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

Something Old, Something New: Historicizing Same-Sex Marriage Within Ongoing Struggles Over African Marriage In South Africa, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

This article examines contemporary struggles over same-sex marriage in the daily lives of black lesbian- and gay-identified South Africans. Based primarily on 21 in-depth interviews with such South Africans drawn from a larger project on post-apartheid South African marriage, the author argues that their current struggles for relationship recognition share much in common with contemporaneous struggles of their heterosexual counterparts, and that these commonalities reflect ongoing tensions between more extended-family and more dyadic understandings of African marriage. The increasing influence of dyadic understandings of marriage, and of associated ideals of romantic love, has helped inspire same-sex marriage claims and, in …

Speech Delivered At Tupelo Pride 2018, J. M. Benson Hill

Queer Mississippi (Complete Collection)

A speech delivered by J. M. Benson Hill at the first Tupelo Pride Festival, September 6, 2018 at Fairpark.

Benson Hill is an attorney in Tupelo, Mississippi. He is a 2018 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Young And Unafraid: Queer Criminology's Unbounded Potential, Vanessa R. Panfil

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Queer criminology, a fairly young subfield, deals with matters of import for sexual and gender minorities, particularly LGBTQ+ populations. Areas of interest include reducing invisibility and inequity, though these pursuits can sometimes be accompanied with potential pitfalls or unintended consequences. This article provides an overview of the goals and considerations of queer criminology, while focusing on how to cultivate queer criminology's unbounded potential to help address pressing social problems. Several global issues of immediate concern for LGBTQ+ people are identified, such as criminalization and devaluation of their lives, which has resulted in their detainment and torture, persecution when they organize …

Feeling As Knowing: Trans Phenomenology And Epistemic Justice, B. Lee Aultman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a critical intervention into the literatures on epistemic and phenomenological claims about trans experiences, and embodied knowledge more generally. It also addresses the conception of ordinary affects, or feelings of self-adjustment in everyday life, and their political implications for trans people. Traditional literatures on the political tend to avoid questions of embodiment and the experiences of everyday life in favor of institutional interpretations of courts, elections, and protest movements. This has become particularly true of scholarship on trans politics and theories of ordinary life. These literatures often reduce political movements to their presumed universal intentions for constitutional …

Harmony, Dissonance, Or Harm? The Psychological And Spiritual Promises And Perils Of Gay Christian Celibacy, Darren Jay Freeman-Coppadge

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Identity conflicts between sexuality and spirituality faced by religious lesbian and gay people have been described in literature, along with various methods to resolve such conflicts, including sexual orientation change efforts and identity integration. But a dearth of literature exists regarding celibacy as a means of resolving identity conflict. This study employed grounded theory to investigate the psychological and spiritual wellbeing of 12 current and former gay Christian celibates (GCCs). Results revealed how celibacy could harmonize sexuality and Christian spirituality, benefiting some celibates by providing them peace, satisfaction, and spiritual vibrancy. However, for many others, celibacy instigated dissonance between their …

That's So Gay!: Queer Texts In The U.S., Jesse S. Rice-Evans, Andrea Stella

Open Educational Resources

Gender is facing an identity crisis: queer identities in the new era of gender and genre are subverting paradigms of communication and genre by working with language and narrative in new ways. Queer biography and autobiography mark an important turn in contemporary literature and poetics: the shift from a male-dominant gaze towards a kaleidoscopic perspective on queer embodiment, trans and non-binary narrative, and speculative writing about other worlds & possibilities, which offer us as readers new opportunities for storytelling and thinking about writing. These forms also make space for other identities traditionally excluded from mainstream cultural narrative spaces, and we’re …

That's So Gay!: Queer Texts In The U.S., Andréa Stella, Jesse Rice-Evans

Open Educational Resources

Gender is facing an identity crisis: queer identities in the new era of gender and genre are subverting paradigms of communication and genre by working with language and narrative in new ways. Queer biography and autobiography mark an important turn in contemporary literature and poetics: the shift from a male-dominant gaze towards a kaleidoscopic perspective on queer embodiment, trans and non-binary narrative, and speculative writing about other worlds & possibilities, which offer us as readers new opportunities for storytelling and thinking about writing. These forms also make space for other identities traditionally excluded from mainstream cultural narrative spaces, and we’re …

"We Just Treat Everyone The Same": Lgbtq Aquatic Management Strategies, Barriers And Implementation, Austin R. Anderson, Eric Knee, William D. Ramos, Tiffany Monique Quash

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This study examined the management of aquatic venues in a number of areas (facilities, programming, human resource management, marketing, policies) as it pertains to LGBTQ participants and participation. The study utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 aquatic managers to examine steps that are currently being taken (or lack thereof) when it comes to creating environments that are perceived to be open, or closed, to LGBTQ participants. A grounded theory-based process of data collection and analysis resulted in emergent themes. These themes included: (a) gendered spaces, (b) non-aquatic initiatives, (c) staff knowledgeability, (d) departmental and organizational mission, (e) aquatic-specific programming and …

“Dyrne Langað”: Secret Longing And Homo-Amory In Beowulf And J.R.R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, Christopher Vaccaro

Journal of Tolkien Research

“‘Dyrne Langað’: Secret Longing and Homo-amory in Beowulf and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings” investigates the close “homoamorous” relationship between Frodo and Samwise, employing a close reading of select passages from the eighth-century English poem, Beowulf. The argument begins with a clarification of terms. Afterwards, it focuses upon the cruces related to a key scene involving Beowulf’s departure and compares the intensity of the unspoken love Hroðgar has for Beowulf to the love Sam has for Frodo at the Grey Havens. Ultimately, the essay argues for a new way of reading both departure scenes.

Toward Culturally Competent Archival (Re)Description Of Marginalized Histories, Annie Tang, Dorothy Berry, Kelly Bolding, Rachel E. Winston

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Influenced by the radical archives movement, panelists discuss their (re)processing projects for which they wrote or rewrote descriptions in culturally competent approaches. Their case studies include materials regarding underrepresented peoples and historically oppressed groups who are marginalized from or maligned in the archival record. Targeted to processors, this session aims to teach participants to apply their cultural competencies in writing finding aids through an introduction to cultural competency framework, the case study examples, and a short audience-participation exercise.

Creating Herstory: Female Rebellion In Arundhati Roy’S "The God Of Small Things" And "The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness", Priyanka Tewari

Theses and Dissertations

In The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness novels, the author Arundhati Roy is not only attempting to give feminist weight to the multiplicity of locations in which gender is articulated by recasting her female characters in their quest for selfhood, she is also focusing on women and women-identified characters as agents of history, thereby contributing to an ongoing project of feminist historiography.

Queering Sexual Health: The Intersection Of Sexual Health And Lgbtq Identities In Worcester, Ma, Sara Richman Davidow

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research examined what support, services, and programming existed at the intersection of sexual health and LGBTQ identities in Worcester MA. The data analyzed were interviews with professionals in sexual health or LGBTQ related fields as well as the public websites of sexual health or LGBTQ organizations. The researcher examined this data, along with literature on the rise of sexual health and LGBTQ communities, to understand (1) how inclusive sexual health resources in Worcester were and (2) what themes still need to be addressed to make gender and sexuality minorities comfortable seeking sexual health medical aid. The findings indicated that …

Correlates Of Not Using Antiretroviral Therapy Among Transwomen Living With Hiv: The Unique Role Of Personal Competence, Richard A. Crosby, Laura F. Salazar, Brandon J. Hill

Health, Behavior & Society Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study tested three psychosocial measures for their potential to serve as counseling goals for promoting ART to transgender women living with HIV (TWLH).

Methods: Among 69 TWLH, 17.4% were not taking ART; these volunteers were compared to the remainder using multivariate regression analyses.

Results: Only one psychosocial measure achieved significance: Personal Competence (Adjusted Odds Ratio = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.67–0.97, P = 0.02). Because this was a continuous measure, assessed on a 7-point scale, the protective adjusted odds ratio of 0.80 represents a 20% reduction in the odds of not taking ART for each unit of increase …

A Case Study: Inclusion Of Student-Athletes Who Identify As Sexual Minority At An Ncaa Division I Institution, Megan Turk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In comparison to heterosexual counterparts, sexual minority student-athletes are two times more likely to experience harassment, more negative climates, report feeling deliberately ignored or excluded from team actives and are subjected to orientation-based derogatory marks via electronic means (Rankin & Merson, 2012). This particular population is 2-3 times more likely to experience anxiety and depression, nearly 14% will attempt suicide or acts of self-harm, and are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol (Cunningham, 2015). Non-inclusive climates negatively affect academic and athletic performance (Wolf-Wendel, Bajaj, & Spriggs, 2008; Turk, & Stokowski, 2016; Cunningham, 2015). The Athletic Equality Index (AEI) measures …

A Conversation With Keith Plummer

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2017.

A Conversation With Mario A. Leiva

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2014.

The Journey Of An Emotional Black Boy, Alonzo Elias

Philosophy Summer Fellows

The title of my project is "Emotional Nigga" a.k.a. "Emotional Black Boy" because people would be comfortable if I called it so. The audience for this project may want to think of it this way. The title I chose is meant to express the struggles I faced in my journey to self-awareness. I decided to share my story through fifteen topics, which have brought me a better understanding of myself and will hopefully help the audience as well. These topics are Self-Love, Prelude: Intimacy and Attachment Theory, Relationships, Sex, Beauty, Sexuality, Love, Self-Love, Spirituality, Religion, Astrology, Psychology, Self-Care, and Life. …

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.

Affirmative Consent Endorsement And Peer Norms Supporting Sexual Violence Among Vulnerable Students On College Campuses, Alyssa Marie Glace

Dissertations and Theses

Understanding how students endorse affirmative consent in their sexual relationships is essential to sexual violence prevention. Some research has indicated that LGBT students and students with disabilities may negotiate and endorse consent uniquely because of socially constructed traditional sexual scripts. Research indicates gender differences may exist as well. The proposed research examines differences based on gender, LGBT status, and disability in affirmative consent endorsement and peer norms around sexual violence. Results indicated that women, nonbinary students, LGBT students, and students with disabilities were significantly less likely than their privileged counterparts to indicate low endorsement of affirmative consent. Results also indicated …

Run Me Dusk, Zane Truman Dezeeuw

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This is a full-length novel with a critical afterward. Run Me Dusk is a falling-out of love narrative about twenty-seven-year-old Milo who, after being broken up with by his boyfriend Red, flees from Illinois back to his hometown in southwestern Colorado to meditate on his place and purpose in life. The themes covered in this book are gay relationships, family relationships, mortality, and the natural world.

Curriculum Vitae: Transsexual Life Writing And The Biofictional Novel, Pamela Caughie

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The complex relation between bio and fiction, life and writing, is central to the project I am currently working on, a comparative scholarly edition of Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex (1933), the life narrative of Lili Elbe, formerly Einar Wegener, the Danish artist who became Lili Elvenes (her legal name) through a series of surgeries in 1930. In chapter six, Andreas Sparre (the fictional name used for Wegener in the narrative) offers to tell his life story to his friends, Niels and Inger, on the night before his first surgery, his last night as …

Risk And Resiliency Factors Affecting The College Adjustment Of Students With Intersectional Ethnocultural Minority And Lgbtq Identities, Stacey Christina Fernandes

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Adjustment to college has been demonstrated to be a multifaceted process with several developmental challenges for young adults entering higher education. As colleges and universities in the United States increase in racial and ethnocultural diversity and as LGBTQ students become more visible on campus, it has become crucial to cater support services and interventions to their specific needs. This study used archival data to examine the relationships between gender identity, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, risk and resilience factors, and college adjustment in a sample of treatment-seeking students at four-year institutions nationwide. The data were analyzed using three three-way multivariate analyses of …

Queer And Flourishing: Understanding The Psychosocial Well-Being Of Non-Heterosexual Men, Philip James Cooke

Dissertations (1934 -)

Non-heterosexual populations often face the additional stress of discrimination, harassment, and social rejection due to their sexual identity. These prejudicial experiences, along with other factors such as internalized homonegativity, negative appraisal of one’s sexual identity, and poor social support, contribute to an increased risk for negative mental health outcomes for sexual minority individuals (King et al., 2008; Meyer, 2003). While much is known about factors predicting psychosocial distress in LGB populations, less is known about the factors that predict psychosocial well-being in this group. The present study investigated the minority stress model’s (Meyer, 1995; 2003) hypothesis that minority stress processes …

The View From Here: Toward A Sissy Critique, Tyler Monson

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation situates 20th- and 21st-century American literary studies within a post-civil rights context that recognizes how narratives of U.S. exceptionalism have been employed in service of U.S. empire through the recognition of some groups of difference over others. I argue that always at each moment of inclusion, the nation-state invokes a rubric of militarized masculinity to ensure and expand its normative power, to increase legitimate violence, to gain new administrative capacities, and to advance U.S. economic and militaristic strength. My term militarized masculinity sounds out an ideology of exceptionalism that transcends the literal boundaries of military spaces and bodies …

A Conversation With Emily Breakell

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2017.

Homeric Studies, Feminism, And Queer Theory: Interpreting Helen And Penelope, Rachel H. Lesser

Ancient Greek and Roman Studies Faculty Publications

Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Amy Richlin’s Feminist Theory and the Classics (1993) and Barbara F. McManus’ Classics and Feminism: Gendering the Classics (1997) provided ground-breaking surveys of the feminist revolution in classical studies, and their work leads us to the question of the feminist impact on the study of Homer. In this essay, I review the contributions of feminist scholarship on Homer and explore queer theory as a new heuristic avenue for advancing the feminist interpretation of the Homeric epics. With this approach, I follow upon and revise McManus’ use of the concept of “dual-gendering” (a term that I employ …

Diamante, Robert, Wendy Chapkis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Robert Diamante is a photographer from an Italian America family from New Jersey. He also has a graduate degree in theology. At an early age, he began to doubt religious dogma. He came out as gay in 10^th grade and stood up against homophobic taunting by successfully physically defending himself. He briefly had a girlfriend in high school who remains one of his best friends. He moved to NYC and attended Pratt University before transferring to the Portland School of Art (now MECA) where his interests in art and theology combined in a body of work based on Catholic …

Crewe, Dan, Wendy Chapkis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Description: Dan Crewe is an 84 year old gay man originally from New Jersey. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1957. Crewe was a member of the United States Air Force for four years, after which he moved to New York City and began a lucrative career in the music industry in production and publishing. He then moved to Los Angeles, California where he met his then wife, the musician Cindy (now Cyd) Bullens, and they had two daughters. The family eventually moved to Maine, where Crewe opened Gateway Mastering Studios and continued working in music. During …

La Realidad De La Carne: Nuevos Discursos TeolóGicos Y PráCticas Pastorales Queer En El Sur Global, Hugo Córdova Quero, Jorge A. Aquino Ph.D., Gloria Careaga, André Sidnei Musskopf, Saúl Serna Segura

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

No abstract provided.

¿Se Puede Conjugar Activismo Queer Con TeologíA En La Rioja, Argentina?: Indecentando La TeologíA Latinoamericana De La LiberacióN, Damián Nicolás De La Puente

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This article analyzes the impact of Latin American Liberation Theology (TLL) on the political militancy of the 1970s as a precedent for the movements of sexual diversity in La Rioja, Argentina. Currently, the militancy of queer movements in the province criticizes the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, the aim is to analyze whether the Indecent Theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid can become an ally of the militancy of sexual diversity.