Editing Queer studies (section)

==History==

During the 1920s, same-sex subcultures were beginning to become more established in several larger US cities.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Berkin|first1=Carol|last2=Miller|first2=Christopher|last3=Cherny|first3=Robert|last4=Gormly|first4=James|title=Making America: A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865|date=2010|publisher=Wadsworth Publishing|location=Boston, MA|isbn=978-0618471416|page=545|edition=Brief Fifth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB3k_j1m1mgC&q=lesbian%20sex%20illegal%20in%20united%20states%201920s&pg=PA545}}</ref> Studies centering around queer life and culture originated in the 1970s with the publication of several "seminal works of gay history. Inspired by ethnic studies, [[women's studies]], and similar identity-based academic fields influenced by the [[critical theory]] of the [[Frankfurt School]], the initial emphasis was on "uncovering the suppressed history of gay and lesbian life;" it also made its way into literature departments, where the emphasis was on literary theory.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/> Queer theory soon developed, challenging the "socially constructed" categories of sexual identity.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/>

The first undergraduate course in the United States on LGBTQ studies was taught at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] in the spring of 1970.<ref name="McNaron">[[Toni McNaron|McNaron, Toni A.H.]], ''Poisoned Ivy: Lesbian and Gay Academics Confronting Homophobia.'' Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|1-56639-488-0}}</ref> It was followed by similar courses in the fall of 1970 at [[Southern Illinois University Edwardsville]] and at the [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]] (UNL).<ref name="McNaron" />

According to [[Harvard University]], the [[City University of New York]] began the first university program in gay and lesbian studies in 1986.<ref name="Boston.com 2009-06-03">{{cite web|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/06/harvard_to_endo.html|title=Harvard to endow professorship in gay studies|last=Jan|first=Tracy|date=June 3, 2009|work=The Boston Globe|publisher=Boston.com|access-date=June 3, 2009}}</ref><ref name="NYT 2009-06-03">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/education/04harvard.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=harvard%20gay%20lesbian%20caucus&st=cse |title=Harvard to Endow Chair in Gay Studies |last=Steinberg |first=Jacques |date=June 3, 2009 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=June 4, 2009}}</ref> The [[City College of San Francisco]] claims to be the "First Queer Studies Department in the U.S.",<ref name="ccsf">{{cite web |url=http://www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Gay_Lesbian_Bisexual_Studies/department_history.html |title=CCSF Educational Programs: Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Studies Department |publisher=CCSF.edu |access-date=June 4, 2009 |archive-date=January 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119122220/http://www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Gay_Lesbian_Bisexual_Studies/department_history.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> with English instructor Dan Allen developing one of the first gay literature courses in the country in the fall of 1972, and the college establishing what it calls "the first Gay and Lesbian Studies Department in the United States" in 1989.<ref name="ccsf" /> Then-department chair [[Jonathan David Katz]] was the first tenured faculty in queer studies in the country. Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate New York were among the first to offer a full-fledged major in LGBTQ Studies in the late 1990s. These colleges currently have one of the few tenure lines in a stand-alone [[LGBT]] Studies program, while many such programs are being absorbed into Women and Gender Studies programs.

Historians [[John Boswell]] and [[Martin Duberman]] made [[Yale University]] a notable center of lesbian and gay studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/> Each historian published several books on gay history; Boswell held three biennial conferences on the subject at the university, and Duberman sought to establish a center for lesbian and gay studies there in 1985.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/>  However, Boswell died in 1994, and in 1991, Duberman left for the [[City University of New York]], where he founded its [[Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies]]. A 1993 alumnus gift evolved into the faculty committee-administered Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies, which developed a listing of courses relevant to lesbian and gay studies called the "Pink Book" and established a small lending library named for Boswell. The committee began to oversee a series of one-year visiting professorships in 1994.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/>

=== Anti-gay curriculum laws ===
Anita Bryant, a popular face in the media and widely known by the public, was at the forefront of the "Save Our Children" movement in 1977, born in response to an Oklahoma ordinance criminalizing discrimination due to sexual preference. This campaign aimed to discourage the hiring of homosexual schoolteachers. Bryant claimed that they would molest the children and wrongfully serve as an example that any marriage outside of one between a man and a woman is respectable. The movement and its publicity gained Bryant much public support and eventually resulted in the overturning of the gay rights ordinance just half a year after it was implemented.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Rosky |first=Clifford |date=2017 |title=Anti-Gay Curriculum Laws |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44392956 |journal=Columbia Law Review |volume=117 |issue=6 |pages=1461–1541 |jstor=44392956 |issn=0010-1958}}</ref>

Bryant's campaign caught the attention of California state Senator John Briggs, who eagerly expressed his interest in expanding the Save Our Children campaign to his state, which initially took the form of Proposition 6 or the Briggs Initiative. This initiative allowed for employment discrimination against those who engaged in homosexual activity in public, or publicly encouraged or promoted homosexual activity towards co-workers and their students. Unlike Bryant's movement, which focused solely on gay teachers, Briggs' campaign could be applied to homosexual and heterosexual people alike since his initiative discriminated against the discussion of homosexual behavior, which anyone could do. Briggs' initiative was ultimately denied in 1978.<ref name=":2" />

===Yale–Kramer controversy===
In 1997, writer and [[AIDS]] activist [[Larry Kramer]] offered his alma mater, Yale, $4 million (and his personal papers) to endow a permanent, tenured professorship in gay studies and possibly build a gay and lesbian student center. His requirements were specific, as Yale was to use the money solely for "1) the study of and/or instruction in gay male literature..." including a tenured position, "and/or 2) the establishment of a gay student center at Yale..."<ref name="NYT 2009-06-03"/>

With gender, ethnic, and race-related studies still relatively new, Yale Provost [[Alison Richard]] said that gay and lesbian studies was too narrow a specialty for a program in perpetuity, indicating a wish to compromise on some of the conditions Kramer had asserted.<ref name="NYT 2009-06-03"/> Negotiations broke down as Kramer, frustrated by what he perceived to be "homophobic" resistance, condemned the university in a front-page story in ''[[The New York Times]]''. According to Kramer, he subsequently received letters from more than 100 institutions of higher learning "begging me to consider them."

In 2001, Yale accepted a $1 million grant from his older brother, money manager [[Arthur Kramer]], to establish the [[Larry Kramer#Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies|Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies]].<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/><ref name="NYT">{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04EEDF113FF931A35757C0A9679C8B63 |title=Gay Writer And Yale Finally Agree On Donation |first=Karen W. |last=Arenson |work=The New York Times |date=April 2, 2001 |access-date=June 4, 2009}}</ref> The five-year program aimed to bring in visiting faculty, host conferences and lectures, and coordinate academic endeavors in lesbian and gay studies.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/><ref name="NYT"/> [[Jonathan David Katz]] assumed the role of executive coordinator in 2002; in 2003, he commented that while women's studies or African American studies have been embraced by American universities, lesbian and gay studies have not.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/> He blamed institutionalized fear of alienating alumni of private universities, or legislators who fund public ones.<ref name="Yale 2003-04"/> The five-year program ended in 2006.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=https://lgbts.yale.edu/ |title=Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies |publisher=[[Yale University]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528215633/https://lgbts.yale.edu/ |archive-date=May 28, 2020 |access-date=May 28, 2020 |quote=From 2001–2006, a generous gift from a donor allowed LGBTS to establish and oversee the Larry Kramer Initiative, which hosted a wide array of public programs on LGBT issues and strengthened LGBTS at Yale. }}</ref>

In June 2009, [[Harvard University]] announced that it would establish an endowed chair in LGBT studies.<ref name="Boston.com 2009-06-03"/><ref name="NYT 2009-06-03"/> Believing the post to be "the first professorship of its kind in the country,"<ref name="NYT 2009-06-03"/> Harvard President Drew G. Faust called it "an important milestone."<ref name="FOX 2009-06-03">{{cite web |last=Associated Press |author-link=Associated Press |date=June 3, 2009 |title=Harvard to Endow Chair in Gay, Lesbian Studies |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/harvard-to-endow-chair-in-gay-lesbian-studies |access-date=June 4, 2009 |publisher=FOXNews.com}}</ref> Funded by a $1.5 million gift from the members and supporters of the [[Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus]],<ref name="HGLC">{{cite web |url=http://hglc.org/matthiessen.html |title=Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus: F. O. Matthiessen Visiting Professorship of Gender and Sexuality |publisher=HGLC.org |access-date=June 4, 2009 |archive-date=June 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612060337/http://hglc.org/matthiessen.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[F. O. Matthiessen]] Visiting Professorship of Gender and Sexuality is named for a mid-20th century gay Harvard American studies scholar and literary critic who chaired the undergraduate program in history and literature. Harvard Board of Overseers member Mitchell L. Adams said, "This is an extraordinary moment in Harvard's history and in the history of this rapidly emerging field ... And because of Harvard's leadership in academia and the world, this gift will foster continued progress toward a more inclusive society."<ref name="Boston.com 2009-06-03"/>

===Academic field of queer studies===

The concept of perverse presentism is often taught in queer studies classes at universities. This is the understanding that queer history cannot and should not be analyzed through contemporary perspectives.<ref>{{cite book |title=Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBT Studies |last=Gibson |first=Michelle |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4522-3528-8 }}</ref> Ways to find out how people historically identified can include studying [[queer community archives]].

While queer studies initially emerged in the North American and, to a lesser extent, European academy and mostly relates to Western contexts, it recently has also developed in other parts of the world. For instance, since the 2000s there has been an emergent field of Queer African Studies, with leading scholars such as Stella Nyanzi (Uganda), Keguro Macharia (Kenya), [[Zethu Matebeni]] (South Africa), S.N. Nyeck (Cameroon), Kwame E. Otu (Ghana), and Gibson Ncube (Zimbabwe) contributing to the development of this field. Their work critiques the eurocentric orientation of Western queer studies and examines the longstanding traditions of sexual and gender diversity, ambiguity, and fluidity in African cultures and societies.