August 30, 2026 | Michail Takach

Celia Kay Larson: memories of Madison liberation

Less than a year after Stonewall, UW-Madison hosted a historic act of resistance.

Bascom Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

I grew up in Madison. I commuted to the UW-Madison campus my first two years and lived off Wisconsin Avenue my final two years.

I only recently learned that under the 1862 Land Grant Act, UW-Madison was founded to be the Harvard of the Midwest. Many of my favorite professors received their PhDs from Harvard, Yale, and Berkeley.

The Union Rathskeller (opened in 1928) was my second home. This space was originally open only to male students, with women not gaining access until 1941-1942.

If you have never been to the Rathskeller, it’s quite a large room. It has thick oak beams that indent the ceiling in curved beams. There were also wooden tables and benches. The kitchen had decent food that was also cheap. A 24-hour bridge game went on near the entrance. By night time, newspapers often littered the floor and it was pretty dark. Some students were afraid to go there, for whatever reason, but I thought it was great. Over time, I slowly moved to the back of the room which had windows through which one viewed the outside terrace, also with tables and chairs.

Since my friends knew I were always in “the Rath”, my table was home to a changing group of friends throughout the day. These friends included David Rosen and Howard Fox, who I became quite close with.

During the summer of 1969, I was on a summer school program in New York City. When I returned, my girlfriend Kathy picked me up in her family car and we caught up on our news.

She mentioned our friends David Rosen (and his friend Tom) and Howard Fox (and his friend Douglas.)

"Didn’t you ever notice that every night they all go out to dinner as a group of men? They’re all gay!" she said to me. I had not concentrated on the group, so I told her I hadn’t noticed. And I said, "I don’t care if they are gay."

My experience was that women often liked gay men: they were usually good looking, well-educated, fairly well-off financially, and you didn’t have to worry about being harassed or assaulted.

After I moved on campus, I also ate at the Green Lantern Eating Co-op at 604 University Avenue. The only paid person was the cook. Otherwise, members had a job, and my job was to clean tables. Dinner cost $1.25. Since I ate there every weeknight, my friends David and Tom joined me. Eventually, we filled a 10-seat table.

(Members of the Green Lantern Eating Co-op later founded the Mifflin Street Community Co-op in 1968 and the Willy Street Co-op in 1973.)

On May 1, 1970, we decided to liberate the Memorial Union with the first-ever gay dance. This was something historic for Wisconsin. I was happy to integrate it, as one of the few women attending.

In 1970, I graduated and left for New York City, where David was from. Howard was from Washington. David got his PhD in history, specializing in German socialism and Pacific studies. I often saw David when he returned to NYC, and visited Howard and Douglas once in Washington. We all remained friends for many decades after leaving Madison. The last time I talked to David was around 2015.

It's unfortunate to hear anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. During my time at UW-Madison, I never saw or heard anyone show prejudice toward any of the Rathskeller crowd. At the time, the university had 30,000 students, including 20,000 undergraduates.

C. Kay Larson, an independent scholar, author, and Midwest native, specializes in early American political, military, maritime, and women's history.