Teaching and Researching the History of Sexual Politics at San Francisco State, 1969–1970

This essay summarizes the methods and results of a collaborative student-faculty research project on the history of sexual politics at San Francisco State University. The collaborators collected and analyzed 160 mainstream, alternative, student, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans) media stories. After describing the project parameters and process, the essay discusses six themes: (1) LGBT history; (2) the Third World Liberation Front strike; (3) feminist sexual politics; (4) the history of heterosexuality; (5) sex businesses, commerce, and entrepreneurship; and (6) sexual arts and culture. The conclusion discusses project ethics and collaborative authorship. The essay’s most significant contributions are pedagogical, providing a model for history teachers interested in working with their students on research skills, digital methodologies, and collaborative projects. The essay also makes original contributions to historical scholarship, most notably in relation to the Third World Liberation Front strike. More generally, the essay provides examples of the growing visibility of LGBT activism, the intersectional character of race, gender, and sexual politics, the complicated nature of gender and sexual politics in the “movement of movements,” the commercialization of sex, and the construction of normative and transgressive heterosexualities in this period.

Family support, school-age and workplace bullying for LGB people

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine associations between: family support during the school-age period, and school-age bullying (short-term associations); and family support during the school-age period and workplace bullying (long-term associations) for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults in Britain. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ retrospective questions regarding family support for LGB children and school-age bullying and questions regarding workplace bullying in the respondents’ present jobs. A 2016 data set was utilized which was created by attending events during the UK LGBT History Month. Findings The empirical investigation demonstrates that supportive family environments toward LGB children reduce both school-age and workplace bullying. Practical implications Given the increasing number of people self-identifying as LGB, the significant percentages of school and workplace bullying incidents and the corresponding negative effects on people’s lives, it is important to examine the benefits of family support with regards to reducing school and workplace victimization. This study also reports that family support could have an enduring influence on the experiences of LGB children and adults. Originality/value No known research has considered the possible developmental benefits of family support on reducing future workplace bullying for LGB children. In addition, this might be the first study which simultaneously examines family support toward LGB children, school-age and workplace bullying.

In the end, we always have to call institutions to account

This year’s pride season marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, an event that, while not the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement in the United States, should at least be viewed as one of the first major milestones in the movement’s history. In the Netherlands, too, the history of LGBT activism has been commemorated in the recent exhibition ‘With Pride’, organised by IHLIA LGBT Heritage (see the review by Michiel Odijk in this issue). After its first successful run at the Amsterdam Public Library, the exhibition toured the Netherlands and opened in Utrecht during its annual pride festivities on June 3. While praised for its thorough documentation of 40 years of Dutch queer resistance, there was also critique. A number of activists and scholars pointed to a lack of inclusivity and representation, which they argued compromised the exhibition’s validity.Wigbertson Julian Isenia and Naomie Pieter, founders of Black Queer and Trans Resistance Netherlands (BQTRNL) and Black Queer Archive, represent two of these critical voices and address the structural exclusion of queers of colour in history writing and archival practices in their work. Julian co-edited the previous issue of Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies (vol. 22(2): ‘Sexual Politics Between the Netherlands and the Caribbean: Imperial Entanglements and Archival Desire’) and, together with Gianmaria Colpani, Julian and Naomie organised the roundtable ‘Archiving Queer of Colour Politics in the Netherlands’ (Colpani, Isenia, & Pieter, 2019). In response to the IHLIA exhibition, they proposed an exhibition under the title Nos Tei (Papiamentu/o for ‘We are here’ or ‘We exist’), which is to serve as an addition to the original ‘With Pride’ exhibition and ran independently from 11 July until 4 September 2019. We were very happy that both agreed to an interview for this thematic issue on ‘narratives of LGBT history in the Netherlands’ to discuss their views on archival practices and the exclusion of queer of colour perspectives from mainstream exhibition and archival spaces.

New role models to celebrate LGBT+ History Month 2019

Nina Rossi, BVA Media Manager, introduces this year’s role models as part of LGBT+ History Month.

Afterword

During a spring semester sabbatical in 2007, I spent a good chunk of time at the Gerber Hart Library in Chicago. As someone who had not done local community history before, I wanted to immerse myself in the materials of a city whose LGBT history had not yet received a great deal of attention. Working my way through the organizational newsletters and community-based newspapers produced in the 1970s, the first decade after the birth of a gay liberation movement, I was struck by how much content was related to religion....

BVLGBT+ celebrates veterinary role models

Nina Rossi, BVA Media Manager, describes how the BVLGBT+ group will be marking LGBT+ history month.