Intro to LGBTQ+ Sexualities & Activism in the U.S

Catalog description

The past several decades have seen an unprecedented shift in attitudes in the United States toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, yet many in LGBTQ communities still face extreme levels of discrimination and oppression. Simultaneously, there have never been more LGBTQ people and issues in the news, movies, books, and on TV. In this class, students will consider how LGBTQ experiences are influenced by these representations, as well as how systems of privilege and oppression shape the experience of LGBTQ people in the U.S. They will question the ethics of various approaches to LGBTQ justice and liberation as they examine both historical and contemporary constructions of gender and sexuality. Students will also consider what ethical approaches might look like when engaging with legal, medical, and activist discourses in relation to LGBTQ communities. Throughout this work, they will attend to the ways in which LGBTQ identities exist at the intersections of race, class, citizenship, and disability. Ultimately, this course will cultivate an informed and reasoned openness to, and understanding of, difference and its relationship to power.