LGBTQ+ History at Loyola
Spring 2019
LGBTQ+ Services Graduate Assistant position created. Students form new club on campus, The LGBTQ+ Experience.
Fall 2018
Pride Resource Room opened after a series of renovations to the Andrew White Student Center, Loyola re-envisioned intersectional and affinity student spaces, creating an intentional space for LGBTQPIA+ students to gather in community.
Spring 2018
Coordinator of LGBTQ+ Services created within the Counseling Center to support programs such as IgnatianQ, In, Out, and In Between and Peer Mentor program.
Spring 2018
Loyola hosts 5th annual IgnatianQ Conference, February 9-11. The theme of the 2018 IgnatianQ conference is “Cura Personalis: Resilience in Our Wholeness". In the spirit of our Ignatian call for honoring cura personalis and cura apostolica, we acknowledge that caring for the whole unique person and caring for a diverse community is hard work. We honor the legacy of the past four conferences and seek to incorporate past conference themes of acknowledgement (2014), contemplation (2015), celebration (2016), and community (2017). We also wish to build on these themes and look to the future as we focus on building resilience in our community.
Spring 2018
LGBTQPIA+ Peer Mentorship Program created through a collaboration between Loyola undergrad and graduate students and The Counseling Center, Loyola begins the LGBTQPIA+ Peer Mentoring Program.
Fall 2017
Commitment to Justice Panel “Sexuality and Justice: Beyond Rhetoric” panel discussion featuring Loyola Students and Keynote Speaker Sivagami (“Shiva”) Subbaraman.
Fall 2017
LGBTQPIA+ Administrator Support Position Residence Life & Housing (Loyola’s office for residential affairs) creates a new position, Associate Director for Inclusion & Community Development, designed to formalize support for LGBTQPIA+ students.
2016: Faith and Sexuality
Noted scholar Mark Jordan delivers a university-sponsored lecture on the topic of theology and sex.
2015: Queer Studies Course and Inclusive Facilities
Loyola offers its first explicitly LGBTQ+-themed course: DR362 Queer Theater and Film. Other courses had long covered LGBTQ+ topics.
All single-use restroom facilities now bear all-gender signage.
2014: Gender Identity Protections and Transgender Visibility
“Gender Identity” added to institutional non-discrimination policy and Core Values statement by unanimous vote of Loyola Conference.
Spectrum officially changes name of Sexual and Gender Diversity Awareness Week to better include transgender voices and topics.
2011: Cultural Competency Training
OUTLoyola begins offering SafeZone training to campus employees and some student groups to foster a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies. The training is updated and remains available about once per semester.
2010: Inclusive Benefits
Loyola begins offering health and other benefits to legally-domiciled adults following a 2008 recommendation by OUTLoyola and passed by Loyola Conference.
2004: Employee Affinity Group
Loyola Employee Sexual Diversity Alliance (LESDA) begins meeting, renames to OUTLoyola in 2008. The group remains active today.
2003: Special Interest Housing and Curricular Aims
In Fall 2003, the office of Residence Life & Housing, along with student leaders, created Stonewall House, a special interest housing community for sophomores, juniors and seniors. Its mission was to provide and understanding, accepting, and nurturing environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and allied students (GLBTA). The members of Stonewall community agreed to foster open and honest campus-wide discussions about the diversity issues surrounding sexual orientation and the lives and experiences of sexual minorities.
Academic Senate passes a proposal from Spectrum to include a diversity statement in its undergraduate Curriculum Aims. The statement includes sexual orientation.
2002: Awareness Week
Spectrum hosts first annual Sexual Diversity Awareness Week (SDAW).
1995: Student Affinity Group
GLOBAL, Loyola’s first GLBT Awareness and Support Group, is founded. Changes its name to Spectrum in 1999 to support all LGBTQ+ undergraduate students, allies, and friends. The group remains active today.