Gay Lesbian Support Services: 1985-1990

The GSU was renamed the Gay/Lesbian Support Services (G/LSS) on February 10,1985. At an earlier group meeting, G/LSS was mentioned as a candidate for the new name as well as GLUE. The name G/LSS was voted on and approved at an officer meeting attended only by men. In 1989, the organization published its first newsletter, The Lavender Tide. In the inaugural issue, a conversation was published between two members discussing the name G/LSS. They said,

“Predominantly, GLSS is a group that addresses the needs of white, gay men who are interested in assimilating into the heterosexual/heterosexist culture and lesbians who identify with these gay men. For these people, the support that the GLSS provides is sufficient. One need only scan the room to realize that GLSS is not meeting the needs of many lesbians and non-white gay men in our campus community. If these people felt that GLSS was for them, they would be here.” [1] 

This conversation sparked discussions about the validity of the Support Services name given that not all members were actively being supported. In the 7th issue of The Lavender Tide, the organization president announced that the group voted to change their name on March 1, 1990.

1 Hoole Special Collections Library, Miller-Stephens LGBTQ UA Student Organization collection, Box 2, Folder 9, The Lavender Tide, Volume 1, Number 1