Spectrum Center (community center)

The Spectrum Center is an office at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor that is dedicated to providing education, outreach, and advocacy for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and allied (LGBTQA) community. Since the organizations' creation in 1971, the Spectrum Center's mission statement has been to "enrich the campus experience and develop students as individuals and as members of the LGBTQA community." The organization achieves this through student-centered education, outreach, advocacy and support.

Initially, on March 17, 1970, following the creation of the Detroit Gay Liberation Movement a few weeks earlier, both students and members of the larger community came together to initiate the University of Michigan chapter of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), seeking to battle stereotypes of gay people, fighting homophobic prejudice, and invalidating the mental illness model of homosexuality.

After increased pressure from both the GLF and Michigan students, the University established a one-room office in September 1971, provided funding for 2 quarter-time positions to be filled by a lesbian and gay male and a small budget, to deal with gay and lesbian issues on campus. Jim Toy and Cindy Gair, a leader of the Radical Lesbians an offshoot of GLF, were hired to fill the available positions, titled Human Sexuality Advocates, at the University of Michigan's "Human Sexuality Office" (HSO). This achievement was monumental, in that it was officially the first staff office for queer students in an institution of higher learning in the United States.

Following the establishment of the office, Jim and Cindy set up a system of peer-advisors to speak with the counseling office and aid in training them how to best counsel lesbian and gay individuals. By early 1973, the office had formed its first Speakers' Bureau, which consisted of gay and lesbian students and members from the community, and worked with other student groups, in order to educate students concerning gay and lesbian issues. By 1972, the office had made one class presentation; today the Spectrum Center provides eighty or more workshops to classes and seminars each year.