Joseph L. Barrios papers

Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual At Large representative on Cornell's Student Assembly and leader of the Men Supporting Men support group for gay/bi/questioning men coming out of the closet in 1992-1993. In the US Presidential election, where Democratic candidate Bill Clinton had promised to end the ban on gays in the military if elected. The specter of AIDS hung over the community as well, as many students had friends and relatives who had succumbed to the disease. Barrios remembers that students perceived that gay issues were beginning to be talked about earnestly by the public at large, but that this also caused tension among the substantial segment of the population that remained intolerant towards gays. On campus, there were 12 LGBT student groups, chief of which was the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Coalition run by Demetri Moshoyannis and Rebecca Rugg. The Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual At Large seat on the Student Assembly that Barrios filled had not seen much use since its creation.