Blue Jeans Day had April origins

In April, wear blue jeans to support gay rights—so says history!

One of our earliest Calgary Gay History Posts was about Blue Jeans Day at the University of Calgary in the early 1990s. However, we recently discovered details about how the event echoed a gay liberation initiative first begun at Rutgers University by the groundbreaking Rutgers Student Homophile League.

The first Blue Jeans Day occurred in 1970 at Rutgers (although the first advertised event happened in 1974). Blue Jeans Day was traditionally held on a Friday in April and, by the late ’70s, had spread to dozens of campuses in Canada and the United States.

When it was resurrected at colleges in the late 1980s, the event migrated to October to align with National Coming Out Day. Although we have yet to find evidence that the U of C hosted Blue Jeans Days events in the ’70s, we found them on many other campuses.

International Blue Jeans Day was often declared at the University of Saskatchewan with little advanced notice. The event forced heterosexuals to find something else to wear! This hilarious event was held by the Gay Academic Union, which existed from 1975-1982.

Saskatchewan Archives Board — Neil Richards Collection

{KA}