University Y

The University YMCA/YWCA (a.k.a. ‘University Y’) is a 4,800-square-foot building that was home to one of the first documented public gatherings of openly queer folks in Austin; it was also the birthplace of OutYouth. The two-story structure’s most distinguishing architectural features are its handsome red brick, limestone accents, large windows (not original), and shallow upper eave of red tile supported by wooden corbels. At the top, a shallow triangular pediment frames a limestone block referencing the structure’s original name: Varsity Building.

Places of meeting, gathering, and protest have long been vital to the longevity of minority groups, and the University Y played a crucial role in providing space for members of the queer population to participate in community building, uprising, and conservation. Emerging in the early 20th century as a student hub, the University Y provided vital resources to students and became a center for counterculture and activism from the 1960s until the 1980s.

The University YMCA and YWCA were major institutions located along the Drag from the early 1900s until their closure in the 1990s. Extending from Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to 29th Street, “The Drag” is a historic stretch of Guadalupe Street adjacent to campus that was once considered an important part of Austin’s civic life. The area developed alongside The University of Texas (UT) beginning in 1883; its moniker derived from the streetcars that once “dragged” at a slower rate along this stretch due to its congestion.

Established in 1885, just two years after UT’s inception, the two organizations had an early foothold in the university community and operated as a single unit, The University Y, beginning in 1934. Across the country, University Ys were known for providing and funding innovative, progressive programming essential to student and community wellbeing. Austin’s University Y garnered a reputation as one of the most radical chapters in the South, supporting programs like the Students for Direct Action (SDA), which led integration efforts near campus; Gay Community Services (GCS); Women/Space; and an underground newspaper called The Rag.

For 64 years, from 1906-1970, the organization was located in a now-demolished three-story brick building at 2200 Guadalupe Street. Plans to expand the group’s programming and redevelop the land with a modern, five-story structure—described as “architecture completely unique in Austin”—were halted when the City of Austin, influenced by local builder C.T. Johnson, stripped the University Y of its tax-exempt status in 1970. Efforts by conservative groups to dismantle the Y and its liberal programming were not new; as early as 1962, The Dallas Morning News labeled it “most heretically un-Christian,” reflecting a broader pushback against progressive activism. These recurring assaults echo in today’s ongoing efforts and legislation to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, gender-affirming care, and minority-based protections. The University Y did not have to shut down, but it was forced to sell the property, which was already under construction; that site was purchased by the Church of Scientology in 1979.

Despite these setbacks, a temporary-turned-permanent relocation to this two-story brick building fostered essential minority-focused initiatives and groundbreaking queer programming during the rise of the queer rights movement and beyond. Following the Stonewall riots in June 1969, one of the first documented public “meetings of homosexuals” in Austin was held here on April 28, 1970. From that event came Austin’s Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a UT student organization that faced a three-year legal battle to be officially recognized on campus. The GLF held its First Annual Gay Conference on March 28, 1971.

In 1990, OutYouth became a program of the YWCA, providing resources to queer youth locally and nationwide via a helpline answered seven nights a week; it operated until the Trevor Project’s 24-hour hotline began in 1998. The University Y eventually vacated this space in the 1990s. Since then, the building has housed various local businesses like Renfro’s/Sommers Rexall Drug Store, the Drag Bar, and Austin’s Pizza. Its most recent occupant, convenience store 7-Eleven, shuttered in early 2024. – Robbie Anderson