The Stonewall Center has recently announced that it will be sponsoring a Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender lecture series throughout the fall semester. These lectures, according to Stephen Pereira of the Stonewall Center, have been a weekly event on campus for about the past five years. They will deal with various contemporary issues facing the LGBT community.
On Friday, Oct. 19, Chantal Nadeau, a professor of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, will deliver a lecture entitled, “The Sexual Borders of a Nationalist Agenda: Bill 32 and Same-Sex Partnership in Quebec,” on same-sex partnership rights. The talk will relate this issue to the wider issues facing the nation.
“I don’t know what the bill is exactly,” Pereira said when reached for comment. “As far as I’m aware, Quebec has had in the works…domestic partnerships like same-sex unions…this lecture will explore what this means” to the LGBT community.
Pereira said that issues such as the bill being “something like marriage…shoots some activists in the foot because they don’t want to have the same type of relationships as straight people.” These issues will be covered in the lecture at 12:30 p.m. It will take place in Tobin Hall in room 422.
On Thursday, Oct. 25, Lisa Walker, a professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of Southern Maine, will present a lecture entitled “Lesbian Pulp in Black and White.” The presentation will explore the history of femme lesbian archives.
Pereira explained that “in some circles there are identities called femme or butch that refer to the gender appearance of the individual. Femme would be more of a girly type, not your stereotypical lesbian, also called a “lipstick lesbian.”
Walker’s lecture “will introduce paradigms of racial invisibility,” Pereira said. “Which ones she’ll use, I don’t know. But my guess would be that she’ll deal with how femme identity is seen as an invisible identity, because [femmes] don’t look like a typical lesbian. You can pass for straight. She may relate this to racial paradigms where people of color could “pass” for a different one. She’ll deal with how these types of individuals relate to their community.”
The lecture will take place at the Campus Center, Rooms 911-912 at 12:30 p.m.
The Lecture Series will typically be held at 12:30 p.m. every Thursday in the Campus Center during the semester, though the times and locations may change depending on performers’ schedules and the availability of spaces. According to Peirrera, the series is “aimed at anybody who’s interested in looking at the pursuit of sexual orientation in academia.
“Umass doesn’t have a LGBT studies program.” Pereira continued. “We offer [the lecture series] to fill that void.” He said that some students can get credit for the lecture series through a course offered by the Women’s Studies Department.
The Stonewall Center is interested in taking GLBT studies on campus even further, Pereira said. He said that those organizing the lecture series look for “people who are doing cutting edge research, people who are either researching, working or lecturing in areas of queer studies.”
“We also try to get people from diverse backgrounds,” he said. “We try to get as much of a reflection of the diversity of the community as we can.”
The events are also open to a diverse audience, according to Pereira. He said that all members of the campus GLBT community, as well as their straight allies, are encouraged to attend.
Further information about the upcoming events is available on the Stonewall Center Website, at http://www.umass.edu/stonewall