Justice, Gender, Sexuality: Fall 2018

I start this morning with a heavy heart, having just read a  news article  about a local boy, nine years old, who recently committed suicide. This summer he had come out to his mother, who had affirmed his identity. Sadly, some of his classmates didn't, and they bullied him. Subsequently, he killed himself. Leia Pierce with her son Jamel Myles, 9. (Photo from the Denver Post, courtesy of Leia Pierce via Facebook.) It's tragic beyond words when any person, any young person, any young queer person, takes their life, but in the context of a course on queer justice, it's especially so. And to be honest, we can never really know all the factors that go into such an act, but it's hard not to see a connection between homophobic bullying and the pain and desperation I imagine Jamel Myles felt. In this exact moment, there's not much we as a community can do, except grieve. And honor this young person and his family. Hold them all in the light. Sit with a mother'

Welcome to our course blog—“Justice, Gender, Sexuality”!  In this space, you’ll have the chance to reflect on our course reading, ask questions, interact with each other and build a virtual community to complement our classroom space. For this first post, I’d like to invite you to do two things:  First, tell us more about yourself.  What do you think we should know about you as we begin this semester together?  You might consider these questions:  Who are you?  How do you identify?  Where are you from?  To whom do you belong?  What communities are you a part of?  What values or beliefs do you hold dear?  Or, share some other facet about yourself that you think is significant.  You might also consider telling us more about why you decided to take this course, and what you hope to learn from it. Then, please reflect on the reading assigned for class.  Given what you’ve read, what do you think queer theories can do for us?  Or, put another way, what does Donald Hall mean by this word,