Sexuality and Gender Alliance
Founded in 1974 (initially called the Gay Awareness Rap Group), the Carolina Gay Association was the first recognized student organization for gay and lesbian students on campus. The group was active in its early years, helping host the Southeastern Gay Conference in 1976 and beginning publication of Lambda, believed to have been the first LGBTQ student publication in the country. In 1975 the Carolina Gay Association protested local bar He's Not Here after the manager asked two gay men to stop dancing. The organization was at the center of a campus-wide debate in 1991 when the summer student legislature passed a resolution to end funding for the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association, as it was then called. The attempt to defund the group was ultimately unsuccessful, but that effort, supported by many students, demonstrated that UNC still presented a hostile environment for many LGBTQ students. The organization has changed names multiple times and has been known as the Sexuality and Gender Alliance since 2012. Its members work to foster a strong and supportive LGBTQ community at Carolina.