Embracing Pride, Fighting Prejudice: 15 Scholars Who Address LGBTQ Issues Through Research, Action, and Literature

Graduate Center professors, students, and alumni are exploring issues related to Pride Month through their writing, art, and advocacy. If you’re looking for compelling reads, podcast interviews, and video appearances — or if you’d just like to celebrate some notable achievements — here are 15 ways to start:

1. Say congrats to Eric Ketcham, who defended his dissertation on same-sex couples, started a new job, and married his partner — all in the course of a few weeks

2. Find out what it’s like for Ph.D. student Richard C. Clark to be an “unapologetically Blackity Black, trans, femme who does work challenging unjust systems of power, supports my communities, and heals wounds both personal and intergenerational”


3. Learn about What’s Your Issue, a national youth survey led by professors Michelle Fine and María Elena Torre and made with LGBTQ & GNC youth to “lift up experiences, priorities, and dreams”

4. And about how Interim Chief Librarian Emily Drabinski is addressing shortcomings in the classification of knowledge, which marginalizes queer terms and ideology and, ultimately, obstructs research

5. Delve into Professor Kevin Nadal’s new book on how the criminal justice system has dealt with LGBTQ people, including LGBTQ people of color, and the consequences ​

6. Check out the the latest book by Distinguished Professor Wayne Koestenbaum, who recently won an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature

7. Meet Ph.D. student Jah Elyse Sayers, a Black, mixed-race, and trans masculine researcher, organizer, artist, and farmer who is tracing the emergence of the beach at Jacob Riis Park in Queens as one of the most popular gay beaches in New York City 

8. See the appearance by Trans Voice Studio founder Kristofer Eckelhoff, a professional singer and musicology Ph.D. student, on CUNY’s Urban U

9. Read the op-ed by Out in Time author Perry N. Halkitis (Ph.D. ’95, Educational Psychology) on why the U.S. response to COVID-19 “seems frighteningly familiar”

10. And Poor Queer Studies by Professor Matt Brim, who deciphers how the field of queer studies functions outside the world of highly selective, liberal arts institutions

11. And about research by Ph.D. student Alison Parks (Political Science), who examines queer suicidality through the lens of political theory

12. Listen to The Thought Project’s interview with José Luis Jiménez, a New York City public school principal and a Ph.D. student in the urban education program

13. Watch Distinguished Professor André Aciman reveal the origins of his novels Call Me By Your Name and Find Me

14. And filmmaker Cheryl Dunye, recipient of the annual José Muñoz Award, speak with former Graduate Center Professor Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz at an event presented by CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies

15. And, finally, explore a young American's modern love for David Bowie (sorry, we could not resist).