Committee on Gay Education
Committee of Gay Education was founded in 1971 by Bill Green and John Hoard. In 1972 the organization was to host an event in order to gain recognition from the straight community on the University of Georgia Campus. At the time, the CGE was not an official student organization, but by gaining aid of Intersect, an official UGA organization, the CGE was able to reserve Memorial Hall Ballroom to host their event. The dance, which was scheduled to occur on March 10th, 1972, was canceled by John Cox, director of student activities. CGE retaliated with a sit-in made up of about 35 students. Cox, as well as the Dean of Student affairs Dean Sims, did not meet their demands. These demands included stipulations for the University to provide faculties for the CGE, support the repeal of sodomy laws, allow the dance to take place, and enforce the resignation of John Cox. CGE sought legal action against the University, stating that UGA was infringing on the group's freedom of speech, privacy, association, and equal protection. They filed an equality complaint on March 9th, which then went to trial on March 10th. The court arrived at the decision that the students had the right to host the event. This decision was reached two hours before the dance was scheduled to happen. After the dance, the CGE would go on to raise awareness of the gay community through a multitude of events until the group was disbanded in 1983. It wasn’t until 1990 that another group, the Athens Gay and Lesbian Associations came about that UGA had a similar organization as the CGE. The AGLA changed its name until settling as the Lambda Alliance (UGA's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Allied Student Organization) in 2005.
Sources:
Fulton, Fran. “Court Lets Gays Dance.” The Red and Black, 22 Mar. 1972, p. 1
“Gay Liberation Movement.” Omeka RSS,
digilab.libs.uga.edu/exhibits/exhibits/show/civil-rights-digital-history-p/gay-
liberation-movement
“Lambda Alliance.” LGBT Resource Center | Lambda Alliance |,
lgbtcenter.uga.edu/content_page/lambda-alliance.