Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University
| Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit |
| Full case name | Gay Student Services, J.M. Minton, Keith Stewart and Patricia Wooldridge, Plaintiffs-Appellants v. Texas A&M University, et al., Defendants-Appellees |
| Decided | August 3, 1984 |
| Citation(s) | 737 F.2d 1317 (5th Cir. 1984) |
| Case history | |
| Prior action(s) | 612 F.2d 160 (5th Cir. 1980) |
| Subsequent action(s) | Petition for certiorari denied, 471 U.S. 1001 (1985) 635 F. Supp. 776 (N.D. Tex. 1986) |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | John Robert Brown, Thomas Morrow Reavley, |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Brown, joined by Beavley, Williams |
| Laws applied | |
| First Amendment | |
Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University, 737 F.2d 1317 (5th Cir. 1984) is a court case in which the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the First Amendment required public universities to recognize student organizations aimed at gay students. In 1976, Texas A&M University denied official recognition to the Gay Student Services Organization on the grounds that homosexuality was illegal in Texas, and the group's stated goals—offering referral services and providing educational information to students—were actually the responsibility of university staff. The students sued the university for violation of their First Amendment right to freedom of speech in February 1977. For six years, the case wound its way through the courts; although the trial court ruled in favor of Texas A&M several times, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals repeatedly overturned the verdict. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case, letting stand the circuit court ruling that the students' free speech rights had been compromised.
When Texas A&M University opened in 1876, only male students were admitted. All students were required to join the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. Although the school was located in a sparsely populated area, student social clubs and fraternities were discouraged. After World War II ended, enrollment at A&M skyrocketed as many former soldiers used the G.I. Bill to further their education.
When in the 1950s editorials in the school newspaper, The Battalion, encouraged coeducation, the Student Senate demanded that the editor of the paper resign. Later in the year students defeated 2–1 a campus resolution on coeducation. Texas A&M finally became coeducational in 1963; female students were forbidden from joining the Corps of Cadets. The following year, the college was officially integrated, and in 1965 membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary. By 1970, enrollment had grown to more than 14,000 students from all 50 states and 75 nations.
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