Queer at Gallaudet

For many deaf people, language deprivation and lack of access to LGBTQ+ and/or Deaf community meant that they lacked the words to express their sexuality or gender until arriving at Gallaudet University or secondary schools for the deaf in the area. In Eyes of Desire, an anthology of interviews and writing by deaf queer people edited by Deaf gay poet Raymond Luczak, several people recalled their experience as gay students at deaf schools in DC.

“[Coming out at Model Secondary School for the Deaf in DC] was much easier than I thought, because I was deaf and everyone was deaf. I could speak up and be understood if I talked about gay issues.” –Philip J. Gorton, describing his school experience in the 1970s

“I did learn the signs for ‘homosexual’ and ‘queer’ from St. Rita’s [a secondary school for the deaf in Ohio]. But at Gallaudet I learned what the word ‘gay’ meant.” –Jack Fennell, describing his school experience in the 1990s

However, Gallaudet, like the rest of America, was still a largely hostile place for its LGBTQ+ students. Gallaudet alums in Eyes of Desire also recalled seeing gay students subjected to verbal and physical attacks, and homophobic slurs graffitied around campus throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.Gallaudet’s LGBTQ+ community experienced a sea change when a group of students banded together to create the school’s first LGBTQ+ student organization in 1980. An anonymous student wrote in to the student newspaper, The Buff and Blue, to explain the need for the club, “to try to correct the fuzzy ideas Gallaudet students have about gay people and to provide a place for gay people to meet and gain support from each other.”

When the club, formally named the Lambda Society of Gallaudet College (later Gallaudet University), applied to be recognized as an official student organization in 1984, the student government voted it down. Many colleges in the DC area already had LGBTQ+ student groups at this point. However, as a pillar of the deaf community, Gallaudet was under extra scrutiny. Students opposed the idea of a club promoting homosexuality on campus, reasoning that it would be a hit to Gallaudet’s reputation. 

That summer, the LSGU met with a coalition of LGBTQ+ organizations from around DC to gather support: the Gay People’s Alliance of GWU, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the National Gay Task Force, the Lesbian Rights Task Force of NOW, and more. Ultimately, the president of the university stepped in to force the student government to officially recognize the club.

The Capital Metro Rainbow Alliance, which had lent its support to the Lambda Society throughout its tumultuous formation, co-hosted events with LSGU at Gallaudet and around the city, with LSGU alums often joining CMRA if they stayed in DC after graduation.