Description
This module explores the emergence and transformations of LGBT movements from the Depression years and World War Two through the devastation wrought by the HIV-AIDS crisis of the 1980s, and up to the present day. We examine the impact of New Deal social reform and people’s experience of wartime on sexual dissidence, so-called ‘homophile’ movements of the 1950s and government efforts to suppress them, the emergence of gay liberation and its relationship to other civil rights movements, notably radical feminism, the development of a gay left in the 1970s, HIV/AIDS activism in the 1980s, trans* activism, and the relationship between sexuality and questions of race, class, and labour. Students use a rich array of primary sources materials, ranging from queer periodicals and radical pamphlets to activist memoirs, oral histories, US Supreme Court judgements, government documents, queer literature, and media sources. Students will also have the opportunity to make their own intervention in the rich historiographical literature by writing a 10,000 word dissertation.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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