2000 Abel passes safe space bill. Controversy results so the ALLY card is only posted on the Abel Residence Hall Association door rather than on all entrances to Abel.

Residence Hall Association (RHA) passes bill declaring it a safe space.

University Health Center Insurance includes domestic partner coverage for students.

The first Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the GLBT Community is awarded by Chancellor Moeser.

Sunday, July 2, 2000 Lincoln Journal Star article (page C1) on the petition drive to put the Nebraska “Defense of Marriage Act” (sic) on the ballot. Guyla Mills is the petition drive coordinator interviewed for the article. By July 7, petitions with 104,000 valid signatures of registered voters from a minimum of 38 counties (there are 49 in NE) must be turned in to get the constitutional change on the ballot. According to the article, “much of the work on the petition drive is being done by church members and many of the signatures are being collected in church and among church groups. People from the Muslim faith and churches from at least 20 denominations are presented, said Mills. Denominations represented include Assemblies of God, Evangelical Free, Southern Baptist, American Baptist, United Methodist, Mennonites, Mormons, Berean Fundamentalists, Christian Missionary Alliance, Church of Christ, Church of God in Christ, Covenant, Nazarene, Missouri Synod Lutherans and Catholics.”

HIV Test Site is proposed by Brian Franz, Peer Sexuality Educator, with the support of the Sexuality Education Program at the University Health Center and a grant from NE Dept. of Health & Human Services. Brian provides free HIV testing at the site, which is located at Cornerstone Church, 16th & A Street and is open every other Saturday.

2000 PFLAG worked with others to help educate about 416, the proposed amendment to modify the NE constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman and to prohibit the recognition of same sex relationships, civil unions or domestic partnerships in NE. The amendment passed (with approval of 70% of the votes), becoming constitutional bill 29.

July 2000 Volume 1, Issue #4 of Stepping Out: A totally outrageous GLBT Newsletter for Lincoln, NE is published).

October 26, 2000 Ryan Grigsby is an openly gay fraternity member at UNL and comes out. "Coming Out on Fraternity Row" is published in Rolling Stone!

2001 ASUN approved a bill in April to acknowledge and comply with the university non-discrimination policy; a proposal to display an ALLY card was killed in April in the Human Rights committee. ASUN did declare itself an ALLY-friendly zone although only President Nathan Furst displayed a card in his office window. ASUN declared itself a safe space for Muslim students after the 9/11 attacks. NU-wide report on domestic partner benefits provided to the Board of Regents. Benefits denied. Tuesday, Feb. 12th: Lincolnites Kristy Knorr and Michelle Oja and Kris Gandara and Traci Kujath participate in a staged wedding ceremony on the west steps of the Capitol as part of National Freedom to Marry Day (Lincoln Journal Star, B1).

2002 Campus Climate and Needs Assessment Study conducted by Professor Robert "Bob" Brown and 3 graduate students: Brandy Clark, Valerie Gortmacher, Rachael Robinson-Keilig. The study is completed and made available on the CGLBTC web site: http://www.unl.edu/cglbtc/climate.shtml

April 10, 2002 Human Rights Chain around the Capitol for Equal Rights for GLBT people. The human chain was a political action sponsored by the Nebraska Coalition for LGBT Civil Rights with other groups who also support equal rights for all. The purpose of the action was to let legislators and citizens of Nebraska know that many of the citizens of NE do not approve of the passage of 416 (which once passed became Constitutional Amendment (CA) 29), which altered the constitution of the state to forbid recognition or consider valid any same-sex partnerships, civil unions or domestic partnerships. Two other amendments were considered at this time: one to alter the state constitution to be gender neutral (did not pass) and one to pass term limits (did pass).

2003 GLBT bulletin board vandalized for three times and replaced. New bulletin board on main floor provided (previously located on the 3rd floor) Part-time Assistant Director for GLBTA Programs & Services Student Involvement (SI) obtained via the work of the Committee on GLBT Concerns; D Moritz is hired and starts work January of 2003. 1st GLBT History Month dinner held at the Culture Center. UAAD educational panel on Domestic Partner Benefits held (the video is available for use from UAAD. http://uaad.unl.edu/) Student Award for contributions to the GLBT community created and incorporated into the Student Impact Awards and the Chancellor’s Award recognition events. The Nebraska Historical Society (Vol. 84, No. 3) includes, "Homo-hunting" in the Early Cold War: Senator Kenneth Wherry and the Homophobic Side of McCartyism by Randolph W. Baxter. A related event is when Senator Wherry is nominated to be included in the Nebraska Hall of Fame and a controversy ensues.

2004 GLBT Teach-in; ASUN adds more groups to non-discrimination by-law (agreeing to add gender identity/expression);

2005 10 Year Anniversary of ALLY Cards at UNL Third annual GLBT History Month Opening Ceremony and Dinner, held at the UNL Nebraska Union.

Barb Baier is the first out lesbian elected to the School Board in Lincoln, NE. She ran for the first time in 2005, winning the May election by 14 percentage points in spite of overwhelming negative media coverage regarding her sexual orientation.

2006 The 54th Nebraska Annual Symposium on Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Identities, Volume Editor and Conference Organizer: Debra A. Hope, Ph.D.

UNL began offering a minor in LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor at the start of the fall semester – the program is one of the first of its kind in the Midwest. In May 2006, the Assistant Director in SI for GLBTA Programs & Services steps down and Pat Tetreault, Sexuality Education Coordinator agrees to a split-position for the 2006-2007 academic year.

July 21, 2006 A second hands around the Capitol for LGBTQ Rights takes place. For the second time, LGBTQA members from UNL and the Lincoln community to circle the capitol for LGBTQ rights.

Source: PFLAG SPECTRUM, 8/2006 PFLAG Cornhusker was founded in1981 by Helen Bratt, a foresighted Lincoln Methodist who had neither a lesbian nor gay child, but still felt gay and lesbian people and their families deserved respect and support. First meeting in Bratt's home, the Unitarian Church became the meeting place and PFLAG continues to meet at the Unitarian Church (2010). The first President of PFLAG-Cornhusker was Eilenn Durgin-Clinchard, and PFLAG immediately began building a library, a speakers' bureau and to acquire pamphlets from national PFLAG, which was formed in 1981. Transgender individuals were added to the mission in 1996. The newsletter was started with a small grant from the Chicago Resource Center. PFLAG sponsored the first AIDS support group in Lincoln and also created a quilt panel that lists the names of many of Nebraska's citizens who were diagnosed with AIDS. In 1989, PFLAG held a Rap on Homophobia conference at UNL with Terry Tafoya. In 1990, a Coming Out Workshop was held at UNL. All bills in the legislature dealing with GLBT issues have had PFLAG members testify at their hearings and visit legislators.

The 5th annual dinner celebration is scheduled for Oct. 8 with Tim Miller as the keynote speaker, made possible by a collaborative partnership with the Lied Center for Performing Arts, with the dinner being held at the Lied. Aaron Raz Link and Hilda Raz’s book, What Becomes You, is published by the University of Nebraska Press. ASUN, the association of students at the University of NE, passed three pieces of legislation stating that the Campus Life Committee would work with University Housing to develop housing policies for LGBTQI students. There are no official policies for LGBTQI issues that impact students at UNL (Daily Nebraskan, 10/25/07, p. 3).

The Sexuality Education Program is ranked 8th in the nation by Trojan Brand Condoms in its second sexual health report card. An editorial cartoon appears in the Daily Nebraskan on 9/25/07:

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