Lynn Horridge Clags Fellowship Paul Monette-Roger Horwitz Award

SPRING 2013 news CTHE CENTERL F OR ALESBIANG AN D G A YS STUDIE S

THE G RADUA TE C E N TER | THE CIT Y UNIVERSI T Y O F NE W Y ORK

UPCOMING EVENTS

Homonationalism and Pinkwashing Conference Performing Que(e)ries: Holly Hughes and Carmelita Tropicana Rethinking Race, Queer Politics, and Practice: Dean Spade and Urvashi Vaid Plus Many More!

CLAGS UPDATES

Events and Outreach Memberships and Fellowships International Resource Network

FEATURING

Spring 2013 Events Calendar Martin Duberman’s 2012 Kessler Award Lecture

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3 Page

CLAGS STAFF INTRODUCTIONS & RECOGNITIONS

JAMES WILSON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR James Wilson is Professor of English and Theatre at LaGuardia Community College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. Areas of research include queer theatre and performance, African American theatre, and pedagogy. His articles have appeared in Urban Education, Teach- Office Staff and Interns ing English in the Two-Year College, and Theatre History Studies. His essay, “’Ladies and Gentlemen, People Die’: The Uncomfortable Performances of Kiki and Herb,” appeared in an anthology of lesbian and gay theatre and performances in 2008. He is co-editor of The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, which is published by the Martin E. Theatre Segal Center (CUNY Graduate Center). His book, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Race, Performance, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance, was published by University Founder & Board of Directors of Michigan Press in 2010, and a paperback version was made available in 2011.

JASMINA SINANOVIC FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Major Donors List Jasmina Sinanovic teaches at the Communications Department at the Bronx Community College and Women Studies Department at the City College by day and is a performance/burlesque/theatre artist by night. Her research interests are in queer, performance and postcolonial theory as well as the study of the idea of Balkanism. She holds an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University and M.A. in Theatre from CUNY. Letter from the Executive Officer

RANDALL CHAMBERLAIN DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR CLAGS Facebook Page in Numbers Randall Chamberlain has worked in fundraising for international nonprofits, including Human Rights Watch, Action Against Hunger, and EngenderHealth, and is also an immigration lawyer with a focus on LGBT immigrants. He is on the advisory committee for the LGBT Rights Division at Human Rights Watch and the LGBT Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He studied public policy at Brown University; economic and political development at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs; and law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. 005

BENJAMIN GILLESPIE EVENTS AND OUTREACH COORDINATOR Benjamin Gillespie is a Ph.D. student in Theatre at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Benjamin holds an M.A. in Theatre Studies from York University in Toronto. He created and curated the very successful Performing Que(e)ries series, which addresses LGBTQ performance in the twenty-first century. His research focuses around related interests in queer theatre/theory; performance art; nostalgia, memory, and materiality; the theatrical Avant-Garde; and intersections of U.S. and Canadian performance. Benjamin has been published in the Canadian Theatre Review, the anthology TRANS(per)FORMING Nina Arsenault: Body of Work/Body of Art and has reviewed for Theatre COSPONSORED EVENTSSurvey .IN He is currentlySPRING working on a 2013project based around queer performance, affect, and stage properties KALLE WESTERLING GLOBAL COORDINATOR COMING UP CLAGS cosponsors events with other HerKalle work Westerling has been is a fundedPh.D. student by the in Wenner- Theatre at Thehis Graduate late work, Center, especially CUNY, and hisin Performance lectures, has Studies at Stockholm University, departments, centers, and programs in Grenwhere Foundation he also got hisand M.A. the in NationalPerformance Science Studies. Currently,yet to hereceive is working the on international two primary projects, attention one itbeing his Swedish dissertation Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS The Graduate Center, CUNY, and outside Foundation.about aesthetic The and event affective is cosponsored resistance against by heteronormativedeserves. powerIn light and of norm the structures publication in contemporary of the drag show. The other is organizations. Here are some of our CLAGSan investigation and The ofCenter stripping for men the and Study the Newof York Cityfinal burlesque installment scene in of the his 1920s lecture and 1930s. courses, cosponsored events in Spring 2013. All Women and Society. April 24, 12pm, Room How to Live Together, this conference will CLAGS Fellowships of these events are free and open to the 6112, The Graduate Center, CUNY. feature presentations exploring all aspects public. NOAM PARNESS MEMBERSHIPS ANDof FELLOWSHIPSRoland Barthes’ oeuvre: COORDINATOR the tightrope 2ndNoam Annual Parness Critical is currently Theory finishing Confer their- B.A. in Philosophyhis writing and Jewish walks Studies between at CUNY the formsQueens ofCollege. the Most of Noam’s academic Gender and Sexuality Lecture Series: ence:interests “The lie Renaissancewithin the realm of of Rolandqueer history, art, andnovel culture, and and the in essay, religious the aesthetics. evolution Their of hispersonal activities align with their CLAGS Events and Outreach 2013 academic interests, having volunteered with a number of queer arts organizations, such as MIX NYC and the Leslie-Lohman Museum The Brain, Truth and Underwear: The Barthes” The students of the Compara- writing and thinking throughout his life, Clinical Management of Gender in Chil- tiveof GayLiterature and Lesbian and Art.English Noam departments is also involved in organizing, education, and activism within and around the Orthodox Jewish Queer community. the engagement of his work with literary or dren Sahar Sadjadi, visiting assistant present the second annual conference cultural texts, and the relationship of his Upcoming Events Spring 2013 professor and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, devoted to Critical Theory. Barthes’ final work to critical theory, as well as to any Committee for Interdisciplinary Science lecture course, Preparation of the Novel, and all other disciplines. April 25–26, The Studies, the Graduate Center. Dr. Sadjadi staged the search for a Vita Nuova and a Graduate Center, CUNY. is an anthropologist and medical doctor “third form” between or beyond the Essay Rainbow Book Fair whose research lies at the intersection of and the Novel that would, in the manner of science and technology, gender and sexu- “the Neutral,” baffle or outplay the para- ality and childhood studies. She studied digms of theory and literature. Even if we The Brain, Truth and Underwear: The medicine at Tehran University of Medical can only hypothesize what hybrid work of Clinical Management of Gender Homonationalism and Pinkwashing Sciences, worked as an emergency room critique and narrative Barthes would have in Children is co-sponsored by physician, and received her Ph.D. in medi- gone on to create, the brilliance, theoreti- CLAGS and The Center for the cal anthropology at Columbia University. cal significance, and formal innovation of Study of Women and Society 011 HOMONATIONALISM AND PINKWASHING

The Graduate Center, CUNY and CLAGS revealing that Homonationalism and on the reputations of the Graduate willPERFORMING be presenting the Homonationalism QUE(E)RIES Pinkwashing are pressing, urgent, and Center and the Center for Lesbian and and Pinkwashing Conference over two inspiring topics in international aca- Gay Studies as institutions committed to days,CHARLES April 10–11. This BUSCH historic event demic work. This conference, which sold the most advanced and dynamic work in will feature a varied group of speakers out six months before its date, is already global academia. representingAND JAMES various countries, WILSON eth- significant, respected and pioneering in nicities, nationalities, genders, ages, burgeoning arenas of academic study What is Homonationalism? Homona- communities, universities, and academic and inquiry. tionalism, a term coined by Professor Jasbir Puar of Rutgers University, describes fields in discussion around a new arena IN REVIEW of thought, specifically the concepts CLAGS offers this program with pride, the recent global phenomenon that oc- of Homonationalism and Pinkwashing. excitement and the certainty that this curs when sub-sectors of specific LGBTQ These concepts have been addressed conference will be remembered as an communities achieve legal equality with ON NOVEMBER 13, 2012, CHARLES BUSCH WAS INhistoric CONVERSATION event in the development of heterosexuals and then embrace racial by WITHa number JAMES of scholars WILSON, CLAGSof all racial, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. IN THIS global discourses and will shine bright and religious supremacy ideologies. In cultural,EXCERPT, and TRANSCRIBED religious backgrounds, BY ILYSSA SILFEN, CHARLES BUSCH Performing Que(e)ries: Nina Arsenault with J. Paul Halferty DESCRIBES THE GENESIS OF THEATRE IN LIMBO, THE COMPANY THAT PRODUCED BUSCH’S EARLY WORKS, SUCH AS VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM, PSYCHO BEACH PARTY, AND THE LADY IN QUESTION. Four-Day Conference Celebrated Harry Hay, Founder Of Modern American Gay Movement Performing Que(e)ries: Charles Busch and James Wilson Acceptance At What Price? The Gay Movement Reconsidered

Photo: David Rodgers Photo: David 021

UPDATE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL 33 Page RESOURCE NETWORK

BY KALLE WESTERLING

The International Resource Network (IRN), the global network of Caribbean and create a collection of oral history interviews. CLAGS Newsletter Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS

researchers, activists, artists, and teachers sharing knowledge In Latin America, the IRN provides a space for discussion for strategies for about diverse sexualities, hosted by the Center for Lesbian and the strengthening of LGBT rights in the region through its listserve “The Gay Studies, as so far had a time of reorganization and applying for Advocacy Network for Latin America and the Caribbean.” future funding. Meanwhile, the local organizations and projects associated with the network continued to grow and expand. In North America, we are focusing on an attempt to build a network linking university-based LGBT, gender and sexuality programs and research REPORTS FROM THE In our Africa region, we have two ongoing projects: one which aims to centers with similar non-academic centers and related initiatives across publishing interviews with leaders of the LGBTI rights movement in African the continent. countries where they are less visible, the other which will result in a Kenyan radio drama series dealing with issues of LGBTI communities in In the Middle East, we continue to work on the free online network Kenya. designed to facilitate exchange and dialogue between the transnational community of scholars and students working on or in the Middle East, In China, we are currently focusing on translating and compiling primary called The Transnational Peer Review Network. The other major project in sources from Chinese into English to provide resources for English-speak- the region is “Turkey’s Queer Lives: LGBTQ Oral Histories Archive,” which ing scholars and facilitate access to first-hand voices. Another project aims to address the lack of large scale academic project on the LGBTQ that is ongoibg and started as an IRN project is SeekQueer, a chinese- community in the country by collecting life stories of people in Turkey who language interactive website on queer theory and sexuality resources, identify as LGBTQ. The goal is to construct an archive that will be made available at seekqueer.com. available to academics, independent researchers and activists who work in

INTERNATIONAL RESOURCE NETWORK In the summer, the Caribbean IRN region is creating and presenting an the field. short course in Advanced Sexuality Studies in Trinidad through a collabo- To participate in our projects, to learn the latest news and opportunities ration with the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) at the in the field of sexuality studies, and to communicate with other individu- University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (Trinidad & Tobago) campus. als and groups that are active in the field, please visit our website: www. In Review The region will also further its collaboration with the Digital Library of the irnweb.org.

THE IRN MAP IRN Latin America IRN Africa Coming Up Coordinator: Jasmin Blessing Coordinator: Naijeria Toweett Contact: [email protected] Contact: [email protected]

IRN Caribbean IRN Middle East Coordinator: Vidyaratha Kissoon Coordinator: Rustem Ertug Altinay Contact: [email protected] Contact: [email protected] IRN Asia Coordinator: Ana Huang IRN North America Contact: [email protected] Coordinator: Mark Blasius Contact: [email protected] Introductions & Recognitions Introductions 033

CLAGS news is published twice a year by the Center for Lesbian and STAFF Executive Director James Wilson

Global Coordinator for IRN Gay Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. All submissions related to Kalle Westerling Events and Outreach Coordinator Benjamin Gillespie the study of gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual experiences are Financial and Administrative Director Jasmina Sinanovic Development Director Randall Chamberlain welcome. Please address all inquires to CLAGSnews, The Graduate Memberships and Fellowships Coordinator Noam Parness Media and Design Center, The City of New York, Room 7115, New York, NY 10016 Phone: Kalle Westerling Newsletter Editor Benjamin Gillespie Newsletter Design 212.817.1955 or email: [email protected]. Kalle Westerling

CLAGS STAFF

JAMES WILSON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR James Wilson is Professor of English and Theatre at LaGuardia Community College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. Areas of research include queer theatre and performance, African American theatre, and pedagogy. His articles have appeared in Urban Education, Teach- ing English in the Two-Year College, and Theatre History Studies. His essay, “’Ladies and Gentlemen, People Die’: The Uncomfortable Performances of Kiki and Herb,” appeared in an anthology of lesbian and gay theatre and performances in 2008. He is co-editor of The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, which is published by the Martin E. Theatre Segal Center (CUNY Graduate Center). His book, Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Race, Performance, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance, was published by University of Michigan Press in 2010, and a paperback version was made available in 2011.

JASMINA SINANOVIC FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Jasmina Sinanovic teaches at the Communications Department at the Bronx Community College and Women Studies Department at the City College by day and is a performance/burlesque/theatre artist by night. Her research interests are in queer, performance and postcolonial theory as well as the study of the idea of Balkanism. She holds an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University and M.A. in Theatre from CUNY.

RANDALL CHAMBERLAIN DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Randall Chamberlain has worked in fundraising for international nonprofits, including Human Rights Watch, Action Against Hunger, and EngenderHealth, and is also an immigration lawyer with a focus on LGBT immigrants. He is on the advisory committee for the LGBT Rights Division at Human Rights Watch and the LGBT Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He studied public policy at Brown University; economic and political development at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs; and law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

KALLE WESTERLING GLOBAL COORDINATOR Kalle Westerling is a Ph.D. student in Theatre at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and in Performance Studies at Stockholm University, where he also got his M.A. in Performance Studies. Currently, he is working on two primary projects, one being his Swedish dissertation about aesthetic and affective resistance against heteronormative power and norm structures in contemporary drag show. The other is an investigation of stripping men and the New York City burlesque scene in the 1920s and 1930s.

NOAM PARNESS MEMBERSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS COORDINATOR Noam Parness is currently finishing their B.A. in Philosophy and Jewish Studies at CUNY Queens College. Most of Noam’s academic interests lie within the realm of queer history, art, and culture, and in religious aesthetics. Their personal activities align with their academic interests, having volunteered with a number of queer arts organizations, such as MIX NYC and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. Noam is also involved in organizing, education, and activism within and around the Orthodox Jewish Queer community. CLAGS INTERNS 5 Page

ILYSSA SILFEN EVENTS INTERN Ilyssa Silfen is a second-year Masters student in the MALS program at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is currently writing her thesis on trans* reproduction and its implications in further problematizing the perceived gender binary, as well as working part-time at the College of Staten Island as a reading/writing tutor. This is her first year as an intern for the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies.

BENJAMIN JOSEPH NOBILE KAMPLER MEMBERSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS INTERN Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS Benjamin Joseph Nobile Kampler received his B.A. in English with a minor in Women’s Studies from Brandeis University in 2005. He completed his first master’s thesis on queerness, children, and video game violence in December of 2011 at New York University’s John W. Draper Master’s program. His published work has focused on queer public sexuality and he is currently a student in Queens College’s M.A. program for applied social research.

CLAGS BOARD MEMBERS

CLAGS FOUNDER Martin Duberman, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Lehman College and The Graduate Center (CUNY)

CLAGS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair: Jennifer Gaboury, Political Science James Green, History, Brown University Alyssa Nitchun, Creative Time In Review and Women’s and Gender Studies, Hunter Daniel Hurewitz, History, Hunter College, Angelique V. Nixon, Women’s Studies, College, CUNY CUNY University of Connecticut Jason Baumann, Coordinator of Collection Ileana Jiménez, Institute for Writing and Nick Salvato, Theatre and English, Cornell Assessment and LGBT Collections, New York Thinking, Bard College University Public Library Coming Up Beck Jordan-Young, Women’s Studies, John-Paul Sanchez, Montefiore Medical Michelle Billies, Psychology, CUNY Barnard College Center, Bronx, NY Graduate Center Neil Meyer, English, La Guardia Community Andrew Spieldenner, Speech Matt Brim, English, College of Staten College, CUNY Communication, Rhetoric and Performance Island, CUNY Darnell L. Moore, Director of Educational Studies, Hofstra University Chris A. Eng, PhD Student in English, CUNY Initiatives, Hetrick-Martin Institute Dagmawi Woubshet, English, Cornell Graduate Center Christopher Adam Mitchell, University Jeffrey Escoffier, Independent Scholar History, Rutgers University–New Brunswick Thomas Glave, English, SUNY Binghamton & Recognitions Introductions

LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

James Wilson CLAGS Executive Director

AN ACCIDENTAL PROTESTER This past January, I spent a cold, wet, and I tried to extricate myself from the human civil rights movement. It was, as bloggers fabulous week in Paris. One evening while amoeba, and at every turn, every boulevard, blogged and twitterers tweeted, an historic strolling along the Left Bank, sauntering in every Rue de Something or Other, I encoun- occasion. This was the first time a president the shadows of the imposing grandeur of tered more protesters. I started to make out used the word gay (at least in its same-sex L’Hôtel national des Invalides, I found my- some of the declarations, such as “Opposi- connotation) in an inauguration speech. self caught up in a massive wave of protest- tion to Gay Marriage is Not Homophobic” Even more impressive was the fact that it ers, who were dispersing from a demonstra- and “Paternity, Maternity, Equality,” but I caused hardly a stir (even among the Fox tion in front of the Eiffel Tower. The crowd was trapped in a Kafkaesque vortex as I got News pundits). moved like a protean organism through the swept along with the tide of impassioned So then why did I feel that something had narrow Parisian streets, growing in immen- anti-gay marriage, sign-carrying non-homo- been lost in translation? First, Obama does sity as other protest groups siphoned into phobes. Finally, by ducking into a Japanese a disservice to our revolutionary forbears the throng from criss-crossing thorough- restaurant and settling down to a glass of who took part in the Stonewall Riots by fares. My French is not nearly what it once Côte du Rhône red wine and a plate of sushi metonymically linking that event with the was, so I had difficulty discerning the gist I could watch the protest run its course and rights of gay men and women to marry. As of the chants and call-and-response rally- leave when the coast was clear. I do hope all accounts have it, a good number of the ing cries, but I still read hieroglyphics with that as final numbers of participants are tal- instigators on that June night in 1969 were relative fluency. Looking at the protesters’ lied, the organizers can subtract one, citing drag queens and street kids, and they were signs decorated with stick-figured, perfectly the presence of an accidental protester. not protesting for the right to file joint tax gendered families (i.e., a tall stick-figure Just about a week later I was back in the returns but exploding with long-suppressed man holding hands with a tall stick-figure States, and using language I could fully rage to ongoing humiliation and abuse from woman, flanked by one each stick-figure understand, newly inaugurated President the law. Second, I am afraid that gay mar- girl-child and stick-figure boy-child), I knew Obama referred directly to equality for his riage has to a degree subsumed all other that this was not a protest among which I “gay brothers and sisters,” citing Stonewall LGBT issues, and we are marching along, wanted to be counted. as the flashpoint for the lesbian and gay becoming accidental protesters focused on CLAGS FACEBOOK PAGE IN NUMBERS Page 7 Page

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Total Reach*: Number of times someone May ‘12 9,015 clicked on or created a Jun ‘12 4,983 story from the CLAGS Jul ‘12 3,103 Facebook Page Aug ‘12 7,148 Sep ‘12 8,014 Oct ‘12 9,052 Nov ‘12 9,278 Dec ‘12 25,153 Jan ‘13 23,818 Feb ‘13 13,240

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one aspect of equality that benefits only ist, and playwright and drag artist Charles of the spring, though, will most certainly the coupled, the moneyed, and those in the Busch hilariously described the process of be the Homonationalism and Pinkwashing

mainstream. working in the margins of New York theatre Conference, which sold out its registra- Offering (for me) a corrective to this in- with a group of like-minded misfits to hob- tion within days of announcement and has terpretation, CLAGS hosted a number of nobbing with the show-biz elite. And finally, already generated considerable buzz and In Review important events in the fall, and I was capping the semester with his inspiring anticipation. Kessler Award Lecture, Martin Duberman energized anew by the nuances within and I do not want to minimize the historical offered a call to arms to consider the costs among the multiple discourses arising significance of gay and lesbian marriage of sacrificing radicalism for normativity. from our diverse communities. The Harry equality. Beyond its symbolic importance, Hay conference in September situated LG- marriage equality is crucial to the lives of

The spring calendar offers even more op- Coming Up BTQ militancy through particular histori- portunities to deepen the conversation and our gay brothers and sisters raising fami- cal moments and reflected the potential broaden our understandings of LGBT issues lies across the country (and not just the for realizing new communities unbound by locally, nationally, and internationally. We nine states that legally recognize same-sex constraints of gender and sexual desires. will continue to provide opportunities for marriages). Yet, we must resist the centrip- The celebration of the book Born this Way artists to share their creative processes etal force that binds us to a single issue. was a forceful reminder of the agony, cour- and challenges through the enormously At CLAGS, we welcome the opportunity to age, and pleasures associated with coming popular Performing Que(e)ries series, and throw away the guidebook and set out in out as LGBT. Nina Arsenault embodied and we will host a number of scholars and ac- new directions. celebrated through performance and praxis tivists who will share their own work in their what it means to be a trans woman and art- varied fields and disciplines. The highlight & Recognitions Introductions

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topsidepress.com MAJOR DONORS 9 Page

The following generous CLAGS mem- Honor Roll Richard Robertson bers have donated $100.00 or more Over $100–249 Marc Rogers to our organization between July 1st Boaz Adler Bruce Rosen 2011 and June 30th 2012. Tony Allicino Dianne Rubinstein Marlon M Bailey James Saslow and Steven Goldstein Presidential Circle Larry Schulte and Alan Zimmerman Over $500 William Baskin Mark Blasius and Rico Barbosa Laurence Philip Senelick Anonymous Perry Brass and Hugh Young Thomas Spear Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS Andrew Austin and Michael Sonberg Ross Chambers Arthur Spears Diane Bernard and Joan Heller Carol Chinn Marc Stein and Jorge Olivares Judith Butler Ahuva Cohen Joseph Straus Sarah Chinn and Kris Franklin Margaret Cruikshank Dara Strolovitch Jill Dolan and Stacy Wolf Dennis Debiak Polly Thistlethwaite Jack Drescher Muriel Dimen Blanche Wiesen Cook Martin Duberman and Eli Zal Chris Eng James Wilson Lisa Duggan Ann Fitzgerald and Paul Lauter Amanda Wilson Brittney Edmonds Jerise Fogel Evan Wilson Jeffrey Escoffier Chris Ford Kevin Brooks Winkler Katherine Franke and Janlori Goldman Jen Gaboury Institutional Support and Foundations Robert Giard, Jr. Adam Geary James Green Larry Gross and Thomas Tucker Robert Giard Foundation Jonathan Ned Katz Arnold Grossman Ford Foundation David Kessler Steven Haeberle CUNY Graduate Center Steven Kruger and Glenn Burger James Holmes Loring McAlpin David Andrew Jones Martha Vicinus Beck Jordan-Young Dagmawi Woubshet Louis Kampf Dean’s List Arnold Kantrowitz Over $250–499 Temma Kaplan In Review David Eng and Teemu Ruskola Regina Kunzel Milton Ford Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes Eric Hartman Arthur Leonard Ronnie Lesser and Erica Shoenberg Nancy Lesko C. Richard Mathews Wahneema Lubiano Coming Up Robert McCullough, Jr. Harry Lutrin Weston Milliken Heather MacLachlan Christopher Mitchell Harriet Malinowitz Fred Moten and Laura Harris Douglas Mao Rosemary Palladino Joanne Meyerowitz Pam A. Parker Judith Milhous Nancy Rabinowitz and Peter Rabinowitz Karen Miller John Silberman and Elliot Carlen W. King Mott Susan Stryker Maury Newburger Carole Vance Richard Picardi & Recognitions Introductions

CLAGS FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

BY NOAM PARNESS

This past fall, CLAGS awarded two fellowships: The Paul artists, photographers, and filmmakers, whose locations range Monette-Roger Horwitz Dissertation Prize, and the CLAGS from Brooklyn to Berlin. Stay tuned for the winners of these Fellowship Award. Our fantastic fellowship winners are profiled fellowships, to be announced in May. in this newsletter, and on our website. Please check out our For 2013, we will be offering these two awards again, so please current winners to read more about their scholarly endeavors! visit http://www.clags.org for instructions on how to apply. Additionally, we are excited by all of the applications that we have received for the three fellowships that CLAGS will be awarding this spring: The Martin Duberman Fellowship, The Robert Giard Fellowship and the Joan Heller–Diane Bernard Fellowship in Lesbian and Gay Studies. We have received a large number of applicants this year, and are impressed by the strength and integrity of their work. For example, the Robert Giard Fellowship has received numerous applications from

CLAGS Fellowship Award The Joan Heller–Diane Bernard Fellowship A $2,000 award to be given annually to a graduate student, an This fellowship supports research by a junior scholar (graduate academic, or an independent scholar for work on a dissertation, student, untenured university professor or independent researcher) first, or second book related. The fellowship is open to intellectuals and a senior scholar (tenured university professor or advanced who have demonstrated a significant contribution to the field of independent scholar) into the impact of lesbians and/or gay men on gay and lesbian studies. Intended to give the scholar the most U.S. society and culture. Scholars conducting research on lesbians help possible in furthering their work, the fellowship will be able are especially encouraged to apply. It is open to researchers both to be used for research, travel, or writing support. Deadline: June inside and outside the academy and is adjudicated by the Joan 15, 2013. Heller–Diane Bernard Fellowship committee in conjunction with CLAGS. Deadline: November 15, 2013. The Martin Duberman Fellowship The Robert Giard Fellowship An endowed fellowship named for CLAGS founder and first executive director, Martin Duberman, this fellowship is awarded An annual award named for Robert Giard, a portrait, landscape, to a senior scholar (tenured university professor or advanced and figure photographer whose work often focused on LGBTQ independent scholar) from any country doing scholarly research lives and issues, this award is presented to an emerging, early on the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer (LGBTQ) experience. or mid-career artist from any country working in photography, Deadline: November 15, 2013. photo-based media, video, or moving image, including short-form

This page contains advertisements. film or video of no more than 30 minutes in length. This award PhD candidate within the City University of New York system. will support a directed project, one that is new or continuing, that The dissertation should have been defended in the previous year. 11 Page addresses issues of sexuality, gender, or LGBTQ identity. Deadline: Adjudicated by the fellowships committee of the Center for Lesbian November 15, 2013. and Gay Studies. Deadline: June 15, 2013. The Kessler Award The Sylvia Rivera Award in Transgender The Kessler award is given to a scholar who has, over a number Studies of years, produced a substantive body of work that has had a This award, which honors the memory of Sylvia Rivera, a significant influence on the field of GLBTQ Studies. The awardee, transgender activist, will be given for the best book or article to who is chosen by the CLAGS Board of Directors, receives a monetary appear in transgender studies during the year. Adjudicated by the award and gives CLAGS’ annual Kessler Lecture. CLAGS fellowships committee. Deadline: June 15,2013. Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS The Paul Monette–Roger Horwitz Dissertation More information: http://www.clags.org Prize This award, which honors the memories of Monette, a poet and author, and his partner, Horwitz, an attorney, will be given for the best dissertation in LGTBQ Studies, broadly defined, by a

UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP DIRECTOR: JIM HUBBARD CO-PRODUCERS: JIM HUBBARD, SARAH SCHULMAN

Award-winning documentary about the history of “As scrappy and passionate as the actions it documents, UNITED ACT UP now available for educational and library IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP delivers a living tribute to a movement spawned by death and despair" — New York Times purchases! In Review “If the AIDS crisis has crested, it's due in large part to the radical UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP explores advocacy group so intelligently portrayed in "United in Anger: A the story of ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash History of ACT UP," a documentary that aims to educate rather than agitate.” — Variety Power) from the grassroots perspective—how a small group of men and women of all races and classes, “UNITED IN ANGER isn't just a ﬁlm, it's a teaching tool for future came together to change the world anvd save each activists. Those future activists are us.” — Autostraddle Coming Up other’s lives. The ﬁlm takes the viewer through the planning and execution of a dozen exhilarating major FILM FESTIVALS: Hot Docs 2012, MoMa Documentary Fortnight, Frameline: San

actions including Seize Control of the FDA, Stop the Francisco Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Outfest: Los Angeles Gay Church, and Day of Desperation, with a timeline of and Lesbian Film Festival, etc. many of the other zaps and actions that forced the U.S. government and mainstream media to deal with EDUCATIONAL PURCHASE FORMATS: DVD EDUCATIONAL RENTAL FORMATS: HDCAM, DIGIBETA, BLURAY, DVD the AIDS crisis. UNITED IN ANGER reveals the SUGGESTED EDUCATION RATE: $300 (INCLUDES SHIPPING) group’s complex culture—meetings, affinity groups, and approaches to civil disobedience mingle with STUDY GUIDE ALSO AVAILABLE profound grief, sexiness, and the incredible energy of FOR RENTAL OR PURCHASE ACT UP. EMAIL The Film Collaborative to purchase avfilm for your 2012 | USA | 93 min. organization at jeffrey@thefilmcollaborative.org Introductions & Recognitions Introductions

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AWARD WINNERS

RAMZI FAWAZ LYNN HORRIDGE CLAGS FELLOWSHIP PAUL MONETTE-ROGER HORWITZ AWARD

Ramzi Fawaz is a Postdoctoral Fellow of American Studies at George Lynn Horridge was awarded the 2012 Monette-Horwitz Prize for her Washington University and a Visiting Professorial Lecturer of Ameri- dissertation, Finding Kinship in the Twenty-First Century: Match- can Studies at Georgetown University. His current book project, ing Gay New Yorkers with Children through Adoption and Fostering. The New Mutants: Comic Book Superheroes and Popular Fantasy Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in New York City and in Postwar America, explores how the American superhero became Guatemala, Horridge’s work examines the social history of “match- a cultural embodiment of the political aspirations of sexual, gen- ing” in American adoption practices and how the neoliberalization dered, and racial minorities in the post-WWII period. This project re- of child welfare services has affected gay adopters and children in cently won the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Fellowship Award need of care. Horridge received her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and is forthcoming with NYU Press as part of their new series “Post- from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2011 and has a private practice in Millenial Pop.” Fawaz’s research interests include queer and femi- psychotherapy in the West Village. nist cultural politics, the culture of social movements, critical race and queer theory, and fantasy and enchantment in modern America. His work has appeared in a number of journals including American Literature, Callaloo, and Anthropological Quarterly. GAY AND LESBIAN/HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY $21.95 U.S. The The Page 13 Page One of the leading public intellectuals of our time, “An unﬂ inching nerve, a wise heart, and a brilliant intellect.” Martin Duberman has consistently challenged our thinking and assumptions —Jonathan Kozol about gender and sexuality, about racial and economic justice, and about our very understanding of history. Although best known for his critically acclaimed DUBERMAN MARTIN biographies of Paul Robeson; Lincoln Kirsten; Barbara Deming and David McReynolds; and, most recently, the “people’s historian” Howard Zinn, he is an equally gifted memoirist and essayist who has been fearless in tackling a broad range of topics from the political to the personal. His autobiographical work offers an incisive and nuanced chronicle not only of his own life but of Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS the evolution of the gay movement, in which he has played a formative part. This brilliant and provocative volume collects Duberman’s most important writings, offering an intellectual feast for a new generation of readers. The

“Martin Duberman is known for his unique combination of talents— as a distinguished historian, a talented writer, and an impassioned advocate of the rights of gays and other beleaguered members of the human community.” Martin —Howard Zinn

“The rare qualities of wisdom and empathy . . . have made Duberman a unique voice.” Duberman —Frances Fox Piven

“Duberman’s work is radiant with an emboldening and unquenchable humanity.” —Doug Ireland Reader In Review Martin Duberman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Reader the CUNY Graduate School. The author of more than twenty books, Duber- man has won a Bancroft Prize and been a ﬁ nalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The Essential Historical, Biographical, Coming Up

and Autobiographical Writings

www.thenewpress.com

Cover photograph by iStock THE NEW PRESS Cover design by Hot Griddle Design THE NEW PRESS Introductions & Recognitions Introductions

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CLAGS EVENTS AND OUTREACH

SPRING 2013 BY BENJAMIN GILLESPIE

This past semester, CLAGS held many suc- ceptance at What Price? The Gay Movement eddine, Jasbir Puar and Haneen Maikay, as cessful and provocative events that effec- Reconsidered.” The lecture was followed by well as over 150 presenters. tively supported our mandate as a platform a wine and cheese reception as the room for historical and contemporary issues af- buzzed over Duberman’s radical politics and In order to keep up to date on all of our fecting the LGBTQ community. We hosted views on the national gay movement. events, fellowships, and awards, I encour- the book launch for Born This Way: Real age you to join CLAGS’s listserv by visiting Stories of Growing up Gay by Paul Vitigliano, CLAGS has many exciting events planned as our website, clags.org, where you will also featuring such guest speakers as Noah Mi- part of our Spring 2013 calendar. Highlights be able to access our virtual event calendar, chelson (Huffington Post Gay Voices) and include the continuation of the Performing archives, and important announcements and Michael Musto (Columnist, Village Voice). Que(e)ries series with Holly Hughes and updates. We held the first two parts of a brand new Carmelita Tropicana. We will continue to be a leading sponsor of the annual Rainbow I hope to see you at all of our exciting events series, Performing Que(e)ries, which tracks coming up this Spring! the legacy of live queer performance in the Book Fair, taking place on April 13th. CLAGS age of media-based and digitized commu- will host a series of sponsored lectures and nication. The first two performers in this talks, including a lecture by Michael Schiavi series included Canadian trans performance on “The Life and Times of Vito Russo.” We artist Nina Arsenault and acclaimed New will also host a critical dialogue between York-based playwright and drag performer Urvashi Vaid and Dean Spade entitled “You Charles Busch. Sujay Pandit (NYU) led the Gotta Serve Somebody: Rethinking Race, fall Seminar in the City series on Transgres- Queer Politics, and Practice.” madison sive Performance and the Possibility of Free- moore will give a talk on Queer Nightlife, dom, hosted by the WOW Café Theatre. Our and CLAGS Fellowship winner Ramzi Fawaz spring conference, “Radically Gay: The Life will discuss his award-winning book manu- and Visionary Legacy of Harry Hay,” brought script. We will also co-sponsor a number of together generations of LGBT scholars cel- exciting conferences and talks within the ebrating the 100th anniversary of Harry Graduate Center and beyond. The highlight Hay’s birth, with CLAGS and the Harry Hay of CLAGS’s semester will surely be the Ho- Centennial Committee sponsoring a four monationalism and Pinkwashing Confer- day-long conference exploring Hay’s life and ence, which will be held on April 10-11 at ideas and the multiple facets of LGBT life the CUNY Graduate Center. This conference that Harry Hay himself pioneered. Finally, will mark a crucial turning point for queer the Annual Kessler Lecture marked the final scholars and activists by providing an op- CLAGS event of the semester in December portunity to examine queer resistance and and featured 2012 awardee Martin Duber- global complicity. This two day conference man giving an honorary lecture entitled “Ac- features four keynote panels by Rabih Alam- UPCOMING EVENTS IN SPRING 2013 15 Page

All CLAGS events are free and open representing various countries, ethnici- an expression of creativity as well as the to the public. Please RSVP to rsvp@ ties, nationalities, genders, ages, com- labor of that creativity. ON FIERCENESS clags.org. For more information on munities, universities, and academic addresses the critical and creative impli- these events, or to access record- fields in discussion around a new arena cations of “fierceness”—what fierceness ings, please contact: clagsevents@ of thought, specifically the concepts is, what it does, and how it opens up of Homonationalism and Pinkwashing. alternative possibilities of identifica- gc.cuny.edu.

These concepts have been addressed by a tion. April 26, 7pm, C201, The Graduate Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS “You Gotta Serve Somebody: Rethinking number of scholars of all racial, cultural, Center, CUNY. Race, Queer Politics, and Practice”—A and religious backgrounds, revealing that Homonationalism and Pinkwashing are Performing Que(e)ries Part IV: Holly Critical Dialogue between Urvashi Vaid Hughes in conversation with Jill and Dean Spade pressing, urgent, and inspiring topics in Two of the leading Dolan Lauded queer performance artist critical thinkers and activists in the LGBT international academic work. This conference, which sold out six months before its Holly Hughes joins theatre scholar Jill movement—Dean Spade and Urvashi Dolan to discuss the genealogy of her Vaid—meet in a provocative conversation date, is already significant, respected and pioneering in burgeoning arenas of aca- politics and aesthetics as a queer artist in moderated by academic, performance art- New York, informed by her experiences at ist, and activist Rosamond S. King to ask demic study and inquiry. April 10–11 at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Livestream venues like the WOW Café, to the devel- and answer key questions about today’s opment of her pedagogy as a professor at queer practice. Does a politics pursu- available at: videostreaming.gc.cuny. edu. the University of Michigan. Many artists ing equal rights produce freedom or an like Hughes have transitioned into the accommodation to neoliberal economic 5th Annual Rainbow Book Fair The university in order to sustain their work and political norms? Why does the LGBT 5th Annual New York Rainbow Book Fair as queer performers. How is the lived movement ignore structural racism? Has

will feature more than 1OO publishers, experience of collective queer artistic queerness bound itself to nationalism and writers, poets, editors, booksellers, and communities transferred to the institu- anti-feminism in order to be normalized? the 15OO+ readers who love and buy tional atmosphere and how does queer- How can the structure of the civil rights their books-from the serious to the wild, ness translate into pedagogy and remain In Review organization form itself be democratized? from the zany to the super hot. Rainbow transgressive? How do we deal with the Where are the new practices of organiz- Book Fair is open to the public with book taboo of a faculty member as a sexual ing, cultural expression, and resistance? discounts and giveaways. More informa- creature? Can queerness be translated Three veteran queer activists and scholars tion is available at rainbowbookfair.org. through teaching in a way that students tackle these critical questions as they April 13, 12pm, Holiday Inn Midtown. can experience queerness outside of the Coming Up explore how the movement could be community for which it was intended? transformed to serve the interests of all On Fierceness: A Lecture by madison A short performance piece will also be March parts of the queer communities. moore Fierceness is a term that’s presented by Hughes’ past and current 22, 7pm, Skylight Room in The Graduate generally used to compliment a per- students. May 7, 7pm, Segal Theatre, Center, CUNY. son’s style—it’s the go-to, sassy way of The Graduate Center, CUNY. describing a job well-done. But fierce- Homonationalism and Pinkwash- ness isn’t always about compliment. In ing Conference Please RSVP: [email protected] This historic event queer communities, and queer of color will feature a varied group of speakers communities in particular, fierceness is Introductions & Recognitions Introductions

COSPONSORED EVENTS IN SPRING 2013

CLAGS cosponsors events with other Her work has been funded by the Wenner- his late work, especially his lectures, has departments, centers, and programs in Gren Foundation and the National Science yet to receive the international attention it The Graduate Center, CUNY, and outside Foundation. The event is cosponsored by deserves. In light of the publication of the organizations. Here are some of our CLAGS and The Center for the Study of final installment of his lecture courses, cosponsored events in Spring 2013. All Women and Society. April 24, 12pm, Room How to Live Together, this conference will of these events are free and open to the 6112, The Graduate Center, CUNY. feature presentations exploring all aspects public. of Roland Barthes’ oeuvre: the tightrope 2nd Annual Critical Theory Confer- his writing walks between the forms of the Gender and Sexuality Lecture Series: ence: “The Renaissance of Roland novel and the essay, the evolution of his The Brain, Truth and Underwear: The Barthes” The students of the Compara- writing and thinking throughout his life, Clinical Management of Gender in Chil- tive Literature and English departments the engagement of his work with literary or dren Sahar Sadjadi, visiting assistant present the second annual conference cultural texts, and the relationship of his professor and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, devoted to Critical Theory. Barthes’ final work to critical theory, as well as to any Committee for Interdisciplinary Science lecture course, Preparation of the Novel, and all other disciplines. April 25–26, The Studies, the Graduate Center. Dr. Sadjadi staged the search for a Vita Nuova and a Graduate Center, CUNY. is an anthropologist and medical doctor “third form” between or beyond the Essay whose research lies at the intersection of and the Novel that would, in the manner of science and technology, gender and sexu- “the Neutral,” baffle or outplay the para- ality and childhood studies. She studied digms of theory and literature. Even if we The Brain, Truth and Underwear: The medicine at Tehran University of Medical can only hypothesize what hybrid work of Clinical Management of Gender Sciences, worked as an emergency room critique and narrative Barthes would have in Children is co-sponsored by physician, and received her Ph.D. in medi- gone on to create, the brilliance, theoreti- CLAGS and The Center for the cal anthropology at Columbia University. cal significance, and formal innovation of Study of Women and Society

HOMONATIONALISM AND PINKWASHING

The Graduate Center, CUNY and CLAGS revealing that Homonationalism and on the reputations of the Graduate will be presenting the Homonationalism Pinkwashing are pressing, urgent, and Center and the Center for Lesbian and and Pinkwashing Conference over two inspiring topics in international aca- Gay Studies as institutions committed to days, April 10–11. This historic event demic work. This conference, which sold the most advanced and dynamic work in will feature a varied group of speakers out six months before its date, is already global academia. representing various countries, eth- significant, respected and pioneering in nicities, nationalities, genders, ages, burgeoning arenas of academic study What is Homonationalism? Homona- communities, universities, and academic and inquiry. tionalism, a term coined by Professor fields in discussion around a new arena Jasbir Puar of Rutgers University, describes of thought, specifically the concepts CLAGS offers this program with pride, the recent global phenomenon that oc- of Homonationalism and Pinkwashing. excitement and the certainty that this curs when sub-sectors of specific LGBTQ These concepts have been addressed conference will be remembered as an communities achieve legal equality with by a number of scholars of all racial, historic event in the development of heterosexuals and then embrace racial cultural, and religious backgrounds, global discourses and will shine bright and religious supremacy ideologies. In countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, conferences in the history of LGBTQ stud- The following countries will also be and Germany, white gay people (most ies, with broad participation across nation- subjects of presentations: Iran, Lithuania, often males) are increasingly joining racist ality, religion, race, gender and geography. Poland, Italy, Greece, France, Canada, In- 17 Page movements against immigrants and immi- At this conference, 189 speakers will be dia, The United States, Turkey, Israel, Pal- grations, especially from countries where presenting on their specific experiences estine, Iraq, Lebanon, South Africa, Cyprus, the majority of the population is Muslim. concerning these topics. Serbia, Cherokee Nation, Bulgaria, Uganda, These nationalist ideologies are present Brazil, Malaysia, Norway, Germany, Chile, across the globe, and it is necessary to (Keynote) Speakers Among the Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba, study these substantial changes in the 189 speakers who will be presenting, we Pakistan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. positioning of white gay people in relation- are featuring three keynote speakers: Dr. ship to supremacy ideologies in order to Jasbir Puar (Rutgers University), Rabih foster a better understanding of how vastly Alameddine (Author of Kool Aids: the Art CLAGS Newsletter Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS different conditions for LGBTQ people are of War [1998]), Haneen MaiKey (Founding globally based on race, religion, gender, director of alQaws: For Sexual and Gender and geography. Diversity in Palestinian Society). A small sample of some of our other presenters What is Pinkwashing? It is a com- includes: Dr. Julia Creet (York University, mon practice today for a government body Canada), Dr. Lisa Duggan (New York Uni- to point to or exaggerate LGBTQ rights in versity), Dr. Roderick Ferguson (University order to present itself as progressive. This of Minnesota), Dr. David Gerstner (City practice of “whitewashing” various racial University of New York, College of Staten and religious oppressions with claims Island), Dr. Gayatri Gopinath (New York of “gay rights” is called Pinkwashing. University), Dr. Aeyel Gross (Tel Aviv Uni- Because LGBT people have been actively versity, Israel), Dr. Samantha King (Queens oppressed by society for so long, many University, Canada), Dr. Scott Morgenson people mistakenly interpret some forms of (York University, Canada) “gay rights” (ex. Pride parades, gay people participating in military service, etc.) as Who Will be Represented? We have a number of schools who will be evidence of increased modernity. However, due to homonationalism and the shifting represented at this conference, including: position of LGBTQ people, this is no longer Bryn Mawr, Arizona State, University of an accurate measure of social advance- Toronto, Yale School of Architecture, Har- In Review ment. In the locations where Homona- vard Kennedy School, Syracuse, University tionalism is active, LGBTQ people of the of British Columbia, Marquette, University dominant racial or religious demographic of California Davis, CUNY Graduate Center, may actually have far more secure social College of Staten Island, Concordia, rights and political power than people who Columbia University, University of Texas, Coming Up exist in subordinate racial and religious The New School, University of Alberta, communities (which of course themselves Williams College, Oregon State, McMaster, include LGBTQ people). Pinkwashing is of University of Warwick, University of Berlin, profound and engaged interest to scholars University of Mains, McGill, University around the world who are interested in of California Riverside, Fairleigh Dick- social justice and LGBTQ studies. enson University, Northwestern, Indiana University, Wesleyan, University of Iowa, Who is Presenting? The Homona- University of Chicago, UCLA, Kingsborough tionalism and Pinkwashing Conference Community, University of Wisconsin, the promises to be one of the most diverse United Nations Development Program. Introductions & Recognitions Introductions

CLAGS EVENTS SPRING CALENDAR 2013 outside forces asacatalyst for socialtransformation. couraging readers to take pleasure inthebody’s vulnerability to superhero’s bodyasa site ofradical transformation while en- tification. RamziFawaz argues that that placed into question theirassumed gender andsexual iden- War gender andsexual norms,their bodieswere mutated inways Fantastic Four nist, thepolitical activist, andthepotential queerorneurotic. The radicalism, including theleft-wing intellectual, theliberal femi- of the socialtypesof 1950s nuclear family into icons of1960s the mutated bodiesofits four heroes to depictthetransformation This talk explores how Marvel Comics’ This talk explores how Marvel RSVPto [email protected] > SegalTheatre, CUNYGraduate Center > May7,7pm–9pm > ness translate into pedagogyandremain transgressive? ferred to the institutional atmosphere and how does queer- experience ofcollective queerartistic communities trans- to sustain theirwork asqueerperformers. How isthelived ists like Hugheshave transitioned into theuniversity inorder tics andaesthetics asaqueerartist inNew York. Manyart- atre scholar Jill Dolan to discuss the genealogy of her poli- Lauded queerperformance artist Holly Hughesjoinsthe- PERFORMING QUE(E)RIESPART IV RSVPto [email protected] > SegalTheatre, CUNYGraduate Center > Feb 26,7pm–9pm > and cultural interests. sona inthelate 80sto hermore current political, social, climate thatpushedherto create herperformance per- tral inTropicana’s performance work from thecultural which have remained cen- inist, andracial politics, intersection ofqueer,fem- Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé onthe versation withmoderator tional stage. Acritical con- and film on thetransna- in theatre, performance art, ning almost three decades astonishing career span- Tropicana will discuss her er, andactress Carmelita performance artist, writ- Renowned New York-based QUE(E)RIES PART III PERFORMING IN CONVERSATION WITHJILLDOLAN HOLLY HUGHES ARNALDO CRUZ-MALAVÉ IN CONVERSATION WITH CARMELITA TROPICANA CALENDAR EVENTS CLAGS RSVP to [email protected] > Room8304, CUNYGraduate Center > Mar13,6pm–8pm > “FLAME ON!”:NUCLEARFAMILIES, UN- STABLE MOLECULES,ANDTHEQUEER HISTORY OFTHEFANTASTIC FOUR placed thefour heroes outsidetheboundsofCold The Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four RAMZI FAWAZ recasts the used used RSVP to [email protected] > RoomC201, CUNYGraduate Center > Apr26,7pm–9pm > queer performance on- will track thelegacy of mances anddiscussions queer identity. Perfor- future explorations of to past, present, and performance istied contemporary queer larly the waysinwhich 21st century, particu- performance inthe and explores LGBTQ 2012/13 academic year takes place over the Performing Que(e)ries MADISON MOORE ON FIERCENESS 2013 SPRING of identification. ness is, what it does, andhow it opens up alternative possibilities critical andcreative implications of“fierceness” —whatfierce- FIERCENESS addresses the the labor of that creativity. ON pression ofcreativity aswell as particular, fierceness isanex- queer ofcolor communities in In queercommunities, and always aboutcompliment. well-done. Butfierceness isn’t sassy wayofdescribing a job a person’s style—it’s thego-to, generally used to compliment Fierceness isaterm that’s cation. and digitizedcommuni- the ageofmedia-based of live performance in the efficacy and vitality stage andoff, querying RSVPrequired, to [email protected] > Elebash Recital Hall,CUNYGraduate Center > Mar22,6pm–8pm > Event issoldout,butwilllivestreame athttp://vid- > CUNY Graduate at Center 10–11, April > terests ofallpartsthequeercommunities. how themovement could betransformed to serve thein- and scholars tackle thesecritical questions asthey explore expression, andresistance? Three veteran queeractivists tized? Where are thenew practices oforganizing, cultural ture ofthecivilrightsorganization form itselfbedemocra- ti-feminism inorder to benormalized?How can thestruc- racism? Hasqueerness bounditselfto nationalismandan- norms? WhydoestheLGBT movement ignore structural an accommodation to neoliberal economic andpolitical Does apoliticspursuing equalrightsproduce freedom or burgeoning arenas ofacademic study andinquiry. its date, is already significant, respected and pioneering in work. Thisconference, whichsoldoutsixmonthsbefore ing, urgent, andinspiringtopics ininternational academic vealing thatHomonationalismandPinkwashingare press- ars of all racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds, re- These concepts have beenaddressed byanumberofschol- cally theconcepts ofHomonationalismandPinkwashing. fields indiscussion around anew arena ofthought,specifi- genders, ages,communities, universities, andacademic representing various countries, ethnicities,nationalities, This historic event willfeature avaried group ofspeakers CONFERENCE AND PINKWASHING HOMONATIONALISM URVASHI VAID, DEANSPADE ANDROSAMONDS.KING RACE, QUEERPOLITICS,ANDPRACTICE YOU GOTTA SERVESOMEBODY: RETHINKING eostreaming.gc.cuny.edu All of CLAGS events areAll of CLAGS free and opento thepublic. om71 Fax: 212-817-1567 Email: [email protected]. edu Phone:212-817-1955 New York NY 10016 Room 7115 365 FifthAvenue Holiday Inn Midtown, 440 W. 57thStreet > Apr13,12pm–6pm > open to thepublicwithbookdiscounts andgiveaways. to thewild,from thezanyto thesuperhot. Rainbow BookFair is 1500+ readers wholove and buytheirbooks–from theserious 100 publishers, writers, poets,editors, booksellers, andthe 5th AnnualNew York Rainbow BookFair willfeature more than Be apartofthemost exciting LGBT bookevent intheU.S.The > Skylight Room, SkylightRoom, > Feb 21,7pm–9pm > Epstein andJeffrey Friedman. Oscar-winning directors Rob documentary filmin1995by subsequently adapted into a men. treatment oflesbians andgay the first study ofHollywood’s of Russo (1946-1990),author es the life and times of Vito tion, MichaelSchiavidiscuss- In thismultimediapresenta- SCHIAVI BY MICHAEL VITO RUSSO THE LIFEOF (1981), The Celluloid Closet (1981), CUNY Graduate Center

was The Celluloid Closet was Photo: Massimo Consoli Massimo Photo: tification. RamziFawaz argues that that placed into question theirassumed gender andsexual iden- War gender andsexual norms,their bodieswere mutated inways Fantastic Four nist, thepolitical activist, andthepotential queerorneurotic. The radicalism, including theleft-wing intellectual, theliberal femi- of the socialtypesof 1950s nuclear family into icons of1960s the mutated bodiesofits four heroes to depictthetransformation Comics’ This talk explores how Marvel RSVPto [email protected] > SegalTheatre, CUNYGraduate Center > May7,7pm–9pm > ness translate into pedagogyandremain transgressive? ferred to the institutional atmosphere and how does queer- experience ofcollective queerartistic communities trans- to sustain theirwork asqueerperformers. How isthelived ists like Hugheshave transitioned into theuniversity inorder tics andaesthetics asaqueerartist inNew York. Manyart- atre scholar Jill Dolan to discuss the genealogy of her poli- Lauded queerperformance artist Holly Hughesjoinsthe- PERFORMING QUE(E)RIESPART IV IN CONVERSATION WITHJILLDOLAN HOLLY HUGHES RSVPto [email protected] > SegalTheatre, CUNYGraduate Center > Feb 26,7pm–9pm > and cultural interests. sona inthelate 80sto hermore current political, social, climate thatpushedherto create herperformance per- tral inTropicana’s performance work from thecultural which have remained cen- inist, andracial politics, intersection ofqueer,fem- Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé onthe versation withmoderator tional stage. Acritical con- and film on thetransna- in theatre, performance art, ning almost three decades astonishing career span- Tropicana will discuss her er, andactress Carmelita performance artist, writ- Renowned New York-based QUE(E)RIES PART III PERFORMING ARNALDO CRUZ-MALAVÉ IN CONVERSATION WITH CARMELITA TROPICANA CALENDAR EVENTS CLAGS outside forces asacatalyst for socialtransformation. couraging readers to take pleasure inthebody’s vulnerability to superhero’s bodyasa site ofradical transformation while en- RSVP to [email protected] > Room8304, CUNYGraduate Center > Mar13,6pm–8pm > “FLAME ON!”:NUCLEARFAMILIES, UN- STABLE MOLECULES,ANDTHEQUEER HISTORY OFTHEFANTASTIC FOUR placed thefour heroes outsidetheboundsofCold The Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four RAMZI FAWAZ recasts the used used RSVP to [email protected] > RoomC201, CUNYGraduate Center > Apr26,7pm–9pm > MADISON MOORE ON FIERCENESS queer performance on- will track thelegacy of mances anddiscussions queer identity. Perfor- future explorations of to past, present, and performance istied contemporary queer larly the waysinwhich 21st century, particu- performance inthe and explores LGBTQ 2012/13 academic year takes place over the Performing Que(e)ries 2013 SPRING of identification. ness is, what it does, andhow it opens up alternative possibilities critical andcreative implications of“fierceness” —whatfierce- FIERCENESS addresses the the labor of that creativity. ON pression ofcreativity aswell as particular, fierceness isanex- queer ofcolor communities in In queercommunities, and always aboutcompliment. well-done. Butfierceness isn’t sassyway ofdescribingajob a person’s style—it’s thego-to, generally used to compliment Fierceness isaterm that’s cation. and digitizedcommuni- the ageofmedia-based of live performance in the efficacy and vitality stage andoff, querying RSVPrequired, to [email protected] > Elebash Recital Hall,CUNYGraduate Center > Mar22,6pm–8pm > Event issoldout,butwilllivestreame athttp://vid- > CUNY Graduate at Center 10–11, April > terests ofallpartsthequeercommunities. how themovement could betransformed to serve thein- and scholars tackle thesecritical questions asthey explore expression, andresistance? Three veteran queeractivists tized? Where are thenew practices oforganizing, cultural ture ofthecivilrightsorganization form itselfbedemocra- ti-feminism inorder to benormalized?How can thestruc- racism? Hasqueerness bounditselfto nationalismandan- norms? WhydoestheLGBT movement ignore structural an accommodation to neoliberal economic andpolitical Does apoliticspursuing equalrightsproduce freedom or URVASHI VAID, DEANSPADE ANDROSAMONDS.KING RACE, QUEERPOLITICS,ANDPRACTICE YOU GOTTA SERVESOMEBODY: RETHINKING burgeoning arenas ofacademic study andinquiry. its date, is already significant, respected and pioneering in work. Thisconference, whichsoldoutsixmonthsbefore ing, urgent, andinspiringtopics ininternational academic vealing thatHomonationalismandPinkwashingare press- ars of all racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds, re- These concepts have beenaddressed byanumberofschol- cally theconcepts ofHomonationalismandPinkwashing. fields indiscussion around anew arena ofthought,specifi- genders, ages,communities, universities, andacademic representing various countries, ethnicities,nationalities, This historic event willfeature avaried group ofspeakers CONFERENCE AND PINKWASHING HOMONATIONALISM eostreaming.gc.cuny.edu om71 Fax: 212-817-1567 Email:[email protected]. edu Phone:212-817-1955 New York NY10016 Room 7115 365 Fifth Avenue events areAll of CLAGS free and opento thepublic. Holiday Inn Midtown, 440 W. 57thStreet > Apr13,12pm–6pm > open to thepublicwithbookdiscounts andgiveaways. to thewild,from thezany to thesuperhot. Rainbow BookFair is 1500+ readers wholove andbuytheirbooks–from theserious 100 publishers, writers, poets,editors, booksellers, andthe 5th AnnualNew York Rainbow BookFair willfeature more than Be apartofthemost exciting LGBT bookevent intheU.S.The > Skylight Room, SkylightRoom, > Feb 21,7pm–9pm > Epstein andJeffrey Friedman. Oscar-winning directors Rob documentary filmin1995by subsequently adapted into a men. treatment oflesbians andgay the first study ofHollywood’s of Russo (1946-1990),author es the life and times of Vito tion, MichaelSchiavidiscuss- In thismultimediapresenta- SCHIAVI BY MICHAEL VITO RUSSO THE LIFEOF (1981), The Celluloid Closet (1981), CUNY Graduate Center

was The Celluloid Closet was Photo: Massimo Consoli Massimo Photo:

ALL OF CLAGS EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO PLEASE RSVP TO THE PUBLIC. [email protected]

Introductions & Recognitions Coming Up In Review CLAGS Newsletter Spring 2013 Page 19 5TH ANNUAL RAINBOW BOOK FAIR

BY SARAH E. CHINN

Each year, the Rainbow Book Fair grows of new trans fiction, Asian American queer Rainbow Book Fair is totally free to the larger and more exciting: as the largest writers, the popularity of queer detective public with book discounts and giveaways. LGBT book expo in North America, the RBF novels, and what happens when poets write Join us for a day of queer book thrills! is the place to learn about new trends in fiction and fiction writers turn to poetry. For more information, visit www.rainbow- queer publishing. Exhibitors at the Fair And speaking of poetry, the RBF Poetry bookfair.org range from academic presses to romance Salon curated by Nathaniel Siegel and Re- and erotica, from trade presses to art gie Cabico is one of the high points of the books and literary journals and beyond: queer literary calendar. We’ll also have a th it’s the Fair’s goal to represent the amaz- 5 ANNUAL RAINBOW BOOK FAIR full roster of prose readings throughout the ing variety of queer and trans writers and 4/13/2013 day. publishers. Holiday Inn Midtown 440 W.57th Street The 5th annual Rainbow Book Fair will be CLAGS has sponsored the RBF for the past (between 9th and 10th Avenues) in a new space this year, the Holiday Inn 4 years, and brings to the Fair an intellec- Noon to 6pm Midtown, from noon to 6pm. Come and be a tual engagement with queer writing that part of the most exciting LGBT book event has been the RBF’s trademark. As always, in the U.S. featuring more than 100 pub- the Fair will feature over 100 exhibitors, an lishers, writers, poets, editors, booksell- all-day Poetry Salon, panels, readings, and ers, and the 1500+ readers who love and appearances by major queer writers. Panel buy their books—from the serious to the themes represent the depth and breadth of wild, from the zany to the super hot. The LGBT literary production: the efflorescence 2012 ANNUAL KESSLER AWARD 21 Page

PHOTOS BY KALLE WESTERLING CLAGS Newsletter Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS

QUEERING THE FRAME

SEMINAR IN THE CITY FALL 2012 In Review BY SUJAY PANDIT

Queering the Frame: Transgressive Performance and mances to engage in site specific research. The group convened the Possibility of Freedom for three consecutive weeks in order to critique performances by Seminar Leader: Sujay Pandit Coco Fusco, José Muñoz, Elizabeth Grosz, Judith “Jack” Halberstam, Coming Up Oct. 13, 20, and 27, 11–1pm Joseph Roach, and many others in relation to the various readings WOW Cafe Theatre, 59–61 E 4th St. provided by the seminar leader. Unfortunately, because of the after-

math of Hurricane Sandy, the final session was cancelled. Regard- Last fall, this bi-annual seminar discussed the ways in which trans- less, the seminar was a great success and was enjoyed by all who gressive art shocks, titillates, enlightens and, perhaps most impor- attended. tantly, provides a space of inclusion for marginalized or neglected communities. A participant discussed how, at this vital moment, the CLAGS would like to thank the WOW Café for allowing us to use role of queered bodies in transgressive art has become increasingly their space. The theatre proved to be a fitting location for the sub- threatened and equally necessary. The seminar used the city as a ject of transgressive performance in New York. canvas for their research, attending various artistic spaces around

the city, including MOMA, the New Museum, and theatrical perfor- & Recognitions Introductions

PERFORMING QUE(E)RIES NINA ARSENAULT WITH J. PAUL HALFERTY

BY BENJAMIN GILLESPIE

This exciting conversation and performance demo with one of Canada’s leading queer performance artists took place on October 26th, 2012 in the Segal Theatre at the CUNY Graduate Center. The event featured two short films made by Arsenault and filmmaker Jordan Tannehill, Plane of Immanence and Guadalajara, as well as an extended monologue by Arsenault re- telling an autobiographical story on her quest Nina Arsenault for feminine beauty entitled The Ecstasy of , Still from video recording of the event. Nina Arsenault: a surgical pilgrimage through metaphysical labyrinth and virtual womb. The a waking facelift. A provocative question and queering presence of the body of Arsenault, answer period provided attendees the chance both naked and constructed, climbing through to discuss the development of Arsenault’s a jungle of rebar, front-end loaders, and cau- aesthetic practices, moderated by J. Paul Hal- tion tape, reveals to us a multilayered allegory ferty from the University of Toronto. for the alienation of the trans body, the De- Plane of Immanence (2012) began as a gueril- leuzian notion of the “body without organs,” Nina Arsenault, Still from video recording of the event. and permutations of the divine within the Self la intervention at the (re)construction site of Arsenault’s experience in Guadalajara during and the material world. The film premiered at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, which artists her most recent cosmetic procedure. Jordan Tannahill and Nina Arsenault found in Pleasure Dome’s New Toronto Works, 2011 Nina Arsenault is a Toronto based multi-disci- a gutted, liminal state of transition. In this with a subsequent showing at CLAGS. Gua- plinary artist. She works in live performance, video, this iconic space rich with national dalajara (2012) is a documentary triptych video art, photography, and writing, using cultural significance—an area of masculin- that artistically documents Nina’s pilgrimage these mediums and popular national and in- ity—is realized into a new potentiality as a to Guadalajara for a waking facelift. The first part, which was shown at CLAGS, depicted ternational media to document her continuing Arsenault under the hydraulic surgical table physical and psychic transformations. She when the doctor steps out of the room. The thrives in the exploration of new and profound event was the premiere showing of this film. ways of living her art practice. Her work has been called “profoundly moving,” “absolutely The Ecstasy of Nina Arsenault: a surgical pil- unforgettable,” “brutally honest,” “a spiritual grimage through a waking facelift comes out gift” as well as “stunning and ruthless.” You of Nina’s solo installation/durational piece 40 can see more about her work on her website, Days + 40 Nights: Working Towards a Spiritual ninaarsenault.com. Experience as part of Toronto’s 2012 Summer- Works Festival. The monologue contextualizes J. Paul Halferty, Still from video recording of the event. FOUR-DAY CONFERENCE 23 Page CELEBRATED HARRY HAY FOUNDER OF MODERN AMERICAN GAY MOVEMENT

BY JOEY CAIN, Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS SAN FRANCISCO-BASED COMMUNITY ACTIVIST AND INDEPENDENT HISTORIAN

In 1948, homosexuals were considered sick “my people”—gay people. In the 1970s, he note speakers throughout the conference and/or degenerate heterosexuals, and a gay worked for and supported Native American include feminist historian Bettina Aptheker, community (as we now know it) did not yet struggles and helped to define and bring to- poet Cheryl Clark, and LGBT historian John exist. That year, one man had the vision- gether the gay men’s group the Radical Faer- D’Emilio. Over 100 scholars, artists, and ary idea that homosexuals were a “cultural ies. Hay continued theorizing and organizing activists will be participating in the confer- minority” and could organize themselves his “people” and supporting social justice ence, including authors Mark Thompson and to create a community and fight for their for all people, right up to his death in 2002. Perry Brass and historians Jonathan Ned human dignity and civil rights. Sixty years Katz and Susan Stryker. Playwright Tony later, that vision has developed into a world- In honor of the 100th anniversary of Harry Kushner has prepared a staged reading of an wide civil rights movement and inspired the Hay’s birth, the Harry Hay Centennial Com- excerpt from his most recent play, The Intel- creation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans- mittee and the Center for Lesbian and Gay ligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and gender communities on every continent. The Studies at the City University of New York are Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. Film man who had that exceptional vision was presenting a four-day conference from Sept. programming includes Hope Along the Wind: 27 to 30, 2012 in New York City, exploring Harry Hay. The Life of Harry Hay, presented by director Hay’s life, ideas, and the multiple facets of Eric Slade, and a selection of contemporary An actor, communist, labor organizer, LGBT life that Harry Hay himself pioneered. West Coast queer avant-garde short films. A teacher, musicologist, gay theoretician, The conference is organized around four Saturday evening program at the New York In Review and political activist, Harry Hay left a last- major themes: arts, political activism, spiri- LGBT Community Center features live per- ing mark that continues well into the 21st tuality, and sexual identities. It will feature formances based on aspects of Hay’s life, century. Hay was active in the avant-garde panels, lectures, films, and live performanc- hosted by the New York (dis)Order of the Sis- arts movement of 1930s Los Angeles, where es from scholars, activists, and artists, all ters of Perpetual Indulgence and emceed by he worked as an actor. He participated in exploring the evolution of LGBT life in the Justin Sayre with Agnes de Garron, Reverend Coming Up the San Francisco General Strike of 1934 60-plus years since Hay founded the modern Yolanda, and Pistol Pete, as well as fashions and fought against fascism, racism, and American LGBT movement. by Cody Sai and a host of surprises, followed anti-Semitism in the 1940s. In 1948, he The event gets started on Thursday, Sept. by a masked Mattachine-style procession conceived of and organized the first sus- 27, at 7 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center to an after party at the historic Stonewall tained gay activist group in America, the with a keynote address by anthropolo- Bar. Sunday will be dedicated to the explo- Mattachine Society, kicking off the modern gist and author Will Roscoe, followed by a ration of Radical Faerie circle process and American gay freedom movement. Through- staged reading of excerpts from playwright culture. out the 1950s, he conducted research into John Maran’s award-winning play about Hay, areas of anthropology, science, history, and (Reprinted from Huffington Post) The Temperamentals. Other featured key- mythology for evidence of what he termed Introductions & Recognitions Introductions

PERFORMING QUE(E)RIES CHARLES BUSCH AND JAMES WILSON

ON NOVEMBER 13, 2012, CHARLES BUSCH WAS IN CONVERSATION WITH JAMES WILSON, CLAGS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. IN THIS EXCERPT, TRANSCRIBED BY ILYSSA SILFEN, CHARLES BUSCH DESCRIBES THE GENESIS OF THEATRE IN LIMBO, THE COMPANY THAT PRODUCED BUSCH’S EARLY WORKS, SUCH AS VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM, PSYCHO BEACH PARTY, AND THE LADY IN QUESTION. Photo: David Rodgers Photo: David Charles Busch, renowned New York performer, playwright, director, and drag extraordinaire, participated in the second iteration of this And it really is true: we spent about new CLAGS series in the Fall. He discussed his astonishing career $36. It was purely postage. Today in the theatre and on film, as well as the changes he has seen in LGBTQ performance over the last four decades in New York and we wouldn’t even have spent that. I beyond. The conversation was moderated by CLAGS Executive Di- wrote Vampire Lesbians of Sodom rector James Wilson. Below you will find a partial transcript of the event. Video of the event will be made available soon at clags.org so we could do it cheap. I figured if I In the early 1980s I was a solo performer, but I could never earn a living set it in the ancient world, we could doing it. And it was very frustrating because I was getting better. I was really learning a lot. It was a wonderful education on characterization, just wear G-strings and heels. exposition, and developing a relationship with an audience—and as a solo performer, that’s who you’re playing with. It was very frustrating that I act; my act was so minimalist. I wanted to do something decadent and could sell out on a rainy Tuesday in San Francisco, and I would get rave outrageous, and I think I probably read Interview with a Vampire around reviews in the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle, and I that time and so I thought, “Oh, I’ll be a glamorous vampire actress.” I’ll be had a following in each city, but then I would come back to New York, and in drag, and it’ll be kind of [Charles] Ludlam-ish. And so I just asked dif- I still couldn’t totally support myself. I had all these weird jobs. I draw ferent friends of mine, who were all basically unemployable, who were very well, so I worked as a quick sketch portrait artist, which I did a lot. I was a discouraged completely with no place in the theatre. receptionist in a zipper factory. And it just seemed like things weren’t quite And it really is true: we spent about $36. It was purely postage. Today we progressing. By the time I got to 1985, I just didn’t seem closer to that wouldn’t even have spent that. I wrote Vampire Lesbians of Sodom so we thing of earning a living, and that’s what you want, to earn a living doing could do it cheap. I figured if I set it in the ancient world, we could just what you love. It’s the most difficult thing, and you’re so blessed if you are wear G-strings and heels. For the 1920s, I could sort of fake that silhou- a person who can do that. ette easy. (You can’t do the 1890s and fake it.) We just put it on for one And just when I was at the lowest ebb, I had a friend, a very exotic woman, weekend, and we had the best time. Then we decided to do a second week- Bina Sharif, who’s a performance artist, and she invited me to see her end. Then we decided, “Oh, let’s do another little skit,” and I wrote this act at a place called the Limbo Lounge, between Avenue A and B. The other piece called Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium. Michael, who ran the East Village, Alphabet City, in the mid 1980’s was a very different Limbo Lounge, said “Why don’t you just be our resident theatre company?” place. It was really kind of creepy, and there were a lot of crack And every three weeks we’d do another show. And so we ended up having problems and blocks of burnt out buildings; it was really very a theatre company, which wasn’t the original idea. What was so sweet and Berlin after the War. But it was about the last place in Manhattan moving about the whole thing is that while I had had an awful experience with cheap rents, so there were very interesting art galleries, in Chicago, where I felt so betrayed and people didn’t seem to get me, here and clubs would spring up. I went to the Limbo Lounge to see was this group of oddballs in New York who just all loved me and felt—I Bina’s act, and it was just this tiny storefront after-hours bar get really choked up talking about it—I had something to offer. and art gallery with these very peculiar installations. I was It was a childlike thing since they wanted to play, and I could be inspired. so dazzled at the whole audience, which was this kind of They were all such big personalities, you know, Julie Halston, Theresa punk-gay crowd, and I thought, “I’ve just gotta do a play Marlowe, Meghan Robinson, Arnie Kolodner, Andy Halliday, Robert Carey, here. I’ve just gotta do something.” I always thought it and everyone was so defined. It was fun to write parts for them all. Each would be really cool to do a play in a real funky, weird person had what we called their “trip,” which was something unique about place. I was never like, “Oh this is so humiliating.” I them. It was like having my own old movie studio with contract players, was more like, “Oh this is so cool!” And I loved it! and I wrote for them to sort of do their same trip but with a little more of So I immediately went to see [Michael Limbo] the a twist, so it was not the exact same play each time. But we did all these young man who owned the Limbo Lounge. It was plays that just came out of fantasies of my own: “Wouldn’t it be fun to so loose there, he just looked at the calendar be in mod London in the 60s, or Spain during the Inquisition?”’ We were and said, “Oh, we have a weekend in a in the right place at the right time, and suddenly all the magazines, like month from now,” and I said, “I’ll take People magazine and New York magazine, were doing stories on the crazy it!” I knew I didn’t want to do my solo performance art scene in the East Village. And our titles, like Vampire Les- bians of Sodom, were so outrageous they were We raised the money, and we opened at the a good punch line. We got so much publicity, Provincetown Playhouse on MacDougal Street and people were lined up down the block to see and got a rave review in the New York Times. these little plays. It was just thrilling. Everybody got mentioned—all these people who Ken Elliot, who was my roommate and who were so discouraged and felt so without worth directed the plays, said maybe this is the com- in theatre—everybody got a rave review. It was a mercial venture that had eluded us for a decade. big hit, and it ran five years. And from that point We produced Vampire Lesbians ourselves on I could earn a living! because we couldn’t get anybody else to do it.

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT PHOTOS BY KALLE WESTERLING The theoretical signiﬁcance and formal innovation of Roland Barthes’s late work, especially his lectures, has yet to receive the international attention it deserves. This conference will explore Barthes’s Page 27 Page oeuvre in light of the publication of How to Live Together (2012), the ﬁnal installment of his lecture courses. The tightrope he walks between the forms of the novel and the essay, the evolution of his writing and thinking, the engagement of his work with literary or cultural texts, and the relationship of his work to critical theory, as well as to any and all other disciplines, is open for discussion. Cosponsored by the PhD program in Comparative Literature, the Doctoral Students’ Council, and the English Student Association. CLAGS Newsletter Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS See website for more details: The Renaissance of http://centerforthehumanities.org/conference/ renaissance-roland-barthes

Roland Barthes Apr 25, 6:30pm, Room 9206–07 Keynote Talk by Rosalind E. Krauss Apr 25–26, 2013 Apr 26, 10:00am, Elebash Recital Hall Keynote Talk by Jonathan Culler Room 9206-9207 Apr 26, 5:00pm, Room 9204–05 The Graduate Center, CUNY Keynote Panel with Diana Knight, D.A. Miller, and 365 Fifth Ave, New York NY Lucy O'Meara

Gender and Sexuality Seminar Series

THE BRAIN, TRUTH AND UNDERWEAR: THE CLINICAL MANAGEMENT OF GENDER IN

Harrington Park Press, formerly an imprint of CHILDREN The Haworth Press, has been re-launched as a April 24, 2013 specialized book/ebook publisher. The initial 12:00pm – 2:00 pm focus will be on gender/LGBTQ studies, health, and social services. Related fields will be added later. Room 6112, The Graduate Center, CUNY, In Review 365 Fifth Ave, New York, NY Our aim will be to maximize dissemination of research and impact in the scholarly and practitioner community, while at the same time Sahar Sadjadi, Visiting Assistant Professor and Mellon taking advantage of the global reach increasingly made possible Postdoctoral Fellow, Committee for Interdisciplinary Science through ebook co-publication. Interests will be primarily in those Studies, Graduate Center. Dr. Sadjadi is an anthropologist scholarly works which have a potential cross-over to the broader and medical doctor whose research lies at the intersection market and non-specialist audience. of science and technology, gender and sexuality and Coming Up For additional information, go to: childhood studies. She studied medicine at Tehran University www.HarringtonParkPress.com of Medical Sciences, worked as an emergency room

physician, and received her PhD in medical anthropology at Columbia University. Her work, which has been funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Part of The Gender and Sexuality Lecture Series. Cosponsored by the Center for the Study of Women and Society and CLAGS. Center for the Study of Women and Society The Graduate Center, CUNY & Recognitions Introductions

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PHOTO: MARTHA BURGESS PHOTO:

ACCEPTANCE AT WHAT PRICE? THE GAY MOVEMENT RECONSIDERED

BY MARTIN DUBERMAN

The Annual Kessler Award Lecture was given by Martin Du- who self-identifies politically as radical, not liberal. “Isn’t ‘radical’ berman, 2012 Kessler Award winner and CLAGS’s founder. The the same as ‘liberal?’” People often ask me. No, it isn’t. Liberal and ceremony took place on December 5th, 2012 in the Proshansky radical are often lumped together, usually to be denounced, but to Auditorium at the CUNY Graduate Center. An introduction was explain my own politics, I think it’s important and necessary to dis- given by James Wilson (CLAGS E.D., LaGuardia Community tinguish between the two. Both do share a belief in the need for pro- College/The Graduate Center) followed by testimonials from gressive social change in this country, but there the similarity ends. Blanche Wiesen Cook (John Jay College of Criminal Justice/ Liberals struggle to integrate increasing numbers of people into The Graduate Center, CUNY), Marcia M. Gallo (University of what’s viewed as a beneficent system. Radicals believe that the sys- Nevada), and a presentation by Amber Hollibaugh (Executive tem does have beneficent aspects, but also believe that it requires Director, Queers for Economic Justice). Below is an excerpt substantial restructuring. from Martin Duberman’s Kessler Address. The full lecture is Social justice movements in this country have often been started available online at clags.org and the entire lecture will be by radicals who have then, and usually in short order, been repudi- included in the forthcoming anthology, Against the Grain: A ated and supplanted by liberals. Thus in the nineteenth century, the Martin Duberman Reader (2013). Garrisonian abolitionists gave way to the Free Soil Party—meaning I’d like to begin by defining my personal political position in order that the call for the immediate abolition of slavery slid into the mere to help you better evaluate the subsequent argument I’ll be making. refusal to allow slavery to expand further. Thus, too, the Knights of First, to state the obvious, I strongly believe that gay people are en- Labor—“One big union,” skilled and unskilled combined—mutated titled to all the rights and privileges of other citizens in this country, into the AFL, which catered only to skilled workers and denied admis- including marriage. sion to people of color. A final example might be the broad-gauged Seneca Falls declaration of womens’s rights, with its open challenge Second, and perhaps less obvious: I’m speaking to you as someone to male domination; that got transmuted into the suffragists’ single- issue concentration on winning the right to vote. it emphasized the ideal of androgyny—that is, combining in every Over and over, the deeply conservative undertow of American ide- individual the characteristics and drives previously parceled out ology has undermined and diminished progressive goals. Central as “natural” to one gender or the other. It also aimed at making 29 Page to that ideology is the conviction that any individual willing to work alliances with other oppressed groups, like the black Panthers and hard enough can achieve whatever he or she desires. It follows from the Young Lords. this pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps assumption that all Today, GLF has long since disappeared. It has been replaced by presumed barriers based on race, class, gender, or sexual orienta- national LGBT organizations—of which the Human Rights Cam- tion automatically evaporate or are reduced to insignificance when paign is currently the largest—that work toward assimilationist confronted by the individual’s determined drive for success. And if goals like gay marriage and the right of gays to serve openly in the you believe that, there’s this little bridge in Brooklyn for sale that military. And it’s precisely this agenda that for twenty years has I’d like to interest you in. swept the field, pushing aside and ignoring a host of other issues

Those in this country who self-identify as left-wing, as I do, have and insisting that we’re “just folks,” exactly like you mainstream- Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS never been able to solve the conundrum of how to prevent a radi- ers in our perspectives and values, with the sole exception of this cal impulse from degenerating into reformist tinkering—which insignificant little matter of sexual orientation. comes down to how to mobilize a large constituency for substan- It isn’t true. Gay people are not carbon-copy straight people—just tive change when most of its members (think the Human Rights as black people aren’t carbon-copy whites. Gay radicals insist that Campaign here) prefer to focus on winning certain kinds of limited our special historical experience has provided us, just as it has concessions (like, for gay people, the right to marry or to serve in black people, with special perspectives and insights into main- the military) and show little interest in joining with other dispos- stream American culture—insights we feel should be affirmed, not sessed groups to press for a broader social reconstruction. denied. Perhaps the Occupy Wall Street movement—the radical element Gay radicals, then and now, oppose reducing our critique of main- in this generation—will manage to solve this conundrum. I dearly stream values to an agenda that pledges allegiance to them, as is hope so, though I have my doubts, given the history of radical pro- currently the case. That critique ranges from economic to sexual test in this country. issues, from the demand for a genuine safety net for all citizens to Part of the problem, as all the surveys I’ve seen agree, is that a questioning of the universal superiority of lifetime monogamy. Americans are twice as likely to blame themselves rather than More than sixty years ago, the (heterosexual) philosopher Herbert structural obstacles if their income and status remain low—that, Marcuse wrote in his classic work Eros and Civilization a sentence in other words, we’re a good deal less class-conscious than Eu- that has become a kind of mantra for me: “because of their rebel- ropeans. Thus in the 1970s it proved impossible to draw together lion against the subjugation of sexuality under the order of procre-

the class-based politics of the labor unions of the 1930s with the ation, homosexuals might ƒ one day provide a cutting-edge social In Review demand for racial justice of the 1960s into what we most need—an critique of vast importance.” inter-racial class identity. Yet there is hope, and it resides, in my It’s precisely the loss of that “cutting-edge social critique” that so view, in the eighteen-to-twenty-five-year-old cohort, the genera- much bothers me and others on the left. For us to reach the po- tion that spawned Occupy, which is far and away the most progres- tential Marcuse envisioned for us, it seems to me that we need to sive force on the scene today. assert our differentness from the mainstream rather than continue Coming Up In describing how liberalism—with much help, of course, from to plead for the right to join it. conservatism—has historically swallowed up any fragile shoots of We need to assert the fact that, despite enormous variations in radicalism in this country, I make no exception for the gay rights our individual lifestyles, a distinctive set of perspectives—reflect- movement itself, in which I’ve been periodically active for some ing our distinct historical experience—exists among gay people in forty years. regard to how they view gender, sexuality, primary relationships, Following the Stonewall riots in 1969, which inaugurated the mod- friendships, and family. Gay “differentness” isn’t some second- ern LGBT movement, the radical Gay Liberation Front (GLF) initially rate variation on first-rate mainstream norms, but rather a decid- emerged as the dominant political force. It offered a far-ranging ed advance over them. Gay subcultural values could richly inform critique of traditional notions of gender and sexual behavior. And conventional life and could open up an unexplored range of human Introductions & Recognitions Introductions

ACCEPTANCE AT WHAT PRICE? (CONT’D) possibilities for everyone. Could, that is, if the mainstream were lis- interested in having our primary relationships sanctioned by church tening, which it isn’t. And the reason it isn’t is due in part to us—to or state. Not being carbon copies, we at least aim at equality in our denial or concealment of our own specialness in the name of be- our unions, rather than at the privileging of one partner’s personal, ing let into what is essentially a middle-class white male clubhouse. sexual, and career needs over the other’s. And we do not believe that When I speak of our specialness, I mean the challenge the radical being part of a couple should convey special status and reward, for GLF presented in the years following Stonewall. I mean the chal- that reduces the vast number of single people in our midst to some lenge to the gender binary, to the assumption that everyone is either sort of second-class, second-rate status. male or female and that certain biologically induced traits adhere We are, of course, entitled to all the rights and privileges of every- naturally to each gender—that women, for example, are intrinsically one else in this country. But the recent concentration of our resourc- emotional, men intrinsically aggressive. That gender binary is not es and energy on the narrow agenda of marriage and the military true of gay people in general. has implicitly denigrated both the unmarried state and the refusal But what is true, as a number of studies have shown, is that gay to maim and kill in war. Our current national organizations for the people score consistently higher than straight people in empathy most part have not only failed to challenge mainstream American and altruism. Also true is that lesbians as a group have been shown values, but also have ignored the actual needs of most gay people to be far more independent-minded and far less subservient to au- themselves. Organizations like the Human rights Campaign speak thority than straight women. primarily to a middle- and upper-class white constituency and all but ignore the gay world’s black, Asian, and Latino members, the Many gay men, moreover, put a premium on emotional expressive- plight of its own poor, and the history of our challenges to traditional ness and sexual innovation. Studies have shown that lesbians and gender and sexual norms. gay men hold a view of coupledom that is far more characterized by mutuality and egalitarianism than is true of straight couples. Though you’d never know it from the current gay agenda, most gay people are working class—and that’s true whether “class” is defined If you don’t believe me, surely you’ll believe the New York Times. by income, educational level, or job status. The chief concern these Back in 2008 the Times published an article summarizing recent days of gay working-class people is finding a job with decent wages scholarly evidence that (in the words of the Times) “conclusively and benefits—and keeping that job, since in half the states employ- shows that same-sex couples are far more egalitarian in sharing re- ers still can legally fire workers simply because they’re gay. sponsibility both for housework and finances than are heterosexual ones, where women still do much more of the domestic chores (and The workplace itself remains strongly defined by heterosexual live with a lot of anger as a result) and where men are more likely norms. Most straight workers believe gender does and should come to pay the bills.” As a result, the Times concludes that same-sex in two, and only two, packages: the traditionally defined male or the couples “have more relationship satisfaction” and—hold on to your traditionally defined female. The heterosexual norm also explicitly beads—“have a great deal to teach everyone else.” claims—at least officially—that lifetime, monogamous pair-bond- ing is the sole guarantee of a contented, moral life. Of course official In other words, there really is a gay subculture, a way of looking rhetoric and actual behavior are often far apart, as you might have at life and coping with its joys and sorrows that has much to offer noted recently with a certain high-ranking general. the mainstream—and also to offer the multitude of gay people who prefer to claim that we’re just like everybody else. Those of us on The large majority of working-class gay people, like most straight the left feel much the way James Baldwin did when he asked why ones, have nonunion jobs. The union movement currently enrolls blacks were begging to rent a room in a house that was burning less than 12 percent of the workforce. Even where a union exists, down. Wouldn’t it be better, Baldwin asked, to build a new house? gay people often don’t feel comfortable talking openly to fellow workers about their lives. Nor are their needs, like domestic part- In the same spirit, gay radicals denounce the killing machine known nership benefits, forcefully represented during contract negotiations as the military and have no wish to become part of it. Nor are we Page 31 Page

with employers. The gay employee feels fortunate if homophobic One in every four adult black men are either in jail or have recently harassment—literal physical assault—is absent from his or her been released from it, often for minor drug charges. Again, don’t workplace. take my word for it: read Michelle Alexander’s recent book, The Under the leadership of John J. Sweeney, the AFL has made some New Jim Crow. In sum, for 46 million Americans—which includes strides in including and protecting gay union members, but ho- many gay people—basic human needs and minimal levels of secu- mophobia in the workplace, unionized or not, is still formidable. rity are going unmet. CLAGS Newsletter Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS Alas, the national LGBT organizations, enamored of the marital arts Surely, it’s long past time for the gay movement, and for the coun- and traditional marriage, have shown scant comprehension or in- try as a whole, to refocus its agenda. What is needed is nothing terest in the hidden wounds of class and the open wounds of race. less than a massive antiracist, pro-feminist, economic justice In a brilliant essay entitled “What is this Movement Doing to My movement. I know—easier said than done. But easiest of all is to Politics?” The lesbian political scientist Cathy Cohen has argued continue to do nothing about the country’s gross inequities. that, ever since the demise of Queer Nation and the refocusing of Do we see any signs in the national LGBT movement that it seeks Act-Up on issues relating to global AIDS, there is no longer a radical coalition with others suffering oppression, that it must cease to be domestic wing of any import in the national lesbian and gay move- a one-issue movement and instead must stand with those suffering ment—which is to say, the gay movement no longer represents a from assorted forms of racial, class, and gender discrimination? genuinely transformative politics. Yes, on the local level there are a few struggling LGBT organizations Remember, if you will, that as far back as 1998, the Human Rights centered on dealing with the plight of its own poor people, and also Campaign endorsed Alfonse D’Amato for the Senate, and later on creating bridges to others. Here in New York City, there’s Queers GLAAD—the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation—ac- for Economic Justice. How many of you have even heard of QEJ? It cepted money from the right-wing, union-busting Coors beer cor- attempts, with a small budget and staff, to deal with the multiple poration. issues of the gay poor, including those living in shelters.

The national gay movement’s efforts, in Cohen’s words, to “sanitize, In closing, I have to tell you that I think it’s a disgrace that our coun- whitenize, and normalize the public and visible representations” try as a whole is far more entranced with improving the technology of the community—to focus, in other words, on mainstream as- of drone strikes, those anonymous killers in the sky, than with the similation—has led her to ask, with what I feel is justifiable anger, plight of the poor. And I’m afraid I have to add that I also consider it In Review “Can I have radical politics and be part of this gay movement?” Her a disgrace that our assimilationist-minded national gay movement answer and mine, I’m sorry to say, is, “We’re not sure.” does a far better job at representing the white middle- and upper- Why? Because we’re deeply concerned that the gay movement in its class elements in our community than it does representing those current incarnation is essentially devoted to winning inclusion into of our own people who suffer from a variety of deprivations—to say an unequal, greed-haunted, oppressive society. nothing of the non-gay multitude who are also afflicted. Coming Up There are currently 46 million Americans who subsist on food It is time, in my view, to reassess and revise our goals as a move- stamps, an increase of more than 14 million over the past four ment. To do otherwise is to implicate us in the national disgrace of years. More than a quarter of blacks and Latinos in this country— caring much more about the welfare of the privileged few than the compared to 10 percent of whites—live below the government- deprived many. We are in danger of becoming part of the problem. defined poverty line of $11,000 a year for an individual and roughly My hope is that we may yet become part of the solution. $22,000 a year for a family of four. One in every five children lives in a family below the poverty line, and they often go to bed at night hungry; again, if you doubt me, have a look at the recent Frontline television program “Poor Kids.” Introductions & Recognitions Introductions

SEMINAR SERIES: PERFORMING QUE(E)RIES

CLAGS’s Performing Que(e)ries is a new series that takes place Jerome Foundation, and the Rockefeller Suitcase Fund. She has received over the 2012/13 academic year and explores LGBTQ performance numerous awards including fellowships from the New York Foundation for in the 21st century, particularly the ways in which contemporary the Arts as well as an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Performance. queer performance is tied to past, present, and future explorations of queer identity. The series includes performers, scholars, PART IV: HOLLY HUGHES WITH JILL DOLAN and writers of diverse backgrounds and styles coming together 5/7/2013 7–9pm Segal Theatre to discuss their work in multiple formats, including roundtables, Queer Institutionalization. Lauded queer performance artist Holly interviews, discussions, lectures, readings, and/or performanc- Hughes joins theatre scholar Jill Dolan to discuss the genealogy of her es. Performances and discussions will track the legacy of queer politics and aesthetics as a queer artist in New York, informed by her performance onstage and off, querying the efficacy and vitality experiences at venues like the WOW Café, to the development of her of live performance in the age of media-based and digitized com- pedagogy as a professor at the University of Michigan. Many artists like Hughes have transitioned into the university in order to sustain their work munication. as queer performers. How is the lived experience of collective queer artistic communities transferred to the institutional atmosphere, and how EVENTS does queerness translate into pedagogy and remain transgressive? How do we deal with the taboo of a faculty member as a sexual creature? Can PART III: CARMELITA TROPICANA WITH ARNALDO CRUZ-MALAVE queerness be translated through teaching and/or training in a way that 2/26/2013 7–9pm Segal Theatre students can experience queerness outside of the community for which A Queer Feminist Demo and Retrospective. Renowned New York- it was intended? What is it mean to teach LGBT history by asking your based performance artist, writer, and actress Carmelita Tropicana will students to embody lesbians and lesbian desire? An excerpt from The Well discuss her astonishing career spanning almost three decades in theatre, of Horniness will be performed by Hughes’ current and former students in performance art, and film on the transnational stage. The event will in- addition to the talk. clude demos of Tropicana’s past work in an archival retrospective made Holly Hughes is a renowned writer and performance artist. Hughes began available by the artist’s own collection of her recorded works alongside a her career in New York City’s club scene on the Lower East Side and con- critical conversation with moderator Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé on the intersec- sidered the WOW Café her home base. Currently, she holds the position of tion of queer, feminist, and racial politics, which have remained central Professor at the University of Michigan, with appointments in Art and De- in Tropicana’s performance work from the cultural climate that pushed sign, Theatre and Drama and Women’s Studies and is Director of the new her to create her performance persona in the late 80s to her more current BFA program in Interarts Performance. Hughes’s performance work in- political, social, and cultural interests. cludes plays such as The Well of Horniness, Dress Suits to Hire, Let Them Carmelita Tropicana (a.k.a. Alina Troyano) is a performance artist, play- Eat Cake and solos such as World Without End, Clit Notes, Preaching to wright, and actor. In Tropicana’s work, humor and fantasy become subver- the Perverted, and The Dog and Pony Show (Bring your own Pony). Five sive tools to rewrite history. Tropicana’s performances plays and videos of her plays are included in Clit Notes: A Sapphic Sampler, published by have been presented at venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Art Grove Press. She is also co-editor with David Roman of O Solo Homo: The in London, Hebbel Am Ufer in Berlin, Centre de Cultura Contemporanea New Queer Performance, which received a Lambda Book award. She is in Barcelona, the Berlin International Film Festival, the New Museum the recipient of a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship, and is currently co-edit- of Contemporary Art in New York, the Mark Taper Forum’s Kirk Douglas ing two anthologies, “Animal Acts: Performing Species Today,” with Una Theater in Los Angeles, and El Museo del Barrio in New York. Her work Chaudhuri and “Memories of the Revolution” with Carmelita Tropicana, has received funding support from the Independent Television Service, the both for the University of Michigan Press.

ALL CLAGS EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Performing Que(e)ries Spring 2013 are co-sponsored by PLEASE RSVP TO: [email protected]. UPDATE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL 33 Page RESOURCE NETWORK

BY KALLE WESTERLING

The International Resource Network (IRN), the global network of Caribbean and create a collection of oral history interviews. CLAGS Newsletter Spring 2013 Newsletter CLAGS researchers, activists, artists, and teachers sharing knowledge In Latin America, the IRN provides a space for discussion for strategies for about diverse sexualities, hosted by the Center for Lesbian and the strengthening of LGBT rights in the region through its listserve “The Gay Studies, as so far had a time of reorganization and applying for Advocacy Network for Latin America and the Caribbean.” future funding. Meanwhile, the local organizations and projects associated with the network continued to grow and expand. In North America, we are focusing on an attempt to build a network linking university-based LGBT, gender and sexuality programs and research In our Africa region, we have two ongoing projects: one which aims to centers with similar non-academic centers and related initiatives across publishing interviews with leaders of the LGBTI rights movement in African the continent. countries where they are less visible, the other which will result in a Kenyan radio drama series dealing with issues of LGBTI communities in In the Middle East, we continue to work on the free online network Kenya. designed to facilitate exchange and dialogue between the transnational community of scholars and students working on or in the Middle East, In China, we are currently focusing on translating and compiling primary called The Transnational Peer Review Network. The other major project in sources from Chinese into English to provide resources for English-speak- the region is “Turkey’s Queer Lives: LGBTQ Oral Histories Archive,” which ing scholars and facilitate access to first-hand voices. Another project aims to address the lack of large scale academic project on the LGBTQ that is ongoibg and started as an IRN project is SeekQueer, a chinese- community in the country by collecting life stories of people in Turkey who language interactive website on queer theory and sexuality resources, identify as LGBTQ. The goal is to construct an archive that will be made available at seekqueer.com. available to academics, independent researchers and activists who work in

In the summer, the Caribbean IRN region is creating and presenting an the field. short course in Advanced Sexuality Studies in Trinidad through a collabo- To participate in our projects, to learn the latest news and opportunities ration with the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) at the in the field of sexuality studies, and to communicate with other individu- University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (Trinidad & Tobago) campus. als and groups that are active in the field, please visit our website: www. In Review The region will also further its collaboration with the Digital Library of the irnweb.org.

THE IRN MAP IRN Latin America IRN Africa Coming Up Coordinator: Jasmin Blessing Coordinator: Naijeria Toweett Contact: [email protected] Contact: [email protected]

ABOUT CLAGS

The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies provides a platform for intellectual leadership in addressing issues that affect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender individuals and other sexual and gender minorities. As the first university-based LGBT research center in the United States, CLAGS nurtures cutting-edge scholarship, organizes colloquia for examin- ing and affirming LGBT lives, and fosters network-building among academics, artists, activists, policy makers, and community members. CLAGS stands committed to maintaining a broad program of public events, online projects, and fellowships that promote reflection on queer pasts, presents, and futures. CLAGS makes its home at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

CLAGS’s efforts to promote an academy where homophobia, sexism, racism, and classism are studied and not enacted depend on the generosity of our members. The basic mem- bership rate of $40 ($20 for students or individuals with limited income) includes advanced notification of all public events and a subscription to our biannual newsletter. Mem- bers who donate $100 or more also receive free admission to all CLAGS conferences.