After launching last year, the LGBT History Month lecture will continue to profile different subsets of the LGBT community.
Leisa Meyer, a chair of the history department at The College of William & Mary, will address lesbian activism and experience after World War II. Lance Poston, a Ph.D. candidate in Ohio University’s history department and an instructor of women’s and gender studies, organized this year’s lecture. He deemed Meyer one of the “foremost scholars of LGBT history in the United States.”
“This year we wanted to be intentional about choosing someone who can speak to issues that pertain to lesbians,” Poston said.
Meyer’s talk is dubbed “Knowing Sex,” which also the title for her most recent book. Meyer was an associate editor for the Encyclopedia and American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History & Culture. She is also currently involved in various literary journals.
While at OU, Meyer will discuss her work in a Dine and Discuss at noon on Thursday, along with giving the LGBT History Month lecture that evening.
“The talk I’m giving is not about answers,” Meyer said. “It’s education, but hopefully I’ll raise a lot of questions.”
She added her talk would look at how the term “lesbian” has evolved over time, along with models for homosexual female sexuality during different time periods. Other sources of lesbian representation, she said, came from sources such as college activist groups and subtext found in cultural depictions of lesbians.
Poston said he believes that for individuals and groups, especially those involved in activism, its important to look back on the movements in the community that came before.
“I think to be able to look towards the future in a full way, you have to understand your past,” he said.
Delfin Bautista, director of the LGBT Center, said the lecture series allows students an opportunity to highlight LGBT people in a unique way.
“I think, especially (with) young people today, we have forgotten our history,” Bautista said. “It’s an opportunity (to understand) the histories of people whose lives we stand on.”
eb104010@ohiou.edu
@EmilyMBamforth
