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LGBTQ+ History Association
February 17, 2025
Responding to Erasure and a Path Forward

Hi everyone,

The Trump Administration has attacked trans, gender diverse, and intersex people by erasing transgender people from the Stonewall National Park Service documents and webpages. This affects all of us. This is violent and, if we do not act, it will get worse.

We thank everyone for your initial reactions, input, and questions. As the LGBTQ+ History Association, we agree that we have a vital role to play. We are currently working together to solidify our plan of action via consensus building. Some are in favor of grassroots responses and others prefer a more structured approach directly run by our organization.

As the LGBTQ+ History Association, we will be taking specific actions (described below). While we are leaders in this effort, we also do not want to limit broader and other grassroots responses. To that end, we are very grateful to Simon Fisher for spearheading the effort to begin organizing interested members to connect around specific action areas (https://forms.gle/2YquwQb9KDKumju8A). It is not meant to replace our organizational response; rather we hope this may tap into the collective expertise of our wider community and partner organizations towards further ideas and collaboration. We invite those organizing separately as well as individual members to bring suggestions to us for prompt consideration.

As our preliminary response, LGBTQ+ History Association is going to take the following steps:

1. Listening Sessions – the board members and co-chairs are going to have listening sessions starting with:

  • Tuesday 2.18.25 6PM EST,
  • Thursday 2.20.24 7PM EST.
  • Saturday 2.22 6PM EST.

Zoom links for meetings will be shared via our listserv.

2. Organization – the co-chairs will collect and promptly consider implementing all suggestions for further action items shared from partner organizations, members, and/or those organizing independently, such as in the grassroots working groups.

3. Solidarity Steps and Statements – Co-chairs and board members will take solidarity steps by speaking directly with other organizations and offering resources for our community such as legal resources, direct action and protest, and local action in New York. We are working on solidarity statements with partner organizations such as the Organization of American Historians (OAH), and will expand these efforts to include other organizations opposing attacks on DEI, inclusive history education, and more broadly the MAGA regime and its digital book burning.

4. UnErasure Resources – We are expanding the resources on our website to feature historically accurate teaching resources to rebut this attempt at erasing transgender history.

We thank everyone for your patience and engagement this past weekend as we sort out our responses in these unprecedented times. Please continue to share via our listserv.

Specific questions and suggestions may also be directed to the cochairs at: clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com.

Best,
Yaari Felber-Seligman, Jay Watkins, and board members
LGBTQ+ History Association

—

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2025
LGBTQ+ History Association’s response to NPS website removal of Transgender and Queer identities and history.

The LGBTQ+ History Association is outraged at the erasure of the history of transgender (T) and queer (Q) communities, as well as of individual members of these communities, from various National Park Service (NPS) web pages. These include: the Stonewall National Monument, Cold War, Lavender Scare, LGB Activism Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Governors Island in New York. In addition, the individual websites for legendary and important Americans: Pauli Murray, Marsha P. Johnson, and the”Philadelphia’s Heritage of LGBTQ Activism” on the nps.gov website currently lead to dead links. We call for the immediate restoration of these web pages.

From the beginning of the fight for LGBTQ equality and rights, the Transgender and Queer individuals and communities have fought for, and continue to exist as part of the LGBTQ+ communities. The erasure and removal of the “T” and “Q” from websites is unacceptable, inaccurate, and harmful. As the LGBTQ+ History Association, we call on the National Park Service to restore both the T and Q on all websites immediately. History cannot be erased.

To learn more about the LGBTQ+ History Association please visit our website: http://clgbthistory.org/.

We invite members to brainstorm with us in the days to come on further actions that the LGBTQ+ History Association might take in light of this and other attacks on the trans community. We also recognize these actions are part of a much broader pattern of attacks on, but not limited to, the history profession and teaching of accurate and diverse history, the broader LGBTQIA+ community, as well as many other diverse communities.

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The LGBTQ+ History Association signs onto the AHA and OAH’s Joint Statement on Executive Order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling”

The LGBTQ+ History Association has voted to proudly sign onto the AHA and OAH’s Joint Statement on Executive Order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” released on February 5, 2025. At the time of writing this announcement, we joined 34 other historical associations (2/13/25). Please find the full statement here.

Website Updates in Progress

This spring we look forward to gradually expanding our website’s content to feature your recent publications, public history projects, and teaching resources, along with sharing additional links to resources for research, teaching, advocacy, and LGBTQ+ rights and protections. If you have additions, please share them with the cochairs at: clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com. Please remember we’re all volunteers so we also thank you for your patience as this will be a gradual expansion of our site.

Deadline Approaching for Sponsorships for AHA 2026: please submit to cochairs by February 10, 2025

We know it is a tough and stressful time for many but continue to hope that the LGBTQ+ History Association can help to elevate projects, conversations, and community-building across our diverse community. We warmly invite you to share panel proposals with us for co-sponsorship by February 10th so that we can review them and notify you before the AHA’s deadline of February 15th. Panel proposals must still go through the regular AHA proposal process found on the call for proposals.

If you would like us to co-sponsor your panel, please send your panel proposals to Jay and Yaari by February 10, 2025, at clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com.

Please find again the AHA Call for Proposals below along with a few ways you might network to locate panelists. Also feel free to use our listserv to plan, just kindly create a new message with a panel specific subject line so that it doesn’t get lost inboxes.

Best wishes all,
Yaari and Jay

Find the AHA call for proposals here.

If you are looking for other panelists, the AHA suggests their forum.
You may also use the AHA connections form hyperlinked here.

This will add you to a spreadsheet where you can connect with other people.

Call for Applications – due March 1, 2025: the LGBTQ+ History Association’s Public History Support Grants & Research Support Grants

Dear LGBTQ+ History Association Members,

The LGBTQ+ History Association is pleased to announce a call for the third annual round of our two support grant opportunities: the 2025 LGBTQ+ History Association Public History Support Grants & the 2025 LGBTQ+ History Association Research Support Grants. Aimed at supporting projects and research in LGBTQIA+ history, these grants are available to both individuals and organizations. With an application deadline of March 1, 2025, we welcome proposals that meet the below criteria regarding LGBTQIA+ history through a variety of mediums and research endeavors.

Due dates for both are March 1, 2025. We look forward to your submissions! Please send proposals and any questions to the co-chairs at: clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com.
Please find further details below:

2025 LGBTQ+ History Association Public History Support Grants
Application deadline: March 1
Grant Announcements: March 31
Grant Funds Disbursement: April 15

The LGBTQ+ History Association is excited to announce the call for our third annual Public History Support Grants. These small grants are intended to support LGBTQIA+ public humanities projects in a variety of formats, including (but not limited to) virtual or in-person interpretive exhibits, historic site interpretation, community dialogues and discussions, walking tours, digital humanities projects and websites, and participatory workshops. Proposed projects should be grounded in LGBTQIA+ history and provide learning experiences for diverse participants and audiences.

  • Grant applicants may request up to $500
  • Support Grants are open to individuals and organizations with or without any institutional affiliation, including initiatives lacking 501c3 status.
  • Projects should be completed within one year of receipt of the grant.

As appropriate, awardees will be invited to present their projects in a virtual public program sponsored by the LGBTQ+ History Association following the completion of the project. This can be arranged in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ History Association co-chairs.

Membership in the LGBTQ+ History Association is awarded as part of the grant.

To apply for a LGBTQ+ History Association Public History Support Grant, please submit a one-to-two (1-2) page proposal that includes the following:

  • Project Name
  • Short Project Description
  • Short description of planning and timetable
  • Total Amount Requested, including a brief budget outline
  • Date by when you would need the funds
  • Name, Contact Info, and any affiliation (academic, work, or other)

Evaluation criteria:

  • Scope of the research and project visibility
  • Grant impact on overall project
  • Inclusion of those historical periods and geographical regions underrepresented in LGBTQIA+ history
  • Priority will be given to projects that center the histories of minoritized, BIPOC, trans/GNC communities or individuals

Proposals should be sent in a single PDF file to clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com by March 1, 2025. Awardees can expect notification by March 31, 2025 with money disbursed shortly thereafter.

2025 LGBTQ+ History Association Research Support Grants
Application deadline: March 1
Grant Announcements: March 31
Grant Funds Disbursement: April 15
The LGBTQ+ History Association is excited announce the call for our third annual Research Support Grants. These small grants are designed to support research of any kind that focuses LGBTQIA+ history. Research can be for book manuscripts, articles, dissertations, theses, community histories, public history programs, curriculum development, etc. Research funds may be used for any costs associated with research: travel to archives or for oral history interviews, copy or transcription services, purchase of materials or technology, purchase of materials not accessible through libraries or archives, etc. Priority will be given to students, contingent faculty, independent scholars, community activists, and individuals without access to institutional funding.

  • Grant applicants may request up to $500
  • Research should be completed within one year of receipt of the grant.
  • As appropriate, awardees will be invited to present their research findings and/or experiences in a virtual public program sponsored by the LGBTQ+ History Association following the completion of the project. This can be arranged in collaboration with the co-chairs.
  • Membership in the LGBTQ+ History Association is awarded as part of the grant.

To apply for a LGBTQ+ History Association Research Grant, please submit a one-to-two (1-2) page proposal that describes the project for which you are conducting the research that includes the following:

  • Project Name
  • Short description of project for which research is being conducted
  • Short description of research plans and timetable
  • Total Amount Requested, including a brief budget outline
  • Date by when you would need the funds
  • Name, Contact Info, and any affiliation (academic, work, or other)

Evaluation criteria:

  • Scope of research and impact on overall project
  • Inclusion of those historical periods and geographical regions underrepresented in LGBTQIA+ history
  • Priority will be given to projects that center the histories of minoritized, BIPOC, trans/GNC communities or individuals.

Proposals should be sent in a single PDF file to clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com by March 1, 2025. Awardees can expect notification by March 31, 2025 with money disbursed shortly thereafter.

Past Announcements

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Our New Name is: LGBTQ+ History Association

Dear friends,
Thank you all for your participation in this important process. The discussions surrounding our organizational name have been robust and fruitful. It seems appropriate to make this change during Pride month.

The votes are in, and LGBTQ+ History Association was the name most favored by the highest number of respondents. Over the coming weeks, this name will replace CLGBTH across our web presence and in official documents. The revamped website will launch with the new name later in the summer and hopefully incorporate some of the other features requested during the listening sessions. 

If you are artistically inclined and want to try your hand at a new logo, feel free to send us some of your ideas. 

Thank you all again for your contributions to the organization and to the field.

– Jay & Yaari

Reminder to Vote

If you haven’t already, please vote on our new organizational name. The ballot has been emailed out to everyone on the listserv. 

We appreciate all of the conversations started by previous co-chairs and the thoughtful deliberation and engagement with this important decision in the months since. We know that no name is perfect and complete agreement is unlikely. As the field grows and our organization grows with it, we will likely revisit the name over the years. We hope to reach the broadest possible consensus by ranking choices in order of preference.

Voting will remain open for one week until Thursday, June 27, at 23:59 (Eastern Standard Time). We will announce the results on Friday afternoon via the listserv.

The survey is completely anonymous. If you have any difficulties or questions, email clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com . If you need to sign up for our listserv or update your preferred email, the fastest way to do so is to use your preferred email and send a message to: CLGBTH+subscribe@groups.io

Final Steps of our Name Change Process
We much appreciate the many perspectives already shared and the complexity of undertaking any name change process. Given the extent to which many of us grapple with names, labels, cosmologies, and the nuances of identity, it makes sense that this process has evoked many perspectives and questions about our organization’s engagement and inclusion as well as thoughts on our professional and personal identities. It has been important to us to try to make sure in these hectic times that we allow everyone interested a bit longer to weigh in on the question of the organization’s name change. However, after QHC, we also need to make a final decision so we can move onwards towards other endeavors. While we know as co-chairs it is inevitable, perhaps, that we won’t have a unanimous consensus on a new name, that is perhaps a fitting tension for our field and how it strives to grow. In these deliberations, we are continuing our organization’s historical tradition of evolving through multiple name changes.

To that end, we invite anyone interested to connect with us during and just after QHC with further thoughts on the name change. Then we’ll have one final vote to finalize the name choice. We’d also, of course, love to continue hearing from you on brainstorming other ideas for CLGBTH and its expansion. If you will be attending QHC, consider joining us at lunch on Wednesday, June 12th (look for Jay and I at the table where you’ll pick up lunch). You can also come to our drop-in brainstorming session on Thursday, June 13th, from 130pm-3pm. We know well that not everyone can attend QHC, or you may be attending but are double scheduled at these times. You can certainly connect with us by email at clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com or anonymously via this survey: https://wmsas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1SnsDS9hKy55gpw. We will also hold one optional drop-in Zoom meeting after the conference on June 19th at 7 pm EST. (Link will be shared via our listserv). 

Starting on June 20th, we will have our final name change vote. The voting poll will be open from June 20 to June 27 and a link to the poll will be shared with all listserv members. On June 28th, we will select the name with the highest number of votes as our official new name. This voting poll will include the name suggestions from last time and other additions we’ve received since. Presently, as co-chairs, we have the following on our list. Please be in touch if we have overlooked any other names you’d like us to feature on this ballot:2

The Committee on LGBT History (current name)
The Organization for LGBTQ+ History
Queer History Association
Queer and Trans History Association
LGBTQ+ History Association

– Yaari Felber-Seligman and Jay Watkins
Co-Chairs 2024-2026

Reach us at: clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com

Stay Tuned and Please Share Ideas: Summer 2024 Updates Planned for our Website

Our plans include updating the programming and site security as well as adding new content. Please do keep sharing new publications, projects, and syllabi with us! We’ll start adding those to the site after QHC. We are also exploring plans to revive the virtual newsletter and book reviews. Anyone interested in contributing to these endeavors is welcome to reach out. Longer term, we’d also love to hear from you on other suggestions for content or function offered through our website. For the technical site of site updates, we plan to hire someone for website programming, ideally from our membership. If you have the relevant skills, please be in touch so that we can consider you. Reach the co-chairs directly at: clgbth.cochairs@gmail.com

Professional Organization of LGBTQIA+ Historians Denounce Museum of the American Revolution Hosting Extremists Moms for Liberty
The Committee on LGBT History condemns the decision made by the Museum of the American Revolution to rent event space to Moms for Liberty, designated an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Read our full statement here. 

2023 CLGBTH Prize Winners

Congratulations to our 2023 prize winners, recently announced at the AHA annual meeting! View this year’s awardees here. 

LGBTQ Historical Organizations Commend Colorado for LGBTQ-Inclusive K-12 History Standards

The Committee on LGBT History joins other scholarly U.S. organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history in applauding Colorado’s Board of Education for approving K-12 History-Social Studies Standards that, for the first time, include the contributions of LGBTQ people. Read our full statement here.

Fundraising Campaign: The Estelle Freedman Award

The Committee on LGBT History (CLGBTH) is very proud to announce the launch of a fundraising campaign to support the creation of a research travel award for scholars applying feminist analysis to LBGTQ history, from any historical time period or region.

The prize will be named in honor of Estelle Freedman, a pathbreaking historian in US women’s history and feminist studies. Professor Freedman has taught at Stanford since 1976, where she cofounded the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her prolific scholarship includes prison reform, lesbian history, and the politics of sexuality.

Please show your support by making a tax-deductible donation. We welcome contributions of any size, but hope you will be as generous as possible. The CLGBTH will match the first $5,000. You can contribute on our fundraising link here. 

LGBTQ Historical Organizations Denounce Second Year of “Don’t Say Gay” Bills: Legislation in Multiple States Deepens Threat to Inclusive and Accurate K-12 History

The Committee on LGBT History and the Organization of American Historians Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Historians denounce a new wave of “Don’t Say Gay” laws targeting K-12 schools and curriculum as profoundly harmful to accurate, inclusive, and relevant history education. Read the full statement here. 

Welcome

Welcome to the homepage of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History, an affiliated society of the American Historical Association. The Committee on Lesbian and Gay History was founded in 1979 to promote the study of homosexuality in the past and present by facilitating communication among scholars in a variety of disciplines working on a variety of cultures. The name of the committee was changed to Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in January 2009. Since 1982, the Committee has been officially recognized as an affiliate of the American Historical Association and meets annually in conjunction with the AHA conference, where we sponsor sessions on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history. One need not be a member of the AHA to join the Committee.

Membership:

Join the CLGBTH! If you are a scholar of LGBT/queer history, we need your support. Become part of our community and join our collective endeavor to enrich the historical profession with LGBT perspectives, voices and histories. Together we can ensure that LGBT and queer histories remain powerfully and visibly present in our field, in our educational institutions, and in our society at large.

Membership is available on an annual or lifetime basis.  Members receive our twice-yearly newsletters, which include book reviews, conference updates, a co-chairs’ column, and other information about the vibrant field of LGBT history. Membership also grants access to our email list-serv. Membership dues support our status as an affiliate organization of the American Historical Association, whose annual meetings host our own slate of over a dozen queer-themed sessions, medicines. Your support also enables us to offer cash prizes for outstanding books and articles in the field. Finally, if you are committed to our mission, and want to get involved as a member of our governing board, we would love to hear from you. And if you are a former member whose membership has lapsed, we invite you to update now.

Your membership ensures that queer history remains a vibrant part of the broader historical community. Join the CLGBTH NOW!

The CLGBTH supports and similarly adopts the American Historical Association’s Sexual Harassment Policy (2018).

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: COMMITTEE ON LGBT HISTORY BOSWELL AND NESTLE PRIZES

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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:
COMMITTEE ON LGBT HISTORY BOSWELL AND NESTLE PRIZES

The Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History calls for nominations for its 2015 John Boswell and Joan Nestle Prizes.

The John Boswell Prize is awarded for an outstanding book on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer history published in English in 2013 or 2014. Learn more at http://clgbthistory.org/prizes/john-boswell-prize/.

The Joan Nestle Undergraduate Prize is awarded for an outstanding paper on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer history completed in English by an undergraduate student in 2013 or 2014. Learn more at http://clgbthistory.org/prizes/joan-nestle-prize/.

Students, faculty, authors, readers, editors, or publishers can nominate. Self-nominations are encouraged. For John Boswell Prize-nominated books, authors/editors should work with publishers to mail one copy to each member of the Prize Committee. Please email PDFs of Joan Nestle Undergraduate Prize submissions to each committee member with the nominee’s name in the subject line. Questions can be addressed to prize committee chair Estelle Freedman.

2015 Prize Committee:

*Dr. Estelle Freedman, Chair, Department of History, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Building 200, Stanford, CA 94305-2024, ebf@stanford.edu

*Dr. T.J. Tallie, c/o Jennifer Ashworth, Newcomb Hall, 204 West Washington Street, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 24450, ttallie@gmail.com

*Dr. Mir Yarfitz, Department of History, Wake Forest University, Tribble Hall B101, P.O. Box 7806, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, yarfitmh@wfu.edu

Mailed submissions must be postmarked by 3 October 2014; emailed submissions must be postmarked by 11:59pm (Pacific time), 3 October 2014. Please note that the deadline is earlier this year than in years past.

Winners will be announced at the Committee on LGBT History’s annual reception at the 2015 American Historical Association Conference in New York City.

The Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History, an affiliated society of the American Historical Association, meets annually in conjunction with the AHA conference and sponsor LGBTQ history sessions. It advocates for LGBTQ history broadly, including the development of LGBTQ studies courses, inclusion of LGBTQ topics in history curricula, promotion of LGBTQ archival and public history projects, and coordination with other professional caucuses. The CLGBTH also seeks to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ historians, in keeping with AHA policies. Visit us at clgbthistory.org/. “Like” us on Facebook at: tinyurl.com/clgbthfb.