Theologian and social activist Father Bryan Massingale, professor of theology and social ethics at Fordham University, is an outspoken voice for anti-racism and LGBTQ+ rights, both within the Catholic Church and society as a whole. His 2010 study, “Racial Justice and the Catholic Church,” was prophetic in the way it spoke about racism in religious institutions. His life and work embody a commitment to addressing issues of racism, social inequality, and LGBTQ+ rights from a spiritual and ethical perspective. In this program, Father Massingale addresses the shocking rise of white Christian natio ..read more

Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles prides itself on being the world's first LGBTQ mariachi band. Their tight, energetic, and intricate sound has been honed by the work they've had to do to navigate the typically hypermasculine and heteronormative world of mariachi as gay and trans musicians. The band has performed at numerous gay and transgender pride events as well as in the #SchoolsNotPrisons tour for the California Endowment. They have been featured multiple times on Univision morning shows, and in the Smithsonian Folklife magazine. Series: "Critically Human" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Sh ..read more

The founders of Pride Ortho, an organization that supports LGBTQ+ people in the field of orthopedic medicine, talk about the importance of creating a supportive and safe space for their community. [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 38220 ..read more

Hugo Marcus (1880–1966) was a man of many names and identities. Born a German Jew, he converted to Islam and took the name Hamid, becoming one of the most prominent Muslims in Germany prior to World War II. Renamed Israel by the Nazis, he was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp before escaping to Switzerland. In exile, he fought for homosexual rights and wrote queer fiction under the pen name Hans Alienus. Marc David Baer discusses his new book “German, Jew, Muslim, Gay” in which he tells the story of a highly unconventional man and reveals new aspects of the interconnected histories ..read more

Jesuit priest and editor at large of America Magazine, Father James Martin, SJ, talks about his personal journey ministering to the LGBTQ community. For Martin, working with people on the margins, walking with the excluded, has always been part of his Jesuit life. Early in his career, he began writing about the LGBTQ community because he felt these were people in the church who had very few people to advocate for them. Then, after the 2016 nightclub massacre in Florida, he was deeply concerned about the lack of public support from Catholic bishops which inspired him to write a book, “Building ..read more

Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles prides itself on being the world’s first LGBTQ mariachi band. Their tight, energetic, and intricate sound has been honed by the work they’ve had to do to navigate the typically hypermasculine and heteronormative world of mariachi as gay and trans musicians. The band has performed at numerous gay and transgender pride events as well as in the #SchoolsNotPrisons tour for the California Endowment. They have been featured multiple times on Univision morning shows, and in the Smithsonian Folklife magazine. Series: "Critically Human" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Sh ..read more

What is everyday life, and how is it experienced under extreme stress? This is the broader question that animates the research of Anna Hájková, an associate professor of Modern Continental European History at the University of Warwick. In her talk, Hájková examines sex work, sexual violence, and coercion of Jewish women and men in concentration camps, ghettos, and in hiding. She is the author of many journal articles and books, including her current project, “Boundaries of the Narratable: Transgressive Sexuality and the Holocaust.” This pioneering study seeks to contribute to our understanding ..read more

Trent Atkinson and Brandon Stansell discuss their new film Three Chords and a Lie, which explores the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in country music. In a conversation with Tyler Morgenstern, Stansell and Atkinson discuss the process of making the documentary and the challenges it presented, as well as larger issues of representation and diversity in the country music industry. Three Chords and a Lie follows Stansell as he returns to his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, ten years after coming out as gay to his family. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 36815 ..read more

Director Leilah Weinraub joins Mireille Miller-Young (Feminist Studies, UCSB) for a conversation about Weinraub’s 2018 documentary Shakedown, a film that documents the L.A.-based underground black-lesbian strip club of the same name. Weinraub explains how she discovered the club and her decade-long project of capturing the experience of Shakedown on film. The talk also includes discussion of black ownership and labor, the visibility of black identities and sexualities, gentrification in the aftermath of historic riots, and the fragility of contingent cultural spaces under the dual pressures of ..read more

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Michael Warner, the Seymour H. Knox Professor of English and American Studies, at Yale University, and the 2018 Tanner Lecturer at Berkeley. The conversation focuses on Professor Warner’s intellectual odyssey from a Pentecostal upbringing to an Ivy League professorship of American literature. The conversation includes discussion of his scholarship on the reciprocal influence of colonial printing and the development and assertion of democratic values; his advocacy on issues surrounding gay marriage; and his theoretical insights on publics and counter p ..read more