Mission Statement

The LGBT Focus Group is committed to interdisciplinary praxis focusing on theatre, performance, sexuality, and gender. We promote perspectives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons within ATHE; serve as a medium for the discussion of goals, issues, and artistic expression related to gender and sexuality; monitor and counter the material effects of homophobia in our profession; advise ATHE on guidelines and ethical standards and on retention, promotion, and tenure; and foster new research to include the perspectives of LGBTQ artists and scholars. LGBT sponsors an annual pre-conference and a listserv as well as panels at the annual ATHE conference.

Other Conferences Research

Prepared by: Lionel Walsh

A website entitled Gay and Lesbian Organizations and Publications revealed the following information: There are 54 links in this section of the website, listing caucuses, round tables, committees, and organisations. While most are located in the United States, (eg. American Association for Italian Studies, AAIS Queer Caucus), there are also organisations listed for Australia, Europe, France, Germany, International, and Switzerland. With the exception of the AAIS Queer Caucus, listed above, the remaining 53 organisations use one of the following: Lesbian and Gay; Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual; or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered.

Please explore the following link:

http://faculty.washington.edu/alvin/gayorg.htm#ACADEM

Additional information submitted by Lionel Walsh:

Report on Research into Nomenclature for Lesbian, Gay, Transsexual, Transgendered, Questioning and Queer groups within Academic Societies

This was a very difficult study to conduct as a number of google searches did not produce any successful results. I found that websites of academic organisations did not list sub-groups, caucuses, etc. However, in the course of my research, I contacted a colleague in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Dr. Barry Adam, whose research is focussed in Gay and Lesbian issues. He was kind enough to forward a link to a site entitled Gay and Lesbian Organizations and Publications. This proved to be a gold mine for my contribution to our study.

The Table of Contents includes “Academic/Professional/Employees” which revealed the following information. There are 54 links in this section of the website, listing caucuses, round tables, committees, and organisations. While most are located in the United States, (eg. American Association for Italian Studies. AAIS Queer Caucus), there are also organisations listed for Australia, Europe, France, Germany, International, and Switzerland. With the exception of the AAIS Queer Caucus, listed above, the remaining 53 organisations use one of the following: Lesbian and Gay; Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual; or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered.

In my various conversations with colleagues who are involved in issues related to Queer Studies and issues related to the LGBT community, I can offer the following anecdotal information. First, as is demonstrated by the information noted above, some form of LGBT is dominant amongst organisations serving our community. Second, the word Queer seems to be reserved for actual academic studies. Hence, organisations will often be labelled LGBT but present conference sessions that focus on Queer Theory.

Further, it appears that LGBT and Queer each have a particular political stance. The use of the former generally refers to inclusion within the main organisation; the use of the latter generally refers to an outsider’s stance. By way of a detailed explanation, I offer the following explanation from my colleagues Dr. Erica Stevens Abbitt:

QUEER
Queer theory and queer performance sees gender and sexuality (and desire) as constructed, not innate. "Queer performance" involves a challenge to societal norms of sexuality, gender and desire -- rejecting the Western notion of fixed identity, and universalist concepts (such as "everyone wants the same thing -- to be in a family. We're all the same, no matter what our sexuality").

"Queer studies" implies a stance on the periphery of power: an outlaw, outsider viewpoint, from the outside looking in.. "Queer tactics" seek to interrupt and destabilize the status quo through confrontation and critical awareness. It "outs" all identity. sexuality and desire as a performance -- fluid, erotic, unfixed -- refusing to be policed or normalized by the government, consumers, the academy, police, or even our own fearful selves.

Queer, then, is a word that usually denotes a challenge -- to gays and lesbians as well as straight people. Queer -ness is a technique, a strategy, a political affiliation with outsiderness and alterity. As a theory, it is an approach that unites straights and gays in a 21st century, postmodern, poststructuralist view of the world in which there are no fixed truths, interrupting fixed ideas, and creating new ones.

Queer studies is a field linked with cultural studies, disability studies, postmodernism, visual arts, dance, postcolonialism, trans-national studies, interculturalism, linguistics, film studies, performance studies, political science, and contemporary approaches to human psychology and behaviour. In theatre, it is linked to performance art, and left-wing political theatre, and public demonstrations, advocacy (ActUP would be a good example) celebrating outrageous, confrontational and even separatist viewpoints and challenging the status quo.

LGBTQ
LGBTQ theatre promotes plays and performance work exploring lesbian/gay life, and the critical exploration of theatre from the lesbian/gay perspective. It celebrates theatre practitioners who were lost or marginalized in theatre history because of their sexuality and celebrates the entry of gay, lesbian, bi and transgender theatre practitioners and plays into the mainstream -- from Tennessee Williams to Cherry Jones (or Robert Lepage) and seeks to bring them into the mainstream. It is often linked with women's studies, LGBT studies, music, dance, design and theatre performance programs.

LGBTQ theatre promotes drama in social action to support diversity and gender equity. It looks at theatre that connects across differences, and elicits compassion and understanding. It often re-examines theatre training practices within the profession and within higher education to ensure they are less sexist, and celebrate the full range of human sexual diversity.

In conclusion, I would like to offer that we may now need to have a conversation about how we wish to view our organisation as advocating inclusion of members of our community (LGBT), fighting from the outside (Queer), or a combination of both (LGBTQ).

University Programs Research

Prepared by: Cassidy C Browning

This research investigates the names of academic programs, campus resources and groups, recent course titles, and recent events (conferences, speakers, festivals, etc.) on campuses across the United States and Canada.

Many major universities in metropolitan areas, such as Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and L.A., have academic programs specifically dedicated to the investigation of sexuality. Universities with programs addressing gender are much more common, a likely result of the creation - and recent reconfiguring - of Women's Studies programs. Hence, many of these academic programs addressing sexuality are housed within Women's/Gender/Women's and Gender Studies departments and programs. Most of these programs use acronyms including "L," "G," "B," "T," and "Q," while a good amount use only "L" and "G," though their stated foci include bisexual and transgender studies and individuals.

Overall, it seems that institutionally created and/or supported programs and groups use various forms of the ever-expanding acronym (LGBT, GLBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQQ, LGBTQQI . . . ), and student- and faculty-initiated groups (Queer Union, Jewish Queers, Queer People of Color and Allies), classes (Queerly Canadian, Queer Ethnographies, Postcolonial Queer), and events (Reel Queer Film Festival, UCLA Queer Studies Conference) use the term, "Queer." It makes sense that the vast majority of course titles surveyed use "Queer," as this follows the nomenclature of the academic discipline of Queer Studies. Another likely factor informing its use is the charged political (and activist) connotations of the word "queer," especially when compared to the more clinical (and less radical) acronym choices. Finally, it is important to take into account the difference between programs and resources specifically designed to serve LGBT/Queer individuals, and those designed to facilitate the study of LGBT/Queer individuals, cultures, methodologies, etc. The "top-down" programs and groups tend to be support systems created specifically for LGBT/Queer students, faculty, staff and allies, while the "bottom-up" classes and events seem to focus less on the identities and politics of the participants and more on the identities and methodologies being explored, studied, and discussed. As demonstrated with the rampant renaming of Women's Studies programs to Gender Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, etc., a name reflects the subjects, participants, and methodologies. In addition, the growing trend of interdisciplinarity situates queerness as one aspect of identity among many, as one lens within a large collection to be utilized in scholarship and pedagogy.

Note: There also seems to be some slippage between "Q" as "Queer" and "Q" as "Questioning," along with occasional separation of "Intersex," "Transsexual," and "Two Spirit" from the umbrella term, "Transgender."

Scholarship and Publication Research

Prepared by: Michelle Dvoskin

GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, founded in 1993 and affiliated with the GL/Q Caucus of the Modern Languages, obviously uses the “G” and “L” acronyms; the “Q” may stand for “quarterly” rather than “queer,” although this is not explicitly stated on the journal’s website. Article titles, as well as special issue titles, regularly make use of the word “queer,” typically within a queer theory context rather than as shorthand for various non-heteronormative identities. In contrast, the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, founded in 1994, does not use the word queer in its mission statement and rarely uses it within the publication (and many of the references that do appear seem to stem from a 2009 article by Larry Kramer decrying queer theory, as well as articles countering his piece).

Among theatre and performance journals, “queer” seems slightly more likely to appear in article titles than “gay,” “lesbian,” or “bisexual.”1 In the two journals affiliated with ATHE, Theatre Journal and Theatre Topics, a survey of article titles since 2005 shows three TJ articles that use “queer” or “queering,” one of which also uses “gay.” No TT articles use any of these keywords in their titles over this period.

Finally, the book series “Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theatre/Drama/Performance,” edited by Jill Dolan and David Román, includes a dozen titles. Of those, 5 include “queer” or “queering,” two include “gay” and /or “lesbian,” and 5 use neither queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.

[1] Based on a review of article titles over the past 5 years.

Community Organizations Research

Prepared by: Brent Stansell

This research area is divided into three categories: national or statewide organizations, local community organizations, and regional theatre companies representing LGBT people and causes. Very few national or statewide organizations use an acronym in their names, but most use the LGBT or GLBT acronym to address their constituencies on their websites. Out of a sampling of 65 organizations, 16 did not use the LGBT or GLBT acronym. Other acronyms included LGBTQ, LGBTQ/Q, LGBTQI, LGBTI, LGBTIQ, LGBT/S; added additions to the acronym were used such as allied or families; other groups never used an acronym.

Community organizations demonstrated much more variety in their names and frequently did not include an acronym. From a sampling of 64 local community organization websites, 39 groups did not use the LGBT or GLBT acronym. Other variations included (in addition to those listed above): GLBTQQ, LGBTQQA, and GLBTIQQA. Some used no acronym at all while others used Queer. The “Q” was much more prevalent in youth groups and stood for either Queer or Questioning or both.

In a sampling of 19 theatre organizations, 8 used the word Queer, 3 used both Queer and LGBT, 5 used only gay and lesbian or LGBT, and 3 did not use an acronym or term to identify their constituencies.