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

Lgbtq+ Social Services And Needs In Portland Oregon, Jay M. Tomlinson

University Honors Theses

Research shows a significant link between being LGBTQ+ and living in poverty, but little research has been done on what services are available to providers and individuals in need. This study was conducted to discover what types of social services are available to low-income LGBTQ+ people living in Portland, Oregon, and what services providers identify as unmet needs. This study consisted of a series of interviews with service providers to find out what services they offer and what they feel is still missing. Data was analyzed following a qualitative data analysis method. Data showed that housing was the largest unmet …

Ang Queer Literacy Framework: Isang Pagsusuri Sa Pagtuturo Ng Panitikang Pambata Gamit Ang “Ang Tatay Ni Klara At Nanay Ni Erwin” At “Ang Ikaklit Sa Aming Hardin” / The Queer Literacy Framework: An Analysis Of Teaching Children’S Literature Using “Ang Tatay Ni Klara At Nanay Ni Erwin” And “Ang Ikaklit Sa Aming Hardin”, John Paolo Sarce

English Faculty Publications

Punlaan ng diskurso sa pagkatao at kasarian ang mga espasyong tulad ng tahanan at paaralan. Sa mga lugar na ito maaring paikutin ang mga materyal na nagtuturo ng mga kaisipan ukol sa pagkatao ng isang indibidwal tulad ng mga panitikang pambata. Ang mga magulang o gurong nagbabasa nito sa mga bata ay nakatutulong na maghulma ng sensibilidad sa usaping seks at kasarian. Gamit ang ilang teorya mula sa mga larangan ng Queer Theory, Childhood Studies, Critical Studies, at Critical Pedagogy, matalik na binasa ng papel ang katha sa tekstuwal at biswal na antas, at ipinagpatuloy ito sa kritikal na pagbabasa …

Journeying Toward Liberation: Creating Civic Utopias Through Restorative Literacies, Rae L. Oviatt, Megan Mcelwee, Owen Farney

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In this article, we forward three narratives from educators whose lived experiences moving from underrepresented youth to queer educators support the necessity of furthering representation for historically marginalized youth across classroom spaces. We begin with situating our argument in response to current policies that would seek to silence historically marginalized voices, histories, literacies, and thereby inhibit a more just social and civic future. Our narratives provide three varied perspectives of lived experiences as youth moving toward our current status as queer educators. Finally, we seek to call in other educators to engage advocacy and resources to support this work in …

The Effects Of “No Pro Homo” Policies On Lgbtq+ Perceptions In The American South, Isabella L. Brocato

Honors Theses

Five states in the American South currently have “no pro homo” policies in place, while an increasing number of bills targeting discussions about sexuality and gender identity in public schools are being introduced to House floors around the country. Although there is extensive research on the ways in which these policies put the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ+ students at risk, there is little to no research about how they shape public perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community collectively. With inspiration from Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s social science study cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), this study works …

"What’S Race Got To Do With It?”: A Virtual Participatory Action Research Study Of Community College Students Exploring Intersectionality In Queer Studies, Breana Hansen

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and explore how curricula in queer studies at Community College of the Bay (CCB) reflect and ignore the lived experiences of Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTBIPOC) by engaging queer studies students as co-researchers in virtual participatory action research (VPAR). This research utilized the frameworks of Queer of Color Analysis (QOCA) (Ferguson, 2004; McCready, 2013), critical whiteness (Baldwin, 1984; Du Bois, 1903), anti-oppressive education (Kumashiro, 2001), and intersectional theory (Crenshaw, 1989), to examine the experiences of QTBIPOC within queer studies in community college classrooms. The following meta-question guided this research: …

How Marlon T. Riggs Queered The Documentary Form, Anthony M. Sweeney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Marlon T. Riggs’s documentary films and their paratextual elements are rooted in his intersectional identities as a Black and gay man. His activist goal of Black gay liberation was based on what he saw as deeply engrained internal and external racist and homophobic societal structures that subjugated Black queers. In this thesis, I place research from Black cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, and film studies in conversation with one another to show how Riggs’s filmography is an example of queer form. In doing so, I attempt to redefine the focus of the scholarship on Riggs from an avant-garde filmmaker …

"You Can't Be Shakespeare And You Can't Be Joyce": Lou Reed, Modernism, And Mass Production, Daniel C. Jacobson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation proposes a reevaluation of the overlooked connections between American popular music and modernist literature’s scope and formal experimentation which arose in the mid-20th century. Because Lou Reed’s ever-changing persona situates his work uncomfortably between high art and pop-culture, modernism and “post-modernity,” literature and music, and ethics and aesthetics, I intend to consider Reed as this dissertation’s empty, refracted center. One that will allow for a critique of several major intellectual movements, both inside and outside the academy, that continue to influence thinking about art, ethics, and material culture. Additionally, I hope to show that the work of a …

Homage To Eleanora: A Musical Journey Through The Billie Holiday Songbook, Keith A. Dames

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Billie Holiday was a singer, songwriter, vocalist, bandleader and composer in the fields of music, black culture and more specifically the genre of jazz. The primary focus of this study is Billie Holiday’s discography, music, and compositions as treated in relation to the black culture of production. This study will explore a secondary content analysis of Billie Holiday’s music, musicianship, musicality and compositional skills within the American jazz mainstream, broader jazz audience and world at large. This project will take an analytical look at the structure and form of the compositions of Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday is credited with composing …

Staging Retro-Perspectives: Performing Age, Memory/Loss, And Queer Desire In The Later Works Of Split Britches (2009–2020), Benjamin Gillespie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project investigates the later works of the celebrated New York–based lesbian-feminist performance troupe Split Britches made up of founding members Peggy Shaw (b. 1944) and Lois Weaver (b. 1949). Revealing how the duo consciously interlaces aspects of aging and age-based identity into the very fabric of their later performances in both form and content, this project analyzes how Shaw and Weaver integrate an explicitly anti-ageist and overtly queer representation of aging on the experimental stage. Their later performances serve to challenge narratives of decline and debilitation that come with (hetero)normative representations of old age and the life course in …

"Queering" Age-Friendly New York City, Austin G. Oswald

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background and aims: The global population is aging and becoming more culturally diverse. As such, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers are expected to think critically about strategies to improve the quality of life of people as they age. In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Age-Friendly Cities movement to improve the well-being and meaningful engagement of older adults living in the community. New York City (NYC) was the first city in the world to be designated “age-friendly” by the WHO, and is possibly viewed as a model for other cities to emulate. Few empirical studies have examined the age-friendly …

Queer History In The Streets: A Walking Tour Of Portland, Maine, Megan Macgregor

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The University of Southern Maine’s Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer + Collection preserves the history of LGBTQ+ communities in Maine. The collection contains books, personal papers, photographs, and newspapers documenting the LGBTQ+ activism from 1970s to 1990s.

While three research publications have some out of the collection (one article and two thesis), no overall history about Maine’s LGBTQ+ community has been written. As a result many Mainer’s, queer and straight, know very little of the history. The instruction and outreach librarian and the staff of USM’s Special Collections wanted an opportunity to …

Pursuit Of Happiness In Alternate Realities: The Intersection Of Queerness And The Metaphysical In Haruki Murakami’S Sputnik Sweetheart, Katelyn Morris

Kean Quest

This research aims to examine the intersection of queerness and the metaphysical in Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart. I intend to accomplish this by focusing on the instances of magical realism as they are presented throughout the narrative and deconstruct them through the escapades of the explicitly queer protagonist Sumire. Sumire is an individual who has never felt sexual desire until she encounters an older woman named Miu. However, Miu underwent a bizarre, fantastical encounter many years ago that “split her in two” as the text puts it, and her ability to feel sexual desire joined her other half on …

Receiving A Queen: A Queer And Trans Feminist Classical Reception Rhetorical Historiography Of Elagabalus, Thomas William Passwater

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies representations of Elagabalus, the sovereign of Rome who ruled between 218–222ce, after her assassination to examine how depictions and historical accounts of Elagabalus's life make rhetorical decisions about Elagabalus's identity and being that can foreground the composer's relationship to history and the function of history as a rhetorical force. Thus, this project, through studying Elagabalus's composers, raises questions about the nature of figure studies and history. The project draws on trans, queer, and feminist theories and rhetorics which help highlight the contingent and conflicting nature of Elagabalus's identities across representations without settling them into a singular narrative …

At Home Among Strangers, Aleksandra Gorbacheva

Theses and Dissertations

At Home Among Strangers is a character-driven documentary that explores the price of freedom for a gay person in a society that lacks freedom and civil rights. It follows an asylum seeker from Russia, Sasha Smirnov, during a crucial moment of his life: starting over in New York City at 40 as a journalist without English language skills. The film reflects on the choices one makes and the consequences of staying true to oneself.

Tuwid: A Photo Series Depicting The Experiences Of Closeted Filipino Lgbtqia+ Youth, Francesca Marie R. Caguiat

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

The artist-researcher used pastiche and technology incorporated with photography to depict the household experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ youth in the Philippines. Six participants attended a focus group discussion which was used in art conceptualization. They shared common experiences of having internalized homophobia and fear of rejection because of their families’ religious beliefs. However, a few shared factors apart from religiosity such as the parents’ reaction in general and their personal view on the significance of coming out. The photo series applied references to famous religious paintings and the repetition of subjects. Elements of the photos were …

Abakabadaf: Reclamation Of Queer Spaces And The Adoption Of Gayspeak By The Mainstream, Gel Ralfrey Louie O. Romero

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

Gayspeak is a queer argot that was formed to shield the Filipino LGBT community back when discrimination was rampant in the Philippines. Today, gayspeak can be observed in the vocabulary of people that are not part of the LGBT community which shows progress in tolerance. Despite this, the fight for queer equality has still not been achieved. This paper explores the adaptation of gayspeak by the mainstream by interviewing non-LGBT users of gayspeak and gathering the perceptions of the LGBT community towards them. The research found that non-LGBT people use gayspeak because of its comedic nature, capacity for socialization, and …

What’S The Word On The Street?: Witnessing/Performing Theory, Desirée D. Rowe

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

The Vast Unsaid: Lesbian Erasure And Celebration, Kara Ireland

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Lesbian erasure negatively impacts the accessibility to literature, archives, and records of lesbian history as a result of being buried within queer and feminist discourse. As a result, scholars often classify lesbians into other categories, effectively rendering them invisible and unimportant. Across the literature, there is no cohesive definition of lesbian and it is difficult to be exclusive on the basis of sex and gender. In addition, lesbian relationships are often dismissed as friendships. All of these factors have influenced my decision to create a website dedicated to promoting lesbian visibility and combating lesbian erasure. I have made a website …

Head, Shoulders, Knees, And Toes, Pol Morton

Theses and Dissertations

My work explores ideas of transness, chronic illness, and injury. Through assemblage and repetition, my larger-than-life paintings address the dissociation and fragility of a body that is unmapped by society. These autobiographical works attempt to locate the self when it is trapped, whether in a bed, in the home, or within the body itself.

Mutually Exclusive: Being Gay And Being A Man In E.M. Forster’S Maurice, Kimber Foreman

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This paper outlines the impacts of English heteronormativity on E.M. Forster’s novel Maurice by exploring applicable cultural context and its reflection within the text. Maurice was published after Forster’s death, and as his only novel with explicit queer characters, is the best suited for parsing Forster’s own understanding of the society he lived in. With a primary focus on the characters of Maurice and Clive, the paper examines the dichotomy that Forster posits heteronormative English society creates between traditional English masculinity and the identities of gay men. This examination ultimately leads to the conclusion that Forster writes the Greenwood-bound fate …