Queer America
An Introduction to LGBTQ History
Instructor: Dawn Walsh
Email: dawn.walsh@rutgers.edu
Office Hours: MW 12:00-1:00pm
Office: Armitage 474
Welcome to Queer America
This course meets MW 1:20-2:40pm at 319 Cooper St., Rm 110
This course is a history-based introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Studies.
As such, we will be begin by asking the question: What is LGBTQ history?
Is LGBTQ history a story of progress – of coming out and being acknowledged and accepted?
Is it a story of persecution and victimization – of endured violence and oppression?
Is it a story of famous people – of famous people not previously credited as LGBTQ?
To ask these questions is to delve into the meaning of history itself:
What is the story? How should it be organized? Who or what should be included and why?
We will explore these questions, and others, via a comprehensive survey of LGBTQ American histories –
beginning at the turn of the 20th Century moving through to present day.
Required Texts
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Queer America: A People’s GLBT History of the United States by Vicki L. Eaklor
The New Press (2011) ISBN: 978-1-59558-636-0
Various Readings (as assigned and posted to Sakai)
Requirements & Grading
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25% Reading Quizzes
25% Oral Presentation & Paper (ten minute presentation, two page paper)
50% Final Paper (five page research paper utilizing three primary and three secondary sources)
Grading Scale
A 90-100%
B+ 85-89%
B 80-84%
C+ 75-79%
C 70-74%
D 60-69%
F 59% and lower
Classroom Integrity
Preparation and Participation
Class works best when you do the scheduled readings and come prepared to actively engage in
discussion. Your experiences, insights and opinions are valuable assets of the learning process. As such,
you are strongly encouraged to participate in classroom discussions. To encourage and support you to
do the scheduled readings and come prepared to class, quizzes will be given on assigned readings.
Attendance
As per Rutgers policy, you are allowed two absences without penalty. After two absences, each absence
will result in a 2 point reduction in your final grade. Any late arrival beyond 15 minutes will count as one
absence. If you miss seven classes you will automatically receive an F for the course.
Electronic Devices
The use of electronic devices can distract from the learning process. Please refrain from using laptops,
I-pads, cell phones, pagers, MP3 players, handheld gaming devices, e-readers, etc. during class.
If you use an electronic device during class, you will be asked to leave and will be marked as absent.
Formatting and Submission of Writing Assignments
With the exception of in-class writing assignments, all papers must be:
 word-processed in 12 point Times New Roman font
 double-spaced with one inch margins
 stapled
Please type your name and assignment title in upper left hand corner of the first page.
All subsequent pages should have a header with your last name and page number.
All formal writing assignments are due in class on the day the paper is due.
Please bring a hard copy of your paper to class – emailed versions will not be accepted.
Late papers will be docked one-third of a letter grade for each class period passed the deadline.
Academic Integrity
NB: All work should be your own. Plagiarism is not limited to the act of “copying and pasting.”
Improperly citing a text is also considered plagiarism. Plagiarism can lead to suspension, expulsion
and/or a failing grade. Please read carefully Rutgers policy on academic integrity, which can be found at:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers/integrity.shtml
Additional Resources
If you need additional writing assistance or tutoring, please contact The Learning Center (Armitage 231)
at 856.225.6442 or make an appointment at: http://learn.camden.rutgers.edu/. Please notify me during
the first week of class if you have a letter of accommodation from the Learning Center.
If you're having personal problems that are negatively impacting your schoolwork, or are in any kind of
crisis, please contact the Health Center’s Psychological Services: 2nd FL Campus Center, 856.225.6005.
Class Schedule (subject to change – any changes will be announced in class and/or posted on Sakai)
Sakai: Please note that announcements, assignment information and additional readings will be posted
on Sakai. Please make sure to check Sakai regularly.
READ means that you will have read the assigned readings prior to coming to class.
Always bring a hard copy of assigned readings to class.
And remember, there will be quizzes on assigned readings so read carefully and come to class prepared!
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Week 1: Introduction to Course
Wednesday, September 4
Introductions & Syllabus Review
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Week 2: What is LGBTQ History?
Monday, September 9
Read: “What Is GLBT History” (Queer America, Ch. 1, p. 1-11)
Wednesday, September 11
Library Visit: LGBTQ Research Guides
MEET IN THE DOWNSTAIRS CLASSROOM OF PAUL ROBESON LIBRARY
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Week 3: Into the 20th Century
Monday, September 16
Read: “Into the 20th Century” (Queer America, Ch. 2, p. 13-41)
Wednesday, September 18
Read: “We Two Boys Forever Clinging” & “City of Orgies” by Walt Whitman (Sakai)
Excerpts from Letters of Emily Dickinson (Sakai)
Oral Presentations:
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Week 4: Sexualities and Communities Through Two World Wars
Monday, September 23
Read: “Sexualities and Communities Through Two World Wars” (Queer America, Ch. 3, p. 43-75)
Wednesday, September 25
Read: Excerpt from Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (Sakai)
“Smoke, Lilies, and Jade” by Richard Bruce Nugent (Sakai)
Oral Presentations:
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Week 5: Queers in Cold War America
Monday, September 30
Read: “Queers in Cold War America” (Queer America, Ch. 4, p. 77-105)
Wednesday, October 2
View: Clips from The Children’s Hour, Dir. William Wyler
Oral Presentations:
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Week 6: The Sixties
Monday, October 7
Read: “The Sixties” (Queer America, Ch. 5, p. 107-129)
Wednesday, October 9
View: Clips from Before Stonewall, Dir. R. Rosenberg, J. Scagliotti, & G. Schiller
Clips from Stonewall Uprising, Dir. K Davis & D. Heibroner
Oral Presentations:
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Week 7: LGBTQ Archives
Monday, October 14
Field Trip: John J. Wilcox LGBT Archives
MEET AT THE WILLIAM WAY LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER (1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia)
Wednesday, October 16
Read: Excerpt from Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon (Sakai)
Excerpt from The Strange Ones by Ben Travis (Sakai)
Oral Presentations:
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Week 8: Cultures and Politics After Stonewall
Monday, October21
Read: “Cultures and Politics After Stonewall” (Queer America, Ch. 6, p. 131-163)
Wednesday, October 23
Read: Excerpts from This Bridge Called My Back, ed. Cherrie Moraga & Gloria Anzaldua (Sakai)
Excerpts from In the Life, ed. Joseph Beam (Sakai)
Oral Presentations:
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Week 9: Backlash and Regrouping
Monday, October 28
Read: “Backlash and Regrouping” (Queer America, Ch. 7, p. 165-196)
Wednesday, October 30
View: Clips from The Celluloid Closet, Dir. Rob Epstein & Jeffery Friedman
Oral Presentations:
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Week 10: The LGBT Nineties
Monday, November 4
Read: “The LGBT Nineties” (Queer America, Ch. 8, p. 197-232)
Read: Excerpts from Bi-Any Other Name, ed. L. Hutchins & L. Ka’ahumanu
Wednesday, November 6
Read: Excerpt from Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women & the Rest of Us by Kate Borstein (Sakai)
Excerpt from Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion & the End of Gender by Riki Anne Wilchins
Excerpt from Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg (Sakai)
Oral Presentations:
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Week 11: Into the 21st Century
Monday, November 11
Read: “Into the 21st Century” (Queer America, Ch. 9, p. 233-245)
Oral Presentations:
Wednesday, November 13
Read: United States v. Windsor http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_6j37.pdf
Visiting Lecturer: Attorney Becca Levin, a specialist in LGBTQ family law
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Week 12: Into the 21st Century-Continued
Monday, November 18
Read: Excerpts from How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent (Sakai)
Oral Presentations:
Wednesday, November 20
Read: 2013 Lambda Literary Awards (Sakai)
Read: Excerpts from work by writer Paul Lisicky (Sakai)
Visiting Lecturer: Rutgers-Camden Creative Writing Professor Paul Lisicky
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Week 13: Research Paper Proposal & Film Viewing
Monday, November 25
Due: Research paper proposal & outline
View: De Colores: Lesbian and Gay Latinos, Stories of Strength, Family & Love, Dir. P. Barbosa
Wednesday, November 27
No Class – Happy Thanksgiving
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Week 14: Peer Review & Individual Conferences
Monday, December 2
Peer Review
Due: Draft of research paper *BRING TWO HARD COPIES TO CLASS
Wednesday, December 4
Individual Conferences – No Class
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Week 15: Drag Extravaganza & Final Paper
Monday, December 9
View: Images from The Drag King Book by Del La Grace Volcano and Judith “Jack” Halberstam
View: RuPaul’s Drag Race (Part 1)
Wednesday, December 11
View: RuPaul’s Drag Race (Part 2)
Due: Research paper (five pages utilizing three primary and three secondary sources)
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