Why is gay censored
Queer Curating and Covert Censorship
Jonathan D. Katz directs the doctoral program in Visual Studies at the University at Buffalo. He co-curated (with David Ward) Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, the first queer art exhibition ever mounted at a major US museum, which opened at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, then traveled to The Brooklyn and Tacoma Museums, winning the Best National Museum Exhibition award from the International Association of Art Critics and the best LGBT non-fiction book award from the American Library Association. His next major exhibition, entitled Art AIDS America, co-curated with Rock Hushka, traveled to 5 museums across the US, accompanied by a substantial eponymous new book. A pioneering figure at the intersection of art history and queer studies, Katz was the first full-time American academic to be tenured in what was then known as Gay and Lesbian Studies and chaired the first department in the field in the US, at City College of San Francisco. At Yale University, Katz was founding director of its Lesbian and Gay Studies program, known as the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies, the first in the
Three LGBTQ advocates distribute how book bans and classroom censorship bills impact their lives, work, and students.
Leila Rafei,
Former Content Strategist,
ACLU
Three LGBTQ advocates disseminate how book bans and classroom censorship bills impact their lives, work, and students.
As classroom censorship bills sweep state legislatures, schools are removingbooks by and about LGBTQ people, BIPOC, and other marginalized groups from curriculums and libraries at an unprecedented rate. This year, more than 111 bills aiming to limit discussions about race and gender in the classroom have been passed or introduced in state legislatures. These tries effectively erase voices, histories and lived experiences from students’ K-12 education.
In honor of Pride month, three LGBTQ rights advocates contribute how the recent surge of book bans and classroom censorship bills impact their work, and how they affect the students and teachers whose identities are under attack.
Credit: Maddie McGarvey
Jared Fox (he/him)
Director, Strategic Projects at Cleveland College District in Ohio and Founder at Iris Solutions
Books are incredibly powerful, and the fact that people a
When the US Navy forcibly removed Paul Cadmus’s 1934 painting The Fleet’s In! from an exhibition at The Corcoran Gallery of Art before it opened that same year, a national scandal unfolded. Reproductions of the work proliferated in newspapers across the country, catapulting Cadmus into the media spotlight. The unmentioned queer presence in his painting ignited one of the earliest known cases of censorship of a gay painter in the Together States.
Cadmus—a classically trained artist whose educator Charles Hinton was a student of the French academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme—spent two years in Europe with his lover and fellow artist Jared French. In 1933 Cadmus returned to the United States to participate in the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a New Deal program that provided artists with a weekly income to paint US scenes of their option. Cadmus chose a group of inebriated sailors and one marine socializing with civilians in Manhattan’s Riverside Park during shore leave. It was slated for inclusion in a group show at The Corcoran in Washington, D.C.
After spotting a reproduction of The Fleet’s In! in a preview of the exhibition, retired Navy General Admiral Hugh Rodman publis
Censorship of LGBTQ+ issues involves the suppression, restriction, or code of information, media, and public discourse related to Homosexual rights and identities. This type of censorship can occur through governmental laws, social policies, or even corporate decisions and is typically justified by authorities as a measure to protect general morals or national values. However, such censorship often leads to significant human rights violations, stifling freedom of utterance and the right to information.
In many countries, censorship manifests in the banning of books, films, websites, and articles that discuss Homosexual themes or advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Educational content on LGBTQ+ topics can also be restricted under laws that proponents claim safeguard minors. For instance, "anti-propaganda" laws in some countries prohibit any positive state of non-heteronormative relationships in materials reachable to children, severely limiting LGBTQ+ noticeability and awareness.
The effects of this censorship are profound, contributing to the marginalization and stigmatization of LGBT individuals by perpetuating ignorance and misinformation. Activists and international human rights or
James Esseks,
Co-Director,
ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project
In a year where marriage equality swept the nation, you’d think that a high school learner wearing a t-shirt that says “Some People Are Gay, Get Over It” would barely be noticed. In rural Giles County, Tennessee, you’d be incorrect.
Back on August 5, the first day of her senior year at Richland High School, Rebecca Young wore that t-shirt. No-one much cared until she ran into the principal, who told her she couldn’t wear it to school again. Not only that, he told her she couldn’t wear anything that showed “support of the LGBT community.” Say what?
Rebecca called the ACLU of Tennessee, which sued the educational facility on her behalf. Predictably, a federal judge issued a preliminary ruling yesterday that the principal’s censorship violates Rebecca’s free speech rights.
This isn’t a landmark legal case; indeed, the judge noted that “the legal ground covering [these] issues is so well-trod that the Court finds itself surprised at the need to journey down this path.” But it’s important nonetheless because it keeps the dialogue on LGBT rights reveal in the very nooks and crannies of the country where the conversat