Revolution Evolution
Kayla Krippner
Illinois State University
Ethnography 285, Fall 2007
It is virtually impossible to separate yourself from your research or your research
methods, and I am no different in this respect. I am highly interested in gay rights so, when
asked to conduct ethnographic research on the university, I decided to start a project dealing with
students in People Realizing Individuality through Diversity Education at Illinois State
University. Any student can join PRIDE an organization for gay, lesbian, transsexual/gender,
and bisexual education. At a time in the world when college students’ attitudes are drastically
changing about the gay community, it is imperative to analyze this growing, and diverse
community. At ISU, PRIDE holds themed meetings, sponsors public speakers, and provides a
number of educational pamphlets The PRIDE members also have an interesting group dynamic.
In this project, I seek to answer the question, “What is the purpose of the PRIDE organization,
and how has this purpose evolved since the organizations inception?”
History and General Information about PRIDE
The background history of PRIDE is a multidimensional one. Starting as a gathering
called “Gay Men’s Rap Group,” six men began meeting in the early 1960s in a dorm room in
Walker Hall. They needed to meet in secrecy, and there was always someone guarding the door
so as to not be overheard by eavesdroppers who might hurt the men for being gay. The group
was very informal and there is not much documentation about the group because of its sensitive
and secretive nature (Co-President 2007). In 1970, the group became a part of a national
organization called the Gay Liberation Front, which was established in order to provide a form of
representation for the gay community on a national level. The Gay Liberation Front (GLF)
benefited gay and bisexual people, and the organization was one of the first to relate
homosexuality to other minority statuses. The national organization placed an emphasis on
liberal politics, although its objectives were not always political. On the national level, the group
tried to set up social activities for gay men in communities with larger gay populations (The
Vidette 1970). In the 1970s ISU actually had a relatively large gay population (Co-President
2007) that was met with disdain and disapproval, but rarely violence, by the general student
population. So the GLF at ISU decided to set up a public dance for gay ISU students. However,
on a regular basis, the GLF had weekly meetings and was more of a support group for members.
It set up study groups and highlighted education through personality development, along with
counseling for those not comfortable with their sexuality. It was not until the 1980s that lesbians
were publically invited into the group (Co-President 2007). With the huge world-wide attention
to AIDS in the 1980s gay support groups were especially crucial. The term “gay pride” in
reference to being proud of one’s sexuality has been used since the Stonewall riots in 1969 (The
Vidette 1970). There is no national PRIDE organization; however, PRIDE at ISU was created in
the 1980s. There are several other organizations with GLBT interests and intensions but the core
of most these groups is that people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender
identity, especially since they are inherent and cannot be intentionally altered. Some nationally
recognized groups focus more on equality on the legal level, and others focus more about social
networking and support systems (Student Government Representative 2007).
At ISU the PRIDE group falls under the Office of Diversity Advocacy (DA) at ISU. DA
was the umbrella office for five minority student organizations--Asian Pacific (APAC),
Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), PRIDE, Black Student Union (BSU),
and Native American Student Association (NASA)--but NASA is no longer part of DA due to
too few members. PRIDE has not always been connected with DA; until a few years ago it was
just a regular Registered Student Organization (RSO) on campus. As an RSO it received almost
$7,000 per year and it corresponded directly to the university. This $7,000 was a smaller amount
than other similar RSOs due to the low attendance. As an affiliate/partner of DA in decisionmaking and, educational programming, PRIDE has access to a portion of about $50,000 which it
shares with the other DA groups. Like other RSOs, PRIDE must still apply to the University
Programming board to get money for activities. As part of Diversity Advocacy, however,
PRIDE needs to meet education requirements as well as providing fun educational activities for
their members (Co-President 2007).
Methods: Learning about PRIDE through Participant-Observation and Interviewing
For my ethnography I interviewed four people and observed seven times. Three of my
interviewees were board members of PRIDE and the fourth was someone who had only been to
one meeting. The board members had a range of positions, from co-president, Student
Government Representative, and co-webmaster. For my observations I attended five PRIDE
meetings, one speaker and once at a restaurant. All PRIDE meetings are both social and
educational but usually emphasize one over the other. The meetings I went to were “Ally Night”
in which straight people come to support GLBT people, “Stitch n’ Bitch” where people were
taught to crochet while talking to each other, “Yoga Night” to relieve stress during mid-terms,
“Hollywood Squares” which was a game focused on GLBT trivia, and the “Annual Sex Toy
Party” this is one of the most important meetings of the year because it shows people how to be
safe with sex and there was free HIV testing. The speaker was nationally acclaimed slam poet
Stacey Ann Chin, who is a Jamaican lesbian speaking about her experiences and performing her
poetry. The restaurant I observed at was Steak N’ Shake, where I witnessed some harassment
and briefly talked to a former PRIDE member.
Findings: The Purpose of PRIDE
As a result of my personal involvement and investment in the GLBT community, I went
through many phases when analyzing my data. First, I was just addressing my question on the
individual level because of my interest in the lives of the students. However, after taking a look
at the bigger project question, PRIDE at ISU, I decided to analyze the purpose of PRIDE on the
institutional level as well. On the institutional level there are the “Four E” aspects: educational,
event planning, enough people, and “e”-pproval, while on the individual level, there are the
social, advocacy, and support network aspects.
First, on the institutional level, in order for PRIDE to function year to year there are four
basic requirements or “Four Es.” There is an educational requirement for PRIDE to be part of
Diversity Advocacy, but this purpose overlaps between the individual and institutional.
According to the Student Government Representative for PRIDE, the educational aspect is
important for people to be educated about issues important to the GLBT or “umbrella”
community (Student Government Representative 2007). Additionally, because PRIDE is part of
Diversity Advocacy, it is required to host 1 event per semester or 2, if they co-host events (CoPresident 2007). One huge positive aspect of hosting events is that the RSOs have creative
flexibility about who they want to speak or what they want to host, which allows them to blend
the educational and social benefits. Furthermore, events like the Stacey Ann Chin performance
help bring in new members, helping to fulfill the third E: enough members. The importance of
having enough members not only is because other RSOs have been terminated, but also for
funding. For groups with many members, it is easier to justify spending more money. PRIDE
keeps attendance to meetings high by keeping old and requiting new members. Creating new
and interesting programming is one way of keeping old members, along with sending messages
each week (sometimes several times a week) to members of the PRIDE Facebook group, of
which the co-president sends (co-webmaster 2007). One of the most important methods of
recruiting new members is not only through word of mouth but also through chalking the quad. I
noticed that significantly more people came to the meetings when board members chalked the
quad; however, they chalked the quad for meetings that were annual events, and I got the feeling
that several people would probably have gone anyway. Regardless, when asked about the quad
chalkings, the Student Government Representative responded that they were “too lazy” to always
do it (Student Government Representative 2007). The chalkings though serve an important
purpose; they show the rest of the campus that the PRIDE group is important and active in
student affairs (Student Government Representative 2007). Another important aspect of keeping
old and recruiting new members are the weekly meetings. Each board member plans out at least
two meetings a year, which everyone on the board talks about in their weekly board meetings
right before each PRIDE meeting (Student Government Representative 2007). Depending on the
size of the meeting, the board talks about each meeting at a minimum of three times before that
general meeting takes place (Co-President 2007). The PRIDE board is vital to the success of the
group. Finally, the most important part of PRIDE at ISU is the “e” or approval of Diversity
Advocacy and the Student Government. Not only does PRIDE need to check up with Diversity
Advocacy about events (Co-President 2007) it also needs to go to all Student Government
meetings in order to keep funding. This is why the position of “Student Representative for
PRIDE” was created. Although she is a regular board member, the PRIDE Representative needs
to go to Student Government meeting every other week. The cost of missing more than two
meetings a year is funding removal, which happened to BSU last year (Student Government
Representative 2007). Those were all institutional purposes of PRIDE at ISU.
I was very interested in the individual reasons for being in PRIDE, which are the social,
advocacy, and support network aspects. From observing meetings, I recognize that the social
aspect of PRIDE is probably the most important part. Each meeting started a little late because
people were talking in the beginning, and one time I over heard I guy say that he was there to
meet people. Many people did not participate during Yoga Night, but instead opted to watch and
talk. Even during the seemingly social events, people would not participate in the event at hand
but rather talk to themselves, like on Halloween (Davidshofer 2007). According to the copresident, PRIDE has not always been this social (Co-President 2007). In fact, last year the
individual emphasis was on advocacy. As a result, this year the board prepared for a much
different group; they set up committees for advocacy to help everyone be involved (Co-President
2007). When the members showed little interest in these committees, the board new they needed
to switch gears. The problem is, according to the Student Government Representative, not
everyone can be pleased (Student Government Representative 2007). These sentiments are
mirrored in the thoughts of a one time PRIDE attendee, “it wasn’t as informative as I would have
liked” (One time Attendee 2007). However, the attendance is lower to the meetings in which
education and advocacy are emphasized, and board members need to more or less tell everyone
to “come back” for future meetings because they will be more social (Student Government
Representative 2007). This proves the hardships of being on the board, being able to change the
meetings to fit the members. One explanation to the lack of advocacy in PRIDE is the increase
of other GLBT groups that emphasize advocacy or legal change over the social parts (Student
Government Representative 2007). Groups like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) have the
capability to organize and protest nationally, whereas for PRIDE at ISU, this would not be
feasible (Co-President 2007). Finally, the last aspect of PRIDE is the support network it creates.
When asked about how cliquey PRIDE is the Student Representative replied that any group of
people will have its cliques, but “it’s the job of the board to extend a welcome out to new
members” (Student Government Representative 2007). This support network of people allows
each member to be his/herself and more of an individual because he/she is no longer “the gay
friend” each person has the opportunity to define his/herself (Co-President 2007). Ultimately, as
a result of the multi-dimensions of the group “PRIDE is what you make it” (Co-President 2007).
Conclusion
So what is the purpose of PRIDE, and how has this purpose evolved? According to the
co-president of the group, PRIDE is defined by its members, and usually its purpose changes
year to year. Currently, PRIDE is very social organization, and attendance is high. With the
increase in the social aspects of PRIDE, comes the decrease of education and advocacy in the
group. However, it would be impossible to extricate advocacy or education all together because
they serve as institutional functions. One of the biggest parts of PRIDE is the meeting planning,
which happens with the board members at separate meetings.
Works Cited
Co-President, PRIDE, interview by Kayla Krippner. Interview with a Board Member (November 2, 2007).
co-webmaster, PRIDE, interview by Kayla Krippner. Interview with a Board Member 3 (December 3,
2007).
Davidshofer. GLBT Discrimination at ISU. Normal , December 12, 2007.
One time Attendee, PRIDE, interview by Kayla Krippner. Interview with a Non-Member (September 21,
2007).
Student Government Representative, PRIDE, interview by Kayla Krippner. Interview with a board
member 2 (December 3, 2007).
The Vidette. "GLF Organizes at Illinois State." The Vidette, April Thursday, 1970: 1-4.