Prof. Nancy C. Unger
June 12, 2016
Tremendous gains are being made in revealing the long, rich, colorful, heartbreaking, and inspiring history of LGBTQ people in the United States. Too often, however, that history is reduced to the Stonewall Riots of 1969 or (especially here in California) the life and martyrdom of Harvey Milk. This illustrated presentation highlights the documented presence of people acting on same-sex desires as early as the 1600s, actions surprisingly tolerated within their communities. We’ll follow the transformation of women’s “romantic friendships” into “Boston Marriages,” the roles of President Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. military, and McCarthism in promoting homophobia. The presentation concludes with the pre-Stonewall movements to eradicate internalized homophobia, and to remove the medical, legal, and social stigmas attached to same-sex love. Prof. Nancy C. Unger is a Professor of History at Santa Clara University, where her regular course offerings include “Lesbians and Gay Men in U.S. History.”
Humanist Community Forum (2016-06-12): Long Journey to Stonewall: An Illustrated History of LGBTQ America (Nancy C. Unger) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.