Deepak Ilango, Government & American Studies, 2022

This protest sign was used at the 1993 Takeover of Day Hall by students at Cornell University. The banner reads “The People United Will Never Be Defeated/El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido,” “There is No Liberation Without Lesbian/Gay Liberation,” and “No Gay Liberation Without Socialism.”

The ‘93 Takeover was a monumental moment in the story of student activism, where Cornell’s Latinx community – spurred on by racist vandalism of an art installation – occupied Day Hall for four days. These students demanded better academic representation and the creation of a Latino Living Center on campus in an example of militant student activism. Given this context, the sign represents an important facet of the history of militant queer liberation in America – that it was pioneered on college campuses, with Cornell at the forefront. Cornell’s Student Homophile League (SHL), established in 1968, was one of the first LGBT student organizations in the nation, preceding the Stonewall Riots of 1969.

Most importantly, this sign implies the intersectional direction the queer rights movement on campus had taken over the years. In its formative years, the SHL was more focused on respectability politics than it was on bringing about radical change for marginalized groups on campus; a privilege it enjoyed because of its overwhelmingly white makeup. When the Afro-American Society occupied Willard Straight Hall in 1969, the Student Homophile League did not officially lend their support, although they benefited from the institutional changes to campus and curricula made in its aftermath. Thus, the fact that queer activists were present at the ‘93 Day Hall Takeover coupled with the explicitly socialist slogan shows us that this new brand of queer militancy was incredibly intersectional and radical in nature, a tradition that has carried over into the following decades.

Source

 “Day Hall 1993: There is no liberation without L/G liberation! No Gay Liberation without Socialism!” other side, “L/G Political Action and Discussion Group Cornell/Ithaca,” November 1993. Direct Action to Stop Homophobia records, Mapcase Folder 3, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

Additional sources

Beemyn, Genny. “The Silence Is Broken: A History of the First Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual
College Student Groups.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 12, no. 2 (2003): 205-223.
doi:10.1353/sex.2003.0075.Collection description.

Hernández, Sascha. “Recalling the ’93 Day Hall Takeover by Latino Students.” Cornell
Chronicle, October 30, 2014.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/10/recalling-93-day-hall-takeover-latino-students

Lowery, George. “A Campus Takeover that Symbolized an Era of Change.” Cornell Chronicle,
April 16, 2009.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/04/campus-takeover-symbolized-era-change

Wilhelm, Ian. “Ripples From a Protest Past.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 17, 2016.