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This pages takes its inspiration from E. Patrick Johnson, particularly his essay, "'Quare' Studies, Or (Almost) Everything I Know About Queer Studies I Learned from My Grandmother" in his edited collection along with Mae Henderson, Black Queer Studies. In this text, Johnson channels Barbara Smith (notorious for calling white feminists to task for their racism) and creates what he calls a manifesto calling out queer studies for suppressing race and class.  In a field hell-bent on inclusion and anti-hegemony, it makes sense that even locations as seemingly radical as queer studies are challenged also.  You have many choices today for what you can read, beginning with Johnson's very essay. Please see the syllabus for your writing assignment.

​Articles to choose from

​Videos to Choose from
  1. Tania Abdulahad, Gwendolyn Rogers, Barbara Smith, Jameelah Waheed: "Black Lesbian/ Feminist Organizing: A Conversation" (1983)**
  2. Marlon Bailey: "Performing Gender, Creating Kinship, Forging Community" (2013)
  3. Marlon Bailey: "Ain't Nothing Like a Butch Queen": The Gender System in Ballroom Culture" (2013)
  4. Tracy Baim, Matt Simonette, and Yasmin Nair: "LGBTQs and the Criminal Legal System" (2013)
  5. Juan Battle, Cathy J. Cohen, Dorian Warren, Gerard Fergerson, and Suzette Audam: "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud": Black Pride Survey 2000 (this is a long survey so focus in on a specific section)​
  6. Judith Butler: "Why Do Men Kill Trans Women? Gender Theorist Judith Butler Explain" (2015)
  7. Judith Butler: "Gender, Sex, and Sexual Performativity" (from 1993 Bodies That Matter)
  8. Sean Cahill: "The Disproportionate Impact of Antigay Family Policies on Black and Latino Same-sex Couple Households" (2008)
  9. Luz Calvo and  Catriona Rueda Esquibel: "Latina Lesbianas, BiMujeres, and Trans Identities: Charting Courses in the Social Sciences" (2010)
  10. Cathy Cohen: "Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics" (2005)
  11. Sekiya Dorsett: "A ‘Trifecta of Discrimination’? Queer Women of Color Have a Trifecta of Power!" (2013)**
  12. David Eng: "Out Here and Over There: Queerness and Diaspora in Asian American Studies" (1997)
  13. John Nguyet Erni: "Run Queer Asia Run" (2003)
  14. Kenyon Farrow: "Is Gay Marriage Anti-Black?" (2004) (for PDF version, click here)**
  15. Roderick Ferguson: "The Nightmares of the Heteronormative" (2000)
  16. Jen Jack Gieseking: "A Queer Geographer’s Life as an Introduction to Queer Theory, Space, and Time" (2013)
  17. Judith Halberstam: "Mackdaddy, Superfly, Rapper: Gender, Race, and Masculinity in the Drag Queen Scene" (1997)
  18. Chong-Suk Han: "They Don’t Want to Cruise Your Type: Gay Men of Color and the Racial Politics of Exclusion" (2009)
  19. Gilbert Herdt: "Coming of Age and Coming Out around the World" (2007)
  20. Gil Z. Hochberg: “'CheCk Me Out': Queer encounters in Sharif Waked’s Chic Point: Fashion for Israeli Checkpoints"
  21. Amber Johnson & Robin M. Boylorn: "Digital Media and the Politics of Intersectional Queer Hyper/In/Visibility in Between Women" (2015)
  22. E. Patrick Johnson: "'Quare' Studies, Or (Almost) Everything I Know About Queer Studies I Learned from My Grandmother" (2005)
  23. E. Patrick Johnson: "The Specter of the Black Fag: Parody, Blackness, and Hetero/Homosexual B(r)others" (2003)
  24. Jonathan Katz: "Homosexual and Heterosexual: Questioning the Terms" (1997)**
  25. Anthony Lemelle, Jr. and Juan Battle: "Black Masculinity Matters in Attitudes toward Gay Males" (2004)
  26. Kylan Mattias de Vries: "Transgender People of Color at the Center: Conceptualizing a New Intersectional Model"(2014)
  27. Mia McKenzie: Excerpts from Black Girl Dangerous (2014)
  28. Joey Mogul, Andrea Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock: "False Promises: Criminal Legal Responses to Violence against LGBT People" (from 2011 Queer (In)Justice)
  29. Darnell Moore: "The Queer Shamed and Shame Queered" (2012)**
  30. Mignon Moore: "Lipstick or Timberlands? Gender Presentation in Black Lesbian Communities" (2012 excerpt)**
  31. Charles Nero: "Why Are the Gay Ghettoes White?" (2005)
  32. Victoria Ortiz and Jennifer Elrod: “Construction Project: Color Me Queer + Color Me Family= Camilo’s Story” (2002)
  33. Eric Patterson: “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys: Men Who Love Men, Westerns, and Brokeback Mountain" (2008)**
  34. Eric Pritchard: "For Colored Kids Who Committed Suicide, Our Outrage Isn’t Enough: Queer Youth of Color, Bullying, and the Discursive Limits of Identity and Safety" (2013)
  35. Eric Pritchard: "As Proud of Our Gayness, As We Are of Our Blackness: Race-ing Sexual Rhetoric in the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays" (2016)
  36. Anna Pulley: "It’s Not Easy Being Bi" (2013)**
  37. Horacio Ramirez: "'That's My Place!': Negotiating Racial, Sexual, and Gender Politics in San Francisco's Gay Latino Alliance, 1975-1983" (2003)
  38. Mattie Richardson: "No More Secrets, No More Lies: African American History and Compulsory Heterosexuality" (2003)
  39. Marlon T. Riggs: "Black Macho Revisited: Reflections of a Snap! Queen" (1991)**
  40. Marlon Ross: "Beyond the Closet as Raceless Paradigm" (2005)
  41. Andrea Smith: "Queer Theory and Native Studies: The Heteronormativity of Settler Colonialism" (2010)
  42. Dean Spade & Craig Willse: "Marriage Will Never Set Us Free" (2013) (click here for PDF version)
  43. Spectra: "Love and Afrofeminism: Queer Bois and the Gendered Politics of Partner Dancing" (2012) (To link to the archive website, click here)**
  44. Lee Wenshu: "Kuaering Queer Theory: My Autocritography and a Race-Conscious, Womanist, Transnational Turn" (2003)
  45. James Woods: "The Different Dilemmas of Lesbian and Gay Professionals" (1997)
  46. Amalia Ziv: "Performative Politics in Israeli Queer Anti-Occupation Activism" (2010)
You can also choose to watch a lecture/documentary vs. reading an article.  Your lecture choices are listed below.
Option: Feel free to watch "Moonlight" or "Pariah" for your reading assignment.  You will need to "netflix" it yourself though.
"Beyond Bullying, Marriage, and Military: Race, Radicalism and Queer Politics" By Cathy Cohen
"You Gotta Serve Somebody: Rethinking Race, Queer Politics, and Practice"--- A Critical Dialogue with Dean Spade, Urvashi Vaid, and Rosamond S. King
"Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender & the End of Normal": A Chat with Jack Halberstam and Thaddeus Russell
"None on Record: Stories of Queer Africa"
(click the image below and watch any 5 of the short stories in the 'STORIES' tab/section)
Hanne Blank: "Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality" (2012 lecture)
Stay tuned for more videos on the way.
Please note that the reading list on this webpage will be continually updated. Feel free to make suggestions!  You will also note that Jigsaw readings have been repeated across multiple units since the writers are not addressing single issues.  Please note: you cannot read the same text twice simply because it reappears in our jigsaw choices.

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