Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Penny, Pollard, Sarah Winn

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Penny Pollard is a 71-year-old lesbian, who grew up in a middle-class Catholic family in Massachusetts and is the youngest of three children. She discusses her coming out process, her experiences in the LGBTQ community in San Francisco during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and her career path which included various jobs such as furniture making, and speech-language pathology. Penny describes facing some discrimination and backlash when coming out, particularly from old friends and coworkers but also finding acceptance and community, especially after moving to Portland, Maine. She shares the story of how she met her now-wife when moving to Portland Maine. …

Gonzalez- Rodriguez, Alex, Robert Mitchell, Devon Rosano

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Alex Luna Gonzalez Rodriguez is a 25-year-old transgender woman who was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. She first came out as bisexual to the only “out” gay person in high school before later discovering she was trans while attending college. She went to the University of Southern Maine after hearing about it on the radio in Austin, Texas. When she came to Maine, she discovered what she described as “the real me.” She discusses her journey of self-discovery and the challenges and support she has faced along the way. She discusses how life was different in Mexico, Texas, and Maine, …

Schoeller, Margaret, Samantha Bender

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Margaret “Margie” Schoeller is a 65-year-old newly-wed lesbian, retired OB/GYN, LGBTQ+ activist, and aspiring interfaith chaplain. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schoeller reflects fondly on her upbringing in a progressive Presbyterian community, as well as her exposure to the arts and access to excellent education. In 1977, she moved to Maine to attend Bowdoin College, where she came out in 1981 during an era of significant cultural and social transformation for the gay and lesbian community.

Schoeller’s medical career stands as a testament to her unwavering commitment to dignity, inclusivity, and compassionate care. After earning her medical degree from …

Brown, Brandy, Atlantis Martin

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

In this interview with Brandy Brown, a queer social worker originally from Georgia, they discuss such topics as family of origin, education (including getting a GED and later a doctorate), religious conversion therapies, overcoming estrangement with their family, parenting, and queer youth. Dr Brown also discusses their important role in creating the first gender clinic for trans youth at Maine Health in the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

Humphries, Tara, Fatima Hagi

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Tara Humphries uses they/them pronouns. They identify as queer, trans, nonbinary, and lesbian. They were born in Portland, Maine, but grew up in North Yarmouth and Durham. Tara Humphries received their bachelor’s degree in sociology at Bates College. They completed their Master of Divinity at Yale Divinity School, a program to prepare people for ordination to the Christian ministry. They work as a Minister at the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland, Maine. In this interview, Humphries shares how their Unitarian Universalist faith has shaped their perspective on their queer identity in their personal life and professional settings. They …

Rovelto, Hope, Dakota Desantis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Hope Rovelto’s oral history offers a compelling narrative of her experiences as a queer person, illustrating her journey of self-discovery, relationships, and dedication to activism. Growing up in a Catholic family, she encountered difficulties in reconciling her queer identity with her family's expectations, particularly those of her father. Nevertheless, Hope embraced her identity and turned her challenges into activism, advocating for issues such as abortion rights, gun control, Black Lives Matter, and prison reform. Her screen-printing business in Portland, Little Chair Printing, acts as a center for her advocacy, providing support to LGBTQ+ and minority-owned businesses through discounts and partnerships …

Hendricks, Kaycee, Katlyn Marcin

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Kaycee Hendricks (she/her) is a 33-year-old media professional born and raised in South Portland. She discusses the intersection of personal identity, sexuality, and community. Hendricks was raised in a close-knit, two-parent household, with a mother and father and younger brother. She developed a strong bond with her father as they shared an interest in photography. She completed an Associate’s degree at Southern Maine Community College and earned a BA from Emerson College in Boston, with a final semester in Los Angeles. Hendricks was inspired to move to Los Angeles after graduating to work within the media industry. Her professional journey …

Queering The Relationship Between Research, Researcher And Research Participant: Procedural Ethics, Relational Ethics, And Inverted Hierarchies, Val Meneau

The Qualitative Report

Ethics committees (ECs) typically base their decisions on established assumptions about the impact of the research process, the researcher and the participant on each other, which my doctoral research project failed to meet. This paper discusses the challenging clash between my experiences as a queer scholar doing fieldwork and the expectations of my EC. I argue that queer feminist ethnography complicates the established assumptions concerning the impact of the research process, researcher, and participant on each other. In doing so, I argue that we need models of this relationship that allow us to capture its complexity, for example in the …

Shearman, Patricia, Larisa Filippov

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

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Pat Shearman is a 75 year old lesbian currently living in Norway, ME. Although she was born in Waterville, she has lived in other places around the country such as Massachusetts and Ohio. Born to an American Baptist minister, Pat eventually distanced herself from religion as a college student despite her father’s liberal attitude. Years later, she began going to church again, and now identifies as a Unitarian Universalist. Pat was very involved in multiple types of activism during and after college, including antiwar activism and women’s rights activism. Although she does not march anymore, Pat is still politically …

Cardoza, Janice, Silvio Morales

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Janice Cardoza is a 73-year-old lesbian woman from Norway, Maine. She has lived in many places around New England and went to college in Boston, at the University of Massachusetts. She is a quiet woman and the youngest in the 3-child family. Cardoza grew up in a Catholic household but, as she matured, became disillusioned with the Catholic church and religion. She considers herself a Unitarian Universalist and attends a church in Norway, though she describes her relationship as more spiritual than religious. She met her wife at The Underground bar in Portland 40 years ago and they’ve been inseparable …

Good Grief!: The Challenging Of Middle-Class Life By Youth Culture In Mafalda And Peanuts, Eden E. Baize

The Cardinal Edge

The politically and socially tumultuous world of the mid-20th century in both Argentina and the United States inspired the creation of two incredibly influential comic strips: Joaquín Salvador Lavado’s, also known as Quino’s, Mafalda in Argentina, and Charles Schultz’s Peanuts in the United States. These comics changed the popular conception of childhood in their respective countries by reflecting the cultural shifts which challenged existing social conventions like family organization. Primarily, however, the central theme of these works rested in the commentary on the growing middle-class and the role of younger generations in championing countercultural and antiestablishment movements against this expansion. …

Cultural And Personal Inheritance: Generational Trauma In Madeline Miller's Circe, Emily Stucky

The Cardinal Edge

Madeline Miller’s Circe, Miller considers varying perspectives on a well-known character—one who has been vilified as a monster, recast as a feminist icon, and rewritten into a variety of spaces in between. As part of this continuous narrative, Miller draws on the inherently hybrid space of Circe’s character to construct her as a product of her multi-faceted lineage. A character with so many identities makes for a complicated subject, but Miller utilizes this plurality to her advantage, deliberately casting Circe as a product of multiple backgrounds—occupying both the space of oppressor and oppressed—to both compound her status as a …

Can Men Be Feminists?, Abigail M Stanger

The Cardinal Edge

At the emergence of the feminist movements of the mid-nineteenth century, women advocated for and eventually gained the right to make their voices heard in the political arena. As feminism has evolved to campaign for social, economic, and further political equality among genders, the question of who can be a feminist remains a topic of debate. This presentation will first attempt to define feminism historically and in the modern sense, then ponder the evolving definition of a man in relation to their potential role or lack thereof in the modern feminist movement.

Queering Composition Pedagogy: Camp-Informed Teaching Within Florida's Censorship, Isabelle V. Karleskint

Feminist Pedagogy

This social justice strategy article examines composition teaching within Florida colleges and universities over a seven-year period of intense political and social change. These institutions carry different levels of protection from Florida's censorship and anti-LGBTQIA+ laws. Using principles from Susan Sontag's 1964 "Notes On Camp," the author examines strategies for navigating these boundaries and creating safe, inclusive spaces for students while flying under the oppressive state government's 'radar.' This article found that teaching which includes multimodality, popular culture, digital learning, inclusive content, and identity politics can 'camp' pedagogy, with benefits to students and low risk to faculty. However, it also …

Socially Situated Scientific Discourse: Learning Under The Perceived Threat Of Being A Woman, Kayla Taylor

Feminist Pedagogy

As a companion piece to “Diminishing Dialogue: The Fallacy of Florida Politics,” this critical commentary explores how undergraduate humanities courses and feminist standpoint theory shaped the perspective of an aspiring STEM PhD candidate. The subjective nature of scientific objectivity is examined through the lens of feminist historiography and the author’s own experiences as a woman in STEM.

“My Pregnant Man Story”: “Bloodchild” As A Means Of Discussing Reproductive Rights, Ashley Lear

Feminist Pedagogy

Restrictions on reproductive health education in Florida have resulted in misinformation and taboos that could be addressed through parallels in science fiction. As Paweł Frelik, University of Warsaw Professor of American Studies, reminds us, science fiction is a “cultural discourse,” in which “fantastic figures such as aliens, clones, and cyborgs are allegories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, able-bodiedness, and other dimensions of individual subjectivity.” Octavia Butler’s short story “Bloodchild” (1995) will be used in this activity to discuss reproductive rights with students in the wake of so many legal challenges to those same rights. Butler, inspired by her own fears …

Moore, Raminta, Alex Kuvaja

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Ramona Moore is a first generation Lithuanian-American immigrant in her 40’s. She works as the Arts & Culture librarian at the Portland Public Library on Monument Square in downtown Portland, ME. During this interview, she discusses themes of coming out, representation, and her work experience at the library. The beginning of the interview focuses more heavily on her personal experiences as a young lesbian growing up in the 1990’s. She explores her own experiences with her sexuality, representation of queer people in her generation, the importance of having role models, and ends talking about coming out. She has worked at …

Hanson, Scott, Joel Kerins

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Scott Hanson is a 62 year old gay man originally from North Conway, NH who now lives in Topsham, ME. Hanson moved from North Conway to New York City at 18 to study art. Hanson later moved to Portland, ME in 1983 where he discovered the local gay community. Hanson’s interview highlights the Portland of the 80’s and 90’s, notably many LGBTQ bars that have long been closed.

Hanson’s story highlights his journey of sobriety that started in 1985 and how he found support outside of the bars, most notably in the local AA community of North Conway. Hanson’s story …

Emery, Kasie, Madison Strout

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Kasie Emery (they/them) is a 31-year-old, asexual, non-binary individual who discovered their asexual identity during their college years and discovered their non-binary identity a few years later. Emery has experienced many instances of asexual erasure in queer communities and speaks on the differences in the perceptions of their gender identity vs their sexual identity both in and out of LGBTQ+ spaces. They emphasize that discovering aspects of identity and self-expression is non-linear and how experimentation has been important in the learning process for them.

Throughout the interview, Emery displays their passion for queer representation in the media, describing LGBTQ+ characters …

Danvers-Kidman, Bre, Eddy Dakota

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Bre Danvers-Kidman is a queer, transmasculine non-binary individual currently living in Saco, Maine, and raised in Rhode Island. They attended Loyola University in Chicago. They go in depth about their experiences growing up as a queer person, including being outed at a young age, dealing with mental health struggles, and finding community through organizations like M.E.S.H. and the burlesque scene in Portland, Maine.

Bre also discusses running for the U.S. Senate in 2020 in Maine as the first non-binary candidate to run for that office, as well as their current role as the development director at MaineTransNet, a transgender advocacy …