 -- Gay Meeting."
I went to the priest: "Daddy-O, what's this 'gay meeting' thing?" ("Daddy-O" was part of the language in the "radical years.")
"I dunno -- Bill in the [Vietnam-War-] draft-resistance group said, 'Could we have a gay meeting here?' I said, 'If we can't have a gay meeting here -- whatever a gay meeting is -- we might as well shut this God Box down.'"
From the depths of my closet, I said, "Thank you," and went back to Ann Arbor and down to the bar.
My buddy John was sitting there.
"John, there's something strange going on at the God Box!"
"What?"
"A gay meeting!"
"What's that?"
We didn't know -- we had no frame of reference. There had never been an open, above-ground, advertised "gay meeting" in Michigan.
"Are we going?"
We waffled over it for a month.
The night before the meeting we got together at the bar.
"Are we going? If we do, that means we're gay."
The next day we got into John's car and went.
The people at the meeting decided to form the "Detroit Gay Liberation Movement."
A month later, John and I and other people in Ann Arbor started the "Ann Arbor Gay Liberation Front" (AAGLF).
In April 1970 I spoke for the Detroit group at an anti-war rally in Detroit. I came out -- the first person to come out publicly in Michigan.
The Ann Arbor group wanted to have a statewide conference. A secretary in the Office of Student Affairs said, "Write me a memo of request for meeting space."
I did. A couple of weeks later the president of the University of Michigan sent us a formal letter denying our request. "The conference would not be educational. The University would have to have police presence on campus."
A closeted member of AAGLF said, "Forget him! I have the keys to the Student Activities Building." He was Vice President of the Student Government Council.
We held the conference. The University sent a staff member to it anonymously, a person whom I knew to be one of our supporters. Later I saw the attendee's report: "Low numbers, low energy. If you ignore this group, they'll go away."
Clearly, an attempt to get the University administration off our backs.
I ran into the secretary who had said, "Write me a memo for conference space." The secretary said, "Jim, there's an office here advocating for women students and an office advocating for black students. Don't you guys want an office?"
"I dunno. I'll ask."
So I asked the AAGLF, "Do we want an office at the University of Michigan?"
They looked at me and said, "You fool! Of course we want an office! Go get it!"
I went to the secretary. "Yes, we want an office! How do we get one?"
The secretary said, "Write me a memo!"
I wrote the memo. And in a few months -- a nanosecond in bureaucratic time -- we were given an office to address the concerns of lesbian and gay male students, a small room with a desk, two chairs and a file cabinet.
AAGLF had requested gender parity in staffing the office. The University of Michigan, having taken the enormous risk of creating the "Human Sexuality Office" -- this title continued for 15 years -- hired two quarter-time "temporary" employees, one for lesbian students and one for gay male students. Cynthia ("Cyndy") Gair and I became the office's "Lesbian Advocate" and "Gay Male Advocate," respectively.
That's how the Human Sexuality Office (HSO) came into being, the first such center in the U.S. and in the world.
Shortly after the HSO opened, a conservative, nationally syndicated columnist, Russell Kirk, wrote a column suggesting that in creating the office, the University was "exploring the farther shores of lust."
Be that as it may, we were sure that we could quickly reform the world into an accepting and supportive place for lesbians and gay men.
Our hopeful naïveté was soon challenged by the pronouncements of Anita Bryant...
Now, 40 years after the office's founding, there are nearly 200 similar centers in institutions of higher learning across the U.S.
I can only think, "You must've been a beautiful baby, 'cause baby, look at you now!"
The University of Michigan commemorates its pioneering move in 1971 to create the nation's first campus office to support lesbian and gay individuals. From Nov. 17 to 19, the University of Michigan will make history again, this time with "firsts" made possible by alumni whose lives have been touched by the office now known as the Spectrum Center. The tribute is the culmination of a year-long effort to recognize four decades of action to ensure a safe and inclusive campus for the LGBTQ and allied community.
For more information on Spectrum Center programs and the 40th Anniversary Weekend Celebration, visit www.spectrumcenter.umich.edu, email us at spectrumcenter@umich.edu, or call us at 734-763-4186.