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WJBC Interview with Homophile ISU, January 23, 1972
deg farrelly, David Keltner, and Denny Atkins
Illinois State University's first organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights was the Gay Liberation Front, which organized in 1969 under the leadership of undergraduate student Jim Curtis. This short-lived organization gave way to Homophile ISU in 1971, followed by the Gay People's Alliance and later the Gay and Lesbian Alliance. Today, this registered student organization is known as Pride.
According to former Homophile ISU member Alfred Karge, the two students being interviewed by Dialogue host Denny Atkins are deg farrelly and David Keltner. They used the pseudonyms "Paul" and "Robert" respectively out of fear of persecution. At the time of the interview farrelly's first name was Terrence. He went on to finish his education at Rutgers University and worked as a media librarian from 1976 until his death from cancer in 2018. David Keltner, originally from Chatham, Illinois, died in Miami, Florida in 1992. Karge identified Caller 16 as Violet Hamilton (1923-2011), a local John Birch society member who attended the first meeting of Homophile ISU and was intent on "stopping the communists from infiltrating central Illinois."
An audio recording of this interview, also supplied by Karge, is available for use on site at the Dr. Jo Ann Rayfield Archives in Normal, Illinois.
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