Walter Foery, John Mullen, Ruth Cody, Archana Pathak and Josh Leidy. (Photo by Jud Froelich, Office of Development and Alumni Relations)

Virginia Commonwealth University’s first LGBTQ+ student organization, the Gay Alliance of Students, was denied status as an official student organization by VCU’s Board of Visitors in October 1974. 

In response, the students launched a two-year legal battle that ultimately won their group official recognition at VCU. The landmark court decision paved the way for the recognition of LGBTQ+ student organizations at universities in five states.

Over the past year, VCU has commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Gay Alliance of Students’ legal victory, celebrating the courage, resilience and advocacy of VCU’s LGBTQIA+ and ally community over the past five decades. 

On Friday, the yearlong series of events culminated in a gala and an unveiling of a historical marker. The marker was installed on the lawn between University Student Commons and the T. Edward Temple Building. Its text reads:

In Sept. 1974, a group of students at Virginia Commonwealth University founded the Gay Alliance of Students, the university’s first openly LGBTQ+ student organization. VCU rejected the Alliance’s application for official recognition, prompting a legal battle that attracted local and national support for the group. In Oct. 1976, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in Gay Alliance of Students v. Matthews that VCU’s refusal to recognize the organization violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The decision set a legal precedent, extending protections to similar student groups in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

“Today’s milestone reflects decades of relentless advocacy,” said Josh Leidy, director of affinity programs in VCU’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations. It will stand, he said, as a “a permanent fixture on our campus – a testament to resilience, a beacon for future generations and a reminder that the fight for dignity and equality is a continuous torch passed from one hand to the next.”

In attendance at Friday’s unveiling were a number of Gay Alliance of Students members, including Walter Foery, who attended VCU between 1971 and 1976.

“When I had first joined GAS, I was incredulous that the university had denied recognition. They did what? How dare they. Have they never read the Constitution?” he said.

“Later, as I got more involved, I did speaking engagements for various groups and was surprised to see how little many of the students knew about LGBTQ+ people or our issues,” Foery added. “I was also pleased, though, that we often had meaningful conversations and that, maybe, just maybe, a mind or two was opened. During almost two years of waiting for redress, GAS’s focus was on the lawsuit and on educating the student body and the public.”

Ten years ago, Foery returned to VCU for the 40th anniversary of the Gay Alliance of Students’ legal victory, and he found that the university had changed for the better.

“I was struck by the difference between the university in 2016, welcoming a group of us ‘home,’ and the university of the ‘70s, who said to us in a letter, ‘At a meeting of the Board of Visitors today it was decided to decline your invitation to meet together and to deny your request to alter our decision,’” Foery said. “Thanks to your brilliant president, Dr. Michael Rao, and a great team backing him up, VCU has become the welcoming institution we always hoped it would be.”

Also in attendance Friday were two students of King George Middle School who recently sought to form a Gay-Straight Alliance at their school but were rejected by the county school board. They filed a federal lawsuit in August, citing the decision in Gay Alliance of Students v. Matthews, and it led to a settlement in September allowing the students to form a Gay-Straight Alliance.

Archana Pathak, Ph.D., VCU’s assistant vice provost for faculty affairs and a faculty member in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences, said the students in the Gay Alliance of Students 50 years ago and the King George Middle School students today show that a small group of individuals can change the world.

“Students are also a pivotal force of change. Never underestimate what a small, committed group of students can do,” Pathak said. “In my 30-plus years in higher education, the most compelling change has happened because students spoke up.”

Ruth Cody, university archivist for VCU Libraries, also spoke Friday. She said the historical marker commemorates an important moment in VCU’s history and is a reminder that VCU was shaped not just by the administrative institutions of higher education but by students and the LGBTQIA+ community.

“This commemoration could not come at a better time to remind us to not just celebrate the LBGTQ student community, both past and present, but also to continue to actively support them now and in the future,” Cody said. 

VCU Libraries holds an archival collection of legal documents, correspondence, applications, photographs and other materials related to the Gay Alliance of Students and its court case against the university from 1974 to 1976. To access the collection, visit here.

The Virginia Board of Historic Resources, which is authorized to designate new state historical markers, approved the manufacture and installation of the Gay Alliance of Students marker in June 2026. VCU, which sponsored the marker, covered its manufacturing cost.

John Mullen, an archeologist and member of the Department of Historic Resources’ State Review Board, spoke Friday on behalf of the department. 

“We appreciate the commitment that all of you have made to the important project of educating the public about Virginia’s past,” Mullen said. “Through your efforts, all who pass by will have the opportunity to learn about the Gay Alliance of Students and its successful battle for official recognition, which reverberated beyond VCU and brought legal protections to similar groups in five states in the mid-1970s.”