LGBTQ Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Campus Offices and Curriculum

For more information, please see the LibGuide for Campus Resources, Centers, and Caucuses at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, featuring a current and complete listing.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,and Queer (LGBTQ) Center works to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for UNC-Chapel Hill community members of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1975-2014

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Center was established in 2003 as a unit within the Office of the Dean of Students. In 2006, it became an administratively separate unit reporting directly to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. The LGBTQ Center is tasked with providing programs, services, and resources to create a welcoming environment for all members of the UNC-Chapel Hill community. The collection includes administrative records documenting the establishment of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; promotional material for and photographs of some of its activities and events, including a campus campaign for gender neutral housing; video interviews that were conducted as part of a project to record the history of the Center for its ten year anniversary; news clippings related to LGBTQ issues on campus and beyond; newsletters and ephemera from local and national organizations; and records of a few campus organizations that predate the Center, including the Association for Women Students; Bisexuals, Gay Men, Lesbians and Allies for Diversity (B-GLAD); and the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Assocation (CGLA).

Sexuality Studies

In the 1990s a group formed to develop LGBTQ courses funded by a bequest made to the University in 1996 by alumnus Dr. Charles Williamson. The first official work on campus to develop a Gay and Lesbian Studies curriculum can be found primarily in the Office of the Provost of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1917-2017 (bulk 1954-2013), particularly Boxes 15 and 196. Dr. Cecil Wooten was involved with organizing the curriculum and oral interviews with him are found in the Southern Oral History Program. 

In Fall 2004, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill began offering a minor in Sexuality Studies. This minor is designed for students interested in exploring the study of sexual/gender identities—such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual—as well as the full range of human sexual behaviors and identities in diverse cultures and historical periods.

Provost’s Committee on LGBTQ Life

The Committee's 2011 Campus Climate Report Regarding Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression

Materials about this Committee can be found in the Carolina Women's Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1996-2018 and the Office of the Provost of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1917-2017 (bulk 1954-2013).