UC Irvine Student Housing Fight Makes Inroads in LGBTQ Rights
In the 1980s, in supposedly conservative Orange County, long before the fight for gay marriage made national progress, LGBTQ students at the University of California, Irvine fought for the right to live in family housing. Three lesbian couples moved into Verano between 1986 and 1988, under Vice Chancellor Horace Mitchell's "Exceptions Committee" that reviewed housing applications from "nontraditional families" on a case-by-case basis. This tenuous success was threatened in 1989 when the City of Irvine passed Measure N, stripping LGBTQ individuals of protections under a human rights ordinance. Then, in January 1990, Chancellor Jack Peltason abolished the review procedure that had previously allowed some LGBTQ families to access Verano housing.
In response, the Gay and Lesbian Student Union organized a sit-in on Feb. 5, 1990, erecting a "shantytown" encampment outside the administration building. The Shantytown Committee expressed their sense of homelessness on the campus and issued a set of demands for equality for LGBTQ families. They chanted: "Chancellor Jack, Chancellor Jack / Says we have no family / Chancellor Jack, Chancellor Jack / Though you're blind we'll make you see."
Explore some of the spaces in Orange County shaped by conservatism and activism. Click on the starred map points to read more in-depth stories.
On March 7, at this shantytown, six students were arrested and, curiously, cited for prostitution instead of unlawful assembly. One of the arrested, Judy Olson, a graduate student in English, stated in a New University Commentary: "Access to campus housing may seem trivial to some people. But those in the earlier struggle for civil rights talked about drinking a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. At stake in both cases is human dignity."
After weeks of fielding complaints and protest from the community, UCI administrators decided that gay and lesbian couples could qualify for housing based on need. About a decade later, the University of California approved the extension of all benefits to same-sex couple students, faculty and staff.
