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Full-Text Articles in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Love In Action: Noting Similarities Between Lynching Then & Anti-Lgbt Violence Now, Koritha Mitchell Sep 2013

Love In Action: Noting Similarities Between Lynching Then & Anti-Lgbt Violence Now, Koritha Mitchell

Koritha Mitchell

The more I learn about the violence currently plaguing LGBT communities, the more it reminds me of the brutal practice of lynching, which has been the focus my research for the past 15 years. Ultimately, both forms of violence are designed to deny targeted groups recognition as citizens. Relying on my expertise regarding racial violence as well as the data on anti-LGBT attacks collected by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), this essay notes similarities between lynching at the last turn of the century and anti-LGBT violence today. The piece identifies five parallels: 1) the mundane quality of the …


The Reactionary Road To Free Love: How Doma, State Marriage Amendments And Social Conservatives Undermine Traditional Marriage, Scott Titshaw Dec 2012

The Reactionary Road To Free Love: How Doma, State Marriage Amendments And Social Conservatives Undermine Traditional Marriage, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

Much has been written about the possible effects on different-sex marriage of legally recognizing same-sex marriage. This article looks at the defense of marriage from a different angle: It shows how rejecting same-sex marriage results in political compromise and the proliferation of “marriage light” alternatives (e.g., civil unions, domestic partnerships, or reciprocal beneficiaries) that undermine the unique status of marriage for everyone. In the process, it examines several aspects of the marriage debate in detail. After describing the flexibility of marriage as it has evolved over time, the article focuses on recent state constitutional amendments attempting to stop further development. …


La Agresión Verbal En La Novela Mexicana De Temática Homosexual, Juan Carlos Rocha Osornio Jul 2012

La Agresión Verbal En La Novela Mexicana De Temática Homosexual, Juan Carlos Rocha Osornio

Juan Carlos Rocha Osornio, Ph.D

No abstract provided.


Gender Matters: Making The Case For Trans Inclusion, Nancy J. Knauer Jan 2007

Gender Matters: Making The Case For Trans Inclusion, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The transgender communities are producing an important and nuanced critique of our gender system. For community members, the project is self-constitutive and, therefore, has an immediacy that also marks the efforts of other marginalized groups who have attempted to make sense of the world through description, interrogation, and, ultimately, a program for transformation. The transgender project also has universalizing elements because, existing within the gender system, each one of us embodies a particular gender articulation. It is through this articulation that we define ourselves in relation to the gender we were assigned at birth, the gender we choose, the gender …


A Living Archive Of Desire: Teresita La Campesina And The Embodiment Of Queer Latino Community Histories, Horacio N. Roque Ramirez Dr. Jan 2006

A Living Archive Of Desire: Teresita La Campesina And The Embodiment Of Queer Latino Community Histories, Horacio N. Roque Ramirez Dr.

Horacio N Roque Ramirez, Ph.D.

Centering the life and death of a male-to-female (MTF) transgender mexicana live ranchera singer, the essay explores the importance of oral history as a method and theory to interrogate LGBT archival practices, questioning what “counts” as both documents and evidence in history. Using sociological, Foucauldian, cultural studies, and oral historical interventions, I ground the late singer’s life story and cultural and political contributions in larger debates about community documentation, archival research, and LGBT and Latina/o historiography.


September 11 Relief Efforts And Surviving Same-Sex Partners: Reflections On Relationships In The Absence Of Legal Recognition, Nancy J. Knauer Jan 2005

September 11 Relief Efforts And Surviving Same-Sex Partners: Reflections On Relationships In The Absence Of Legal Recognition, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The criteria established by federal, state, and private relief efforts to assist the families of the victims of the September 11 attacks present a unique opportunity to examine the status of same-sex relationships in the United States. In the absence of uniform relationship recognition, surviving same-sex partners continue to struggle with a loss that legally is not cognizable. The stories from the September 11 survivors illustrate that a surviving partner is a legal stranger, who often must reconfigure her relationship with her partner to fit within the various legal categories where relief or compensation might be forthcoming. These legal categories …


"'That's My Place!': Negotiating Gender, Racial, And Sexual Politics In San Francisco's Gay Latino Alliance, 1975~1983", Horacio N. Roque Ramirez Dr. Apr 2003

"'That's My Place!': Negotiating Gender, Racial, And Sexual Politics In San Francisco's Gay Latino Alliance, 1975~1983", Horacio N. Roque Ramirez Dr.

Horacio N Roque Ramirez, Ph.D.

This essay considers the founding, development, and dissolution in San Francisco of the Gay Latino Alliance, one of the first organizations of its kind in the nation, and examines how its members negotiated the racial, gender, and sexual politics of the period. It discusses specifically the coming together of GALA’s founders, GALA’s negotiation between the “Latino” and “gay” social and political cultures, and GALA’s dissolution in the midst of gender and sex conflicts. To explore the intersectional dynamics of their racial, sexual, and gendered work and leisure, the essay relies partly upon surviving documents and heavily upon the memories of …


Science, Identity, And The Construction Of The Gay Political Narrative, Nancy J. Knauer Jan 2003

Science, Identity, And The Construction Of The Gay Political Narrative, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

This Article contends that the current debate over gay civil rights is, at base, a dispute over the nature of same-sex desire. Pro-gay forces advocate an ethnic or identity model of homosexuality based on the conviction that sexual orientation is an immutable, unchosen, and benign characteristic. The assertion that, in essence, gays are "born that way," has produced a gay political narrative that rests on claims of shared identity (i.e., homosexuals are a blameless minority) and arguments of equivalence (i.e., as a blameless minority, homosexuals deserve equal treatment and protection against discrimination). The pro-family counter-narrative is based on a behavioral …


"Simply So Different": The Uniquely Expressive Character Of The Openly Gay Individual After Boy Scouts V. Dale, Nancy J. Knauer Jan 2001

"Simply So Different": The Uniquely Expressive Character Of The Openly Gay Individual After Boy Scouts V. Dale, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

Boy Scouts v. Dale was uniformly considered a set back for gay rights. Undeniably, it was not a good result for James Dale or other openly gay individuals who would like to participate in the largest youth organization in the U.S. This Article views Boy Scouts v. Dale in a different light and suggests that the expressive character of the openly gay individual endorsed by the majority may signal an opportunity to argue for greater First Amendment protections. The majority recognized that a single avowal of homosexuality imbues the openly gay individual with a uniquely expressive character. Wherever he goes, …


Homosexuality As Contagion: From The Well Of Loneliness To The Boy Scouts, Nancy J. Knauer Jan 2000

Homosexuality As Contagion: From The Well Of Loneliness To The Boy Scouts, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

In the political arena, there are currently two central and competing views of homosexuality. Pro-family organizations, working from a contagion model of homosexuality, contend that homosexuality is an immoral, unhealthy, and freely chosen vice. Many pro-gay organizations espouse an identity model of homosexuality under which sexual orientation is an immutable, unchosen, and benign characteristic. Both pro-family and pro-gay organizations believe that to define homosexuality is to control its legal and political status. This sometimes bitter debate regarding the nature of same-sex desire might seem like an exceedingly contemporary development. However, the ex-gay media blitz of 2000 represents only the latest …