Lgbtq cultural center iu

lgbtq cultural center iu

What was it like to be gay in southern Indiana in the 1990s? Ask Doug Bauder.

When Doug Bauder became Indiana University’s (IU) LGBTQ+ Culture Center’s inaugural director in 1994, he had a theory about public support for the gay community.

“I got the idea that one third of any given population was already in support of gay issues,” Bauder said. “A third of the population never would be, and then there was a team in the middle that could be supportive.”

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Bauder concentrated his work with winning the support of that undecided third.

Bauder, the LGBTQ+ Culture Center’s inaugural director and a longtime activist in the Bloomington community, is recognized by many at IU and the local community as one of Bloomington’s most pivotal LGBTQ+ leaders.

Bauder’s operate as director of the culture center — one of the first Queer university centers in the U.S. — is credited not only with saving the lives of many students who were closeted and seeking a reliable space in the 1990s, but also with inspiring LGBTQ+ leadership in his students, many of whom went on to attend at LGBTQ+ centers at other universities and communities; Bruce Smail, the Diverse Culture Ce

LGBTQ+ Resources

Organizations

 

Community AIDS Activity Group of South Central Indiana

Community AIDS Action Group of South Central Indiana is an AIDS resource center that helps spread information and visibility to the community.

Indiana University Diverse Culture Center

IU's Diverse Culture Center is a vast company with many resources for the IU community. The organization's main mission is act as a helping hand in the academic and personal development of IU's LGBTQ+ society. They have facts on scholarship opportunities, mental health resources, changing your preferred name at IU, and everything in between. 

Bloomington PRIDE Office

Bloomington PRIDE's goal is to "advocacy, outreach, educational workshops, safe-space programs, and arts and culture events." They also oversee two different group programs: Rainbow Elders which gives assist to the aging community and Gender non-conforming & Allies Assist Community which is a peer-led team in support of the transgender and nonbinary community. 

Gender Diverse and Queer Clinic

The Gender Diverse and Queer Clinic is specifically for Homosexual healthcare in Bloom

Out in the Heartland

It was Thanksgiving when Sheldon Raisor, BS’10, came out to his parents as lgbtq+. They didn’t take the news well.

If he wanted to make this lifestyle choice, they told Raisor, then they would no longer support him financially.

Raisor—a junior at the hour in the IU Kelley School of Business—returned to Bloomington with an overdue bursar bill looming appreciate a dark cloud.

“I was not going to grant them take my training away,” he says of his parents who followed through with their commit to cut him off financially. For Raisor, the ability to live openly as a gay dude was more important than any amount of money.

On the verge of existence kicked out of his Willkie Quad dorm room, Raisor started researching ways to become self-sufficient. To avoid eviction, he applied for and received a Residential Programs and Services student grant.

Then he heard about an emergency scholarship through the LGBTQ+ Alumni Association for students in his situation—students who, after revealing their sexual orientation, are cut off or disowned by their parents. Raisor was awarded the scholarship.

“People in the Queer community support eac

LGBTQ+ Alumni Association

The IU Woman loving woman, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and Others Alumni Association is an active and vibrant organization of IU alumni and friends that serves to improve the quality of life for all IU students, faculty, staff, and alumni on all eight campuses, including those from LGBTQ+ communities. Here’s just a sample of the many things the LGBTQ+ Alumni Association does:

  • Sponsor educational activities;
  • Provide knowledge on activities and events of interest to the IU LGBTQ+ community;
  • Provide networking and social opportunities;
  • Award academic and emergency scholarships to students;
  • Award grants to deserving students and student organizations;
  • Provide mentoring and support programs for IU students;
  • Advocate Diverse issues to the IU administration;
  • Assist the LGBTQ+ Society Center in Bloomington; and
  • Keep members of our society informed of issues that affect us all

Questions? Suggestions? Email us at IULGBTQAA@alumni.iu.edu.

Get together and stay informed

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LGBTQ+ Culture Center re-opening highlights community’s ability on campus

After a summer of renovations, the LGBTQ+ Customs Center celebrated its new space  Thursday. 

Members of the Homosexual community, students, staff members and allies showed up to mingle and scout the culture center’s new spaces. The event began with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and opening remarks from Director Bruce Smail, members of the alumni board, center founder Doug Bauder and Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Rashad Nelms, among others. 

“My favorite part of the bedtime was probably the speech that [Smail] gave,” Nalini Krishnan, office services assistant for the center, said. “He has really been the one that has been at the head of this project, and it’s been in the works for many, many years. And I think finally seeing it culminate into what it has become was really emotional.” 

Smail said that in 2022, IU designated the building space for the LGBTQ+ Tradition Center after the student affairs department relocated its office space within the building. With the opportunity to alter office rooms into center space, Smail and his coworkers began looking at ways