Rae Kalscheuer is a senior (class of 2024) with an History and English double major and certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies at UW-Madison. They love exploring local histories and are excited to see what the future holds after graduation this Spring.
By This Author:
OBJECT HISTORY: 602 Club T-Shirt
Not all bars make commemorative T-shirts for their closing, but the 602 Club was not an average bar. It had been a center of gay sociability at UW-Madison during a time when homosexual students suffered discrimination from the university.
The Gay Purge of University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1962-63
The Gay Purge of 1962-1963 is a story which touches on university politics, national witch-hunt campaigns, and international fear all coming together to affect students who were simply trying to live their lives.
GLO: UW-Eau Claire's First Gay Student Organization
Gay history in Wisconsin, while often focused on major cities like Madison and Milwaukee, was also being made in the often-overlooked rural parts of the state. One such place is the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where a coalition of gay students founded their first gay student organization, the Gay Lesbian Organization (GLO), in 1984 to provide others on campus a safe place to meet and discuss their issues.