Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons^™

Darlings In Love: A History Of Romance Between Women At Hollins In The Early 20th Century, Antonia Nagle

Hollins Student Conference (2012-2016)

This paper and accompanying sources hope to provide a detailed examination of the world of darlings at Hollins between the years 1900 and 1921, using primary sources gathered from The Spinster, the college’s yearbook. As a small, single-sex institution established in 1842, Hollins has a history of romantic relationships between students. Students who participated in these relationships between the years of 1900 and 1921 were called “darlings.” These same-sex relationships flourished at Hollins in the early 20th century and were a well-known and accepted part of life at Hollins. For this study, over a hundred primary sources were gathered …

A Conversation With Jeff

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2013. Jeff discusses their experiences at Holy Cross as an out student and as a student leader and activist.

Interview keywords: activist, battle fatigue, coming out, friendship, heterosexism, higher education, Jesuit, leadership, progress, relationships, residence life, student organizations, training

Fearless Friday: Erin Duran, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

As we conclude PRIDE Week, we honor Erin Duran, the fearless director of LGBTQA Advocacy and Education. In Erin’s three years at Gettysburg, he has established institutional support for the LGBTQA community and has worked to make the campus more inclusive and accepting of all students. [excerpt]

A Conversation With Anonymous (2)

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 1987. This alum was not out at Holy Cross. He reflects on his time on and off the hill and on the state of LGBT legal protections today.

Interview keywords: activism, college, coming out, dating, friendship, gay men, HIV/AIDS, legal protections, marriage, media, politics, professors, social class, theatre, work, working class.

Reform Judaism And Lgbtq Identity In Indiana: A Sociological Study Toward Greaterunderstanding And Inclusion, Gregory Ethan Zemtsov

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

LGBTQ Jews are collectively an underrepresented population, and their identification with two minority groups exposes this group of individuals to a great deal of potential hardships. Jewish culture, the largely secular LGBTQ community, and the ever-present gaze of heteronormative Christian society at large unfortunately have the ability to permutate and coalesce in a myriad of destructive ways at the expense of LGBTQ Jews. While the media and academia largely ignore this community at the national level, LGBTQ Jewry in the Midwest is worse off still. Today, there has yet to be a single published article about LGBTQ Jews in the …

An Evil Threat To Marriage, Children And The Future: Queer Theory, "The Passion Of The Christ," And Evangelical Political Rhetoric, Richard Wolff

Journal of Religion & Film

This article employs queer theory to analyze Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ (2004) for its portrayal of queer characters (Satan and Herod) in contrast with non-queer (Pilate and Claudia, Seraphia, Simon the Cyrene, and Mary, Christ’s mother), and how it depicts the former as evil and the latter as good. In particular, these contrasts involve self-indulgent or predatory sexual expression versus a healthy marital relationship, and evil versus loving influences over children, who represent hope for the future. Finally, the article looks at the film’s heavy marketing to American evangelicals and how the symbolic representations in the …

Who I Am Through The Lens Of Distortion, Mackenzie Alena Boyer Ms.

Capstone Projects

Who I Am Through the Lens of Distortion is a work of fact and fiction, mixing some of Mackenzie’s actual life events with surrealistic/dreamlike details. During Mackenzie’s time at Otterbein she has loved blending her loves of fiction writing and poetry into one beautiful art form. This project is a culmination of just that. Mackenzie has chosen to focus on her life as a college student, in regards to her memories and her growth as an independent adult, feminist, woman, and writer with distortion of place and time to spice things up. In this project she attempts to answer the …

“Teamshipness”: Stories Of Love, Loss, And Laughter, Bailey Elizabeth Zallek

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

This project seeks to examine the effects of language on readers’ perspectives of same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. I interviewed 13 people at various stages of romantic relationships and told their stories from the first-person perspective. By only using the gender-neutral first-person pronoun “I” and gendered pronouns for the speakers’ partners, each story creates ambiguity about the type of relationship (whether same- or opposite-sex) featured. By doing so, I am asking readers to view each couple as just that—a couple. Not a gay couple, a lesbian couple, or a straight couple. I am challenging all of us to examine what phrases …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2015-04-01, Zack Paakkonen

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

FAMILY AFFAIRS was a free, twice-a-month, social activities newsletter for the GLBTQI (gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/queer/intersex) community, sent out around the 1st and 15th of each month. It covered the State of Maine only. The list was begun and maintained for many years by Jean Vermette in Bangor, and later operated by Zack Paakkonen of Portland. Over the years it evolved from a social activities newsletter into a business directory, classified ad service, and community bulletin board.

Lg Ms 034 Gayla Archives Finding Aid, Megan Hendrix

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Description:

GAYLA is a brotherhood of gay and bisexual men, “expressly designed to provide mutual support, nurturance, friendship, loving, and mentoring of one another,” in order to maximize personal and collective growth. It meets annually for a week in the summer at Ferry Beach in Saco, Maine. The brothers sustain their spirit through the year by organizing periodic winter reunions, area social events and pot-lucks; publishing a newsletter; and establishing a virtual network through email and a GAYLA brothers only Yahoo group. The Archives contains documents and artifacts from the annual conferences, including photographs, audio cassettes, video cassettes, schedules, planning …

Talking Mirrors: Experiences Of Older Transgender Adults And Culturally Competent Mental Healthcare Profes-Sionals With Talk Therapy In The Netherlands, Kate Cieplicki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Historically, both the general population and mental healthcare providers specifically have misunderstood the transgender identity as pathological and unnatural. Despite persistent ignorance in the mental healthcare field about the background and needs of transgender adults, a psychoanalytic evaluation is required by the gender clinic for a transgender individual to begin the gender transition process in the Netherlands. This requirement creates a degree of tension and mistrust between the transgender individual and the mental healthcare field. Such discomfort is unfortunate because statistically transgender adults face more mental health problems than their cisgender peers, likely because of the stress that comes from …

The Semantics Of Repression: Understanding The Continued Brutality Towards Lgbtqa Individuals In The Russian Federation, Joseph C. Recupero

Student Publications

This work serves to examine the linguistic style and choices used by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin as it pertains to issues of the LGBTQA community in the country and the Anti-Propaganda Law. Using the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis, the author compares the speeches of Vladimir Putin to those of Western leaders Barack Obama and Ban Ki-moon, drawing conclusions as to why brutality towards LGBTQA individuals in Russia has been allowed to continue relatively unopposed. The author suggests that it may be Vladimir Putin's careful choice in words and speaking styles that allows the issue to persist.

Investigating Sex Positivity: Does Education And Socialization Increase Sexual Satisfaction In Young Adults, Kendall Coffman

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate a proposed association between exposure to sexual education, positive information, and materials, and an individual’s level of comfort, sexual satisfaction, and willingness to discuss sexual topics. This study also looked at the influence of various other variables such as gender, sexual orientation, and relationship status. Undergraduates at a small, private Midwestern college were surveyed with questions regarding the context in which they were exposed to various sexual topics as well as their current levels of sexual satisfaction and willingness to discuss sexual material with a friend, family member, intimate partner, or a stranger. …

A Mixed Methods Study Of The Intersection Of Sexual Orientation And Spiritual Development In The College Experience, Kevin C. Snow

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

This two-phase, exploratory sequential mixed methods study explored the intersection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning (LGBQQ) sexual orientation and spiritual development for college students. The first phase entailed a phenomenological study exploring the lived experiences of LGBQQ former college students (N= 10) concerning how their sexual orientation influenced, if at all, their spiritual development during college. Findings from this qualitative phase were used to develop a quantitative instrument to explore the spiritual-sexual orientation development of college students further (N= 171). This study provides suggestions for working with LGBQQ college students for college counselors and …

Gender And Sexuality In Nepal: The Experiences Of Sexual And Gender Minorities In A Rapidly Changing Social Climate, Sophia Greene

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Gender and sexuality in current day Nepal is at the crux of a societal revolution, as the deeply ingrained patriarchal society framed against the emergence of new ideas results in a shifting social climate in which old and new clash. As modernization and economic development permeate Nepal, they bring with them individualistic ideals which gradually infiltrate society, altering long held social attitudes toward marriage, gender, and sexuality. However, despite societal change and even changing legislation for the rights of women and members of the LGBTI community, both of these minorities still face overwhelming discrimination and prejudice in Nepali society. Sexual …

Being A Lesbian Librarian, Collection Development In Lesbian Librarianship, And Archives As Lesbian Spaces, Shawn(Ta) Smith-Cruz

Publications and Research

Edited talk From Pratt SILS Gender LIS Panel curated by Dinah Handel on March 27th, 2015
Co-presenters include: Sian Evans; #artandfeminism Wikipedia Editathon & Jen LaBarbera; Filling in the Margins: The use of Queer Theory, Feminist Standpoint Theory, and Critical Race Theory to build inclusive archival collections
This talk remarks on the role of the librarian to provide lesbian-specific content.

But, Why Not?, Anonymous

SURGE

I am the lucky one.

That’s how I’ve felt growing up in backwater Pennsyltucky, yet somehow managing to be openly queer. I came out to my friends and family as bi/pan-sexual in the 8th grade. None of my coming-out experiences resulted in horror stories. At that point most people had already guessed and accepted the fact that I was most definitely a queer kid. Even the most conservatively religious members of my friend group seemed perfectly okay with the fact that my sexuality didn’t fit with their ideas of morality. I was who I was, and to all outward appearances …

My Husband Is Now A Woman? The Experiences Of Transgender Individuals In Partner Relationships, Lisa Platt

Forum Lectures

How would you react on a first date if the person disclosed they used to be the other gender? Or if your partner/spouse decided to switch genders? This research examines the psychological and social challenges transgender individuals often face when seeking and maintaining romantic partner relationships. The experiences of the transgender community are beginning to receive more attention in both psychological research and mainstream culture. One area conspicuously absent is comprehensive research regarding the nature and challenges of transgender individuals' partner relationships. This study was a qualitative exploration of the transgender partner experience. Participants were recruited nationwide through convenience sampling. …

Getting "Bi" In The Family: Bisexual People's Disclosure Experiences, Kristin S. Scherrer, Emily Kazyak, Rachel M. Schmitz

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

There are many similarities in gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals’ coming out experiences, but bisexual people face unique challenges. Despite this, an explicit focus on bisexual people is missing from family research. Using family systems and cultural sociological perspectives, the authors analyzed how social and cultural factors shape disclosure processes for bisexuals as they come out to multiple family members. After analyzing qualitative data from a diverse group of 45 individuals, they found that bisexual people navigate monosexist and heterosexist expectations in their family relationships. Cultural constructions of bisexuality shape the ways that bisexual people disclose their identities, including how …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2015-03-15, Zack Paakkonen

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

FAMILY AFFAIRS was a free, twice-a-month, social activities newsletter for the GLBTQI (gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/queer/intersex) community, sent out around the 1st and 15th of each month. It covered the State of Maine only. The list was begun and maintained for many years by Jean Vermette in Bangor, and later operated by Zack Paakkonen of Portland. Over the years it evolved from a social activities newsletter into a business directory, classified ad service, and community bulletin board.