Article examines LGBT progress at Emory in advance of Atlanta Pride
Emory student newspaper looks back at the progress of LGBT relations on campus in advance of the Atlanta Pride Festival.
Emory University’s student newspaper, The Emory Wheel, has a great story looking back at LGBT relations on campus in advance of next weekend’s Atlanta Pride Festival. The story begins in the mid-1980’s. While there were LGBT people and organizations on campus, visibility was low.
That all changed with one simple act.
In December 1991 an incident occurred that helped propel the development of the presence of an LGBT community at Emory: Undergraduate students Alfred Hildebrand and Michael Norris kissed in Thomas Hall and were consequently harassed by other students because of their homosexuality.
“The other students said things like, ‘Die f-----s’ and ‘You’ll burn in hell,’” Hildebrand recounted in a 1991 issue of Southern Voice, Atlanta’s LGBT newspaper that launched in 1988.