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

Lg Ms 111 Fortuna, Henderson, Prizer Collection, Caitlin E. Corrigan

Search the Manuscript Collection (Finding Aids)

Donated collectively by Stan Fortuna, Susan Henderson, and Peter Prizer, early activists in Maine’s LGBTQ+ history, this collection of research material spans from 1974 to 2014, with the bulk of material from the mid-1970s.

This collection documents the development and activities of the Maine Gay Task Force, including the creation and publication of a newsletter from 1974 to 1980. It opens with planning materials and news coverage of the first statewide gathering for gay people, the Maine Gay Symposium held at the University of Maine’s Orono campus, an event which sparked statewide organizing efforts, including the creation of the Maine …

Information Activism: A Queer History Of Lesbian Media Technologies, Dawn Betts-Green

STEMPS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Heather C. Lou Interview, Katie O’Reilly

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: heather c. lou, m.ed. (she/her/hers) is an angry gemini earth dragon, multiracial, asian, queer, cisgender, disabled, survivor/surviving, depressed, and anxious womxn of color artist based in st. paul, minnesota. her mixed media pieces include watercolor, acrylic, gold paint pen, oil pastel, radical love, & hope. each piece comments on the intersections of her racial, gender, ability, & sexual identities, as they continue to shift and develop in complexity each day. her art is a form of healing, transformation, and liberation, rooted in womxnism and gender equity through a racialized borderland lens. heather works in education as an administrator. …

Womxn Of Color In Print Subculture: 1970-2018, Lenora Yee

Summer Research

My research is rooted in the archival analysis of primary alternative print mediums produced by womxn of color collectives. Through the exploration of numerous databases and archives, I analyzed and explored the different ways in which the written word was, and continues to be, utilized by womxn of color as a site for activism. Focusing on the work of five different womxn of color collectives spanning from 1970-2018, I evaluated works by the collectives Asian Lesbians of the East Coast (ALOEC), Las Buenas Amigas (LBA), The Groit Press (African Ancestral Lesbians), the book #NotYourPrincess Voices of Native American Women and …

Sex And Gender Diversity Is Growing Across The Us, Georgiann Davis

Sociology Faculty Research

Christine Hallquist, a transgender woman from Vermont, in 2018 made history as the first openly trans person to ever win the nomination of a major political party for governor. Sex and gender diverse people were once only able to be their authentic selves in gay and lesbian spaces. Today, from Danica Roem in Virginia to Betsy Driver in New Jersey to Hallquist in Vermont, they are running and winning major political posts throughout the United States.

Queer Solidarities: New Activisms Erupting At The Intersection Of Structural Precarity And Radical Misrecognition, Michelle Fine, María Elena Torre, David M. Frost, Allison L. Cabana

Publications and Research

This article investigates the relationship between exposure to structural injustice, experiences of social discrimination, psychological well being, physical health, and engagement in activist solidarities for a large, racially diverse and inclusive sample of 5,860 LGBTQ/Gender Expansive youth in the United States. Through a participatory action research design and a national survey created by an intergenerational research collective, the “What’s Your Issue?” survey data are used to explore the relationships between injustice, discrimination and activism; to develop an analysis of how race and gender affect young people’s vulnerabilities to State violence (in housing, schools and by the police), and their trajectories …

Laverne Cox And The Fight For Lgbt+ Rights, Kelley Ambrose

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This research paper highlights Laverne Cox and her life, accomplishments, and fight for equality among women, people of color, and the LGBT+ community. It speaks of different laws and regulations that hold or have held transgender people back and explains Cox’s relevance to the First Year Seminar course “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History”. It also touches on discrimination and the problems faced by transgender people in America.

Creating Safe Spaces In A Homonormative Society: A Study Of The Hang-Out 010, Taryn Urban

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the month of April 2017, I interned with The Hang-Out 010, a nonprofit organization in Rotterdam that serves as a community center for LGBTQ youth. During this period, I assisted the volunteers and staff by attending events, writing blog posts, helping to plan future activities, and developing a feedback survey to be completed by visitors. My main objective was to gain a better understanding of the organization through immersive observation, feedback from visitors, and interviews with the volunteers and director of The Hang-Out 010. I analyzed the role of the organization in the context of a society characterized by …

Reimagining Movements: Towards A Queer Ecology And Trans/Black Feminism, Gabriel Benavente

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to bridge feminist and environmental justice movements through the literature of black women writers. These writers create an archive that contribute towards the liberation of queer, black, and transgender peoples.

In the novel Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler constructs a world that highlights the pervasive effects of climate change. As climate change expedites poverty, Americans begin to blame others, such as queer people, for the destruction of their country. Butler depicts the dangers of fundamentalism as a response to climate change, highlighting an imperative for a movement that does not romanticize the environment as heteronormative, but …

Freedom Indivisible: Gays And Lesbians In The African American Civil Rights Movement, Jared E. Leighton

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work documents the role of sixty gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals in the African American civil rights movement in the pre-Stonewall era. It examines the extent of their involvement from the grassroots to the highest echelons of leadership. Because many lesbians and gays were not out during their time in the movement, and in some cases had not yet identified as lesbian or gay, this work also analyzes how the civil rights movement, and in a number of cases women’s liberation, contributed to their identity formation and coming out. This work also contributes to our understanding of opposition to …

Forgetting Act Up, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Study Guide For United In Anger: A History Of Act Up, Matt Brim

Open Educational Resources

The United in Anger Study Guide facilitates classroom and activist engagement with Jim Hubbard’s 2012 documentary, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. The Study Guide contains discussion sections, projects and exercises, and resources for further research about the activism of the New York chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The Study Guide is a free, interactive, multimedia resource for understanding the legacy of ACT UP, the film’s role in preserving that legacy, and its meaning for viewers' lives.

2010 Kessler Lecture With Urvashi Vaid / From The Development Desk, Jasmine Burnett

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

This year's Kessler Lecture featured the dynamic Urvashi Vaid, who was described by Nan Hunter as "a force of nature and a multi-dimensional activist serving roles as street activist, fundraiser, mentor and an intellectual leader of the LGBT movement." The Kessler Lecture is the premier event for CLAGS highlighting Scholarship, Art, and Activism.

Director's Letter, Sarah Chinn

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

It was hard not to be inspired, moved, and thrilled by Douglas Crimp's remarkable Kessler Lecture on November 2nd. Combining personal history, art criticism, political analysis, and trenchant commentary on the intersections between them, Douglas gave us a guided tour of the long-abandoned, much-used piers of lower Manhattan.

Sexuality Studies And Lgbtqi Rights In Africa, Sybille Ngo Nyeck

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The first meeting of the International Research Network, Africa (IRN-Africa) was held in Saly, Senegal, February 8-10, 2007. The meeting was attended by twenty six scholars, artists, and human rights activists from ten countries including Cameroon, Canada, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and the United States.

Don't Ask Don't Tell And The Uri Community, Justin Thames

Senior Honors Projects

When Bill Clinton and his staff introduced the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Bill(US Code 10) it created quite a controversy. The bill was designed to replace the then current system of asking for an individual’s sexual orientation on a military application thus making homosexuality a barrier to service in the United States Armed Forces. The bill was finally passed in 1993 and is meant to keep people in power from discriminating on the basis of homosexuality. This new law requires that no investigations be launched to identify the sexual orientation of a service member nor will hearsay be allowed to …

Looking At Lesbian Feminism 1970-2005: Conversations Across Generations, Polly Thistlethwaite

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

What has become of lesbian feminism? Over 100 activists, scholars, and writers convened at the CUNY Graduate Center on Friday, October 28, for intergenerational discussions about lesbian-feminism. Activists from the first 'organized' lesbian movement paired with lesbian activists who came out post-lesbian-feminism to talk about lesbian-feminism and the body, culture, sex, and movement building. Together with a moderator, participants in the four featured discussions shared convictions and experiences about class, race, transgender politics, misogyny, privilege, dating strategies, sexual styles, and liberation struggles.

Video Remains: Nostalgia, Technology, And Queer Archive Activism, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Documenting Queer Community Histories: Whose History Is It?, Jessica Stern, Nicholas Ray

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

What does it mean to be a member of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) community? When did LGBTQ community history begin? Where do queer communities differ? How do we broach these questions to document communities' experiences? And significantly, why is it important to document the histories of those who are defined as LGBTQ?

Queer Zagreb, Zvonimir Dobrovic

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Queer Zagreb is an international festival that took place for the first time in Croatia from April 25-30, 2003. It presented an extensive program which included theater, dance, film, and visual art, as well as a symposium of papers from around the globe focused on queer sexuality, art and activism. It was a pioneer event of its kind in post-communist Europe, and was presented throughout the city in some of Zagreb's most established venues.

Queer/Crip: The First Queer Disability Conference, Walter (Peter) Penrose

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The Queer Disability Conference, the first conference of its kind ever, held on June 2 and 3 at San Francisco State University, began with great enthusiasm of the participants, many of whom identified as both disabled and queer in some fashion or another. The opening plenary included an intersex activist, who discussed feelings of not being safe in a world where binary notions of sex and gender make being intersex perilous, and hoping that s/he would feel safe at the conference. A diverse group of activists, academics, and disabled queers provided for an interesting mix of perspectives.

Clags's Queer Pedagogy Workshops, Spring 2000, James Wilson

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

As a former high school English teacher and now a prospective college professor, I have long grappled with issues of gender and sexuality in the classroom. Is it, for example, incumbent upon me to be both a model and mentor for my Igbtq students? How will the classroom dynamic change if my private experiences become inextricably linked with my professional responsibilities? To what end might I implement issues regarding gender and sexuality while teaching canonical texts or traditional academic subjects? And finally, how would I handle homophobia, students coming out, and questions about my personal life in the context of …

Glbt Think Tank And Research Network Formed At Creating Change, Sean Cahill

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Representatives of gay and lesbian think tanks and research directors of key organizations met on November 13th at the 12th annual National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Creating Change Conference to initiate a network of GLBT researchers working on policy issues affecting GLBT people. The new GLBT Research Network will coordinate the work of the major academic and activist think tanks and the research departments of GLBT organizations and allied groups.

Whose Millennium?: Religion, Sexuality And The Values Of Citizenship, Janet Jakobsen, Ann Pellegrini

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

On April 13th and 14th, CLAGS hosts a major national conference on the theme Whose Millennium?: Religion, Sexuality, and the Values of Citizenship. The conference is being generously supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, in conjunction with CLAGS's Rockefeller Residency in the Humanities program.

Local/Global Conference Stages Conversation About Queer Future, Chandan Reddy

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

On April 23rd and 24th, CLAGS hosted Local Politics and Global Change: Academics and Activists Thinking About a Queer Future. The conference employed an innovative structure within which panelists, rather than delivering papers on their individual skill area or academic interest, were asked to respond from their located standpoint to prepared questions. These questions elaborated upon the broad topic of each panel and roundtable, which also included extended Q&A periods that encouraged conversation between "audience," moderator, and panelists. To describe the format seems noteworthy because it contributed in part to one of the most outstanding features of this conference: There …

A Fond Farewell, Jill Dolan

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Sadly, this is my last column as the Executive Director of CLAGS. After five years teaching and working at CUNY's Graduate Center, I've decided to accept a position at the University of Texas at Austin. This was a difficult decision to make, but the offer of an endowed chair in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UT was finally too attractive to pass up.

They Said We Were Trying To Show Reality -- All I Want To Show Is My Video: The Politics Of Realist Feminist Documentaries, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Clags Forms New Advocacy Committee, Elizabeth Freeman

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

During the 1990s, attacks on the arts and higher education have demonized Women's Studies and Gay/Lesbian Studies, as well as those courses designed to make higher education available to academically underprivileged students. The CLAGS Board of Directors has come to feel that CLAGS should be taking a leading role in debates that use homophobia, racism, and sexism to justify cuts in funding for the arts and education, restrictions on freedom of academic and artistic expression, and policies that restrict access to higher learning. For this reason, we have formed a Board committee for advocacy in the arts and education.

Politics, Pedagogy, And Shaping Public Policy, Jill Dolan

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

We never exactly know when history is going to catch up with us, when we'll be in the midst of a crucial moment to which posterity will refer as key, as significant, as a lynchpin on which other moments, other decisions, other understandings were founded. The impeachment hearings recently conducted in the House of Representatives dragged us all, unwilling and amazed, into a dark hour of American politics, one in which partisan fury and ideological hatred are translated into strategies of power that disregard and reverse electoral politics. There's much to say about the disappointing performance of Bill Clinton as …

A Note From The Board Chair, Framji Minwalla

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

This has been a difficult, yet especially productive year for CLAGS. As most of you know, Jill Dolan stepped into Marty Duberman's shoes, becoming our first new Executive Director since the founding of the organization seven years ago. And while we all miss Marty, Jill has accomplished a daunting task brilliantly.