Denim Day
During the week of Jan. 15-19, 1979, the Virginia Tech Gay Student Alliance held the first Gay Awareness Week, a multi-event effort to promote awareness of gay and lesbian people throughout campus. The high point was Denim Day, which called on all students, faculty and staff to show their support of gay rights by wearing denim on that day.
Out of 20,000 students and thousands more faculty and staff, only a few dozen people wore denim, and the Gay Student Alliance members, who started it all and other members of the gay community, endured ridicule, taunting, verbal and physical assaults.
Since then, the Ex Lapide Alumni Society and the entire university community commemorate Denim Day once a year during Virginia Tech's Pride Week. Hokies wear their favorite denim and share their photos on social media with the hashtag #VTDenimDay. Show your support by using this Facebook frame.
Denim Day 40th Anniversary
Take a look back at the event in 2019, when Hokies returned to campus for the first time in decades for a commemoration of the university’s first public display in support of gay rights.