Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Section of the American Folklore Society

Report on LGBT presentations at AFS 2005

In order to stress the significance of LGBT studies at the 2005 American Folklore Society Annual Meeting the LGBT Section built partnerships with other Society sections to present four forums and one section meeting.

To restate some text from the 2005 AFS homepage, “This year’s theme [Folklore, Equal Access and Social Action] reflects Atlanta’s prominence as home to key Civil Rights movement leaders and grassroots activism. The theme addresses the various relationships of folklore and folklore study to equal access and social action. .... Folklore’s research methods and applied approaches have much to contribute to our understanding of and involvement in processes of social change, empowerment, and the pursuit of equity. For example, folklorists have studied how cultural assumptions and beliefs within specific groups affect the justice system, how refugees seeking asylum conceptualize home, and how cultural bias and different communication traditions may impede access to legal, medical, and political systems.”

The LGT Section sponsored the following four sessions in Atlanta in October, 2005:

1. Conversations in Courage Forum: LGBT Studies and the American Folklore Society
Co-sponsored with the History and Folklore Section
Participants: Craig Miller, Polly Stewart, Joe Goodwin
This forum was designed to invite participants to help reconstruct the history of the American Folklore Society’s LGBT Section. Panelists initiated discussions by giving brief introductions of the genesis of the Section, LGBT scholarship within the American Folklore Society, and the evolution of cultural trends affecting LGBT people in academic and workplace settings. This session terminated with a discussion concerning the place of the LGBT Section in the American Folklore Society and how its goals and vision should adapt to serve the future needs of the discipline and the Society’s LGBT members. This session was co-sponsored by the History and Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society and it was recorded and kept as an LGBT Section document.

In the early 1980s members of the American Folklore Society gathered informally to discuss the invisibility of gay and lesbian cultural expression in the discipline of folklore study. Coming out of a culture of severe social oppression, these first courageous meetings marked small steps down a path of continual and ever-increased risk-taking, yet it was a path of no return. Since homophobia is perpetuated by silence, it has the effect of isolating individuals, making them believe they are alone except for the exaggerated stereotypes projected by the larger society. For LGBT people, each step toward visibility makes them vulnerable to potentially immense personal risks of rejection in terms of job, family, and community status. But visibility makes networking possible; it encourages dialogue and gives birth to ideas and change.

Homophobia also preys on the free and democratic expression of intellectual pursuit. As a discipline, Folklore has a strong record for championing the causes of those on the fringes of mainstream culture, but LGBT cultural studies were virtually ignored until the early 1980s. Although popular culture was rampant with informally passed information about gays and lesbians, they remained a hated, or at best, feared minority that generated much concerned speculation by the general public. LGBT scholarship still remains under represented in our field and misinformation persists.

The LGBT Section of the American Folklore Society was founded to provide professional support for members of the American Folklore Society who identify themselves as lesbian or gay. Over the years its mandate has grown and adapted to the needs of its members and the Society. In its later years the Section expanded its mission to include individuals who are bisexual, and transgender. The Section also grew to embrace Queer studies, and the development of Queer theory, also sparked by the formalization of cross-discipline LGBT studies. The Section also encourages research into specific aspects of LGBT and Queer culture and promotes the study of how LGBT and Queer issues are dynamically interrelated with the folk expressions of the greater human community. The LGBT Section serves as a folklore resource to researchers and teachers and maintains an open dialogue with academic and public sector folklore programs on issues of mutual interest and concern. Non-LGBT people are also encouraged to join this section and participate in its activities.

In recognition that studies of LGBT and Queer culture are important to the advancement of Folklore as an academic discipline and to the well being of the American Folklore Society, this forum tracked the progress of the LGBT Section in achieving its goals. This forum was recorded and will be kept as an LGBT Section document.

2. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Community in Atlanta: Creating Access to Media, Government and Resources

Co-sponsored with the Politics, Folklore, and Social Justice Section
Organized by Aimee Schmidt and Lisa Higgins with participation by Atlanta LGBT activists

This forum examined the LGBT community within the larger Southern community. The South has been the object of many stereotypes—some embraced (think former Atlantan Jeff Foxworthy of You Might be a Redneck If...) and some threateningly dismissed. Participants discussed LGBT identity in reference to Southern culture, particularly Atlanta, the cradle of the Civil Rights movement. Is there something unique about LGBT community and LGBT rights movement in Atlanta and in the broader South? How does one negotiate this cultural landscape to achieve success in equal access?

More specifically, the forum examined the history of the LGBT community in Atlanta and its struggle for equal access in politics, media, and community resources. Atlanta has the reputation as the “gay Mecca” of the South, and in a city of 4 million the LGBT community is quite visible. The city is home to a number of LGBT organizations, religious institutions, businesses, executives, politicians, neighborhoods, and hosts the largest Pride celebration in the Southeast.

Participants discussed how this visibility translates (or not) into access to media, government/politics, and community resources. As most Southern cities go, Atlanta is considered gay friendly. However, the city and the state both are overwhelmingly conservative (politically, socially, religiously), thus access can be difficult to attain. Last fall the Gay Marriage Amendment (SR595) won overwhelming, and City of Atlanta measures to protect gay rights (e.g. domestic partner benefits, anti-discrimination laws, etc.) are threatened by state legislative action. Even small battles, such as Gay/Straight Alliance at schools, have caused uproars and sparked legislation to require parental consent for student’s extracurricular activities.

There were a number of bright notes. Metro-Atlanta has several openly gay / lesbian politicians; the '96 Olympics were kept out of Cobb County thanks to a successful boycott based on Cobb’s discrimination policy; and Atlanta’s bid for 2006 Gay Games, though unsuccessful, was supported by city officials, private and corporate business (including the Atlanta Braves which hosted a “Night Out with the Braves” in 2001).
The forum invited local residents who have been active in LGBT issues in metro-Atlanta. These include politicians, media representatives, and community activists. The forum focused on issues surrounding access and equal rights for LGBT citizens: issues such as legal rights, political power, community visibility, media representation, neighborhood identity, social service and medical resources.

3. Text and Community Forum: Once Upon a Virus.

Co-sponsored with Text and Community
Organized by Cory Thorne and Peggy Yocom with participation by Charles Briggs, Elaine Lawless and Debra Shutika. The book author, Diane Goldstein, was present.
This seminar-like forum, sponsored by the LGBT Section, invited all to talk about Diane Goldstein’s Once Upon a Virus: AIDS Legends and Vernacular Risk Perception (Utah State Univ. Press, 2004).

In continuation of the annual “Text and Community” Forum that has occurred at the last seven American Folklore Society conferences, we offered conference attendees the opportunity to gather with folklore colleagues and discuss one main text, under the guidance of the author of the text. “Some of us in the Society, years away from graduate school, enjoy the chance again to sit with colleagues who share our vocational calling. Others of us who work as the only folklorist at an institution hunger for scholarly discussions of texts with folklore colleagues. And folklore graduate students like the chance to discuss a text with folklorists from many different institutions. We wanted to restage this space where all these activities happen, a place where we have the chance to speak in detail about ideas that engage us. Our primary aim was to encourage an intellectual discussion among a wide range of Society members (professionals at art commissions and museums, independent folklorists, university professors, etc.).

This year, because of the "Folklore, Equal Access, and Social Action" theme of the AFS Conference in Atlanta, we chose a new folklore study that merges folklore and applied medicine: Diane Goldstein’s Once Upon a Virus: AIDS Legends and Vernacular Risk Perception.

4. Transgressive Tales Forum

Co-sponsored with the Women’s Section
Participants: Kay Turner, Pauline Greenhill, Peggy Yocom, Kathleen Manley, Joe Goodwin, and Regine Joseph

The Transgressive Tales forum for AFS 2005 was in league with those who have found much to say about the meanings of the Grimm brothers” Household Tales: the psychological reflections of Maria von Franz and Bruno Bettelheim, the folktale scholarship of Ruth Bottigheimer and Jack Zipes, the literary interpretations of Emma Donoghue and Fay Weldon, the art of Cindy Sherman and Meret Oppenheim, and the feminist revisions of Kay Stone and Marina Warner. The Transgressive Tales forum flavored the cauldron of interpretations with queer, gay and feminist re-workings of specific tales--including All Fur and Frau Trudy-- that forefront unconventional relational and sexual possibilities and problems that remain under-theorized in the scholarly literature on the Household Tales. Our forum proposed that combined LGBT, feminist and queer investigations into the Grimms collection open possibilities for understanding both conventional and unconventional power dynamics between and among the sexes.

Minutes from October, 2005
LGBT Section of the American Folklore Society
Annual Section Meeting, Atlanta, GA
Friday, October 21, 2005, Lenox Room, Renaissance Hotel

1. The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. by co-convener Craig Miller. Twelve people attended the meeting. An attendance roster was circulated.
2. The minutes of the 2004 meeting were approved as distributed.
3. Financial report (Craig). The section’s finances are managed by AFS. (Section members pay $5.00 per year dues to AFS.) Our current balance is $681.54.
4. Old business.
a. Webpage. The section now has a page on the AFS website, and this requires upkeep with current information. Craig Miller agreed to do this task. Additions and other information are to be sent to the AFS web manager, Jeff Borisch, <jborisch@columbus.rr.com>.
b. Donation of section materials to the AFS Archive at Utah State University (USU), Logan. Since the section’s inception in 1981, the section’s archival materials have been collected and cared for by Joe Goodwin. In accordance with a section decision of two years ago, Joe brought the section’s archival materials to this meeting and they will be taken back to Salt Lake City by Polly and Craig, to be then transferred to the Archives at USU.
c. It was further agreed at this meeting that Mickey Weems, co-founder of the Ohio State University LGBT folklore conference Qualia, which just had its third year, will submit Qualia materials to the archive as part of the LGBT Section contribution.
5. New business.
a. Listserv. Jo Radner offered to set up an ad-free listserv for the LGBT section through American University to replace the commercial listserv (Yahoo) that we currently use. No action was taken on this offer.
b. Conveners, 2006. The section conveners for 2006 will be Craig Miller and Polly Stewart.
c. Student prize. The LGBT Section student prize deadline has been extended to November 1, 2005. It was suggested that we advertise this prize on the AFS graduate student listserv. Jim Leary also offered to promote the prize at the University of Wisconsin. Mick Weems, a graduate student, will submit an entry. Kay Turner will seek out other student authors as potential contestants.
d. Conversations in Courage recap. Notes from floor discussion at the earlier session Friday afternoon, Oct. 21 (Polly). The ongoing purpose of the section is to assist the LGBT professional in the field. / Ask AFS to make points in the political sphere re e.g., gay marriage / Being openly gay as a folklore professional is still dangerous / 1998 Cambridge panel on LGBT issues / 1991 issue of Southern Folklore Quarterly that partially addressed LGBT fieldwork issues / Diane Goldstein: Use section webpage to make political statements / What is theme of AFS 2006 / An invisible function of the LGBT section is to serve as a model for students / Section projects: Older LGBT folklorists; folklore in progressive communities.
e. After discussion, it was decided that the Section will post a statement on our webpage at the AFS website on the anti-gay marriage movement. A five-member Committee was appointed to compose the statement: Jo Radner, Guillermo de los Reyes, Greg Sharrow, Mick Weems, Leo Falcon. Mick Weems noted that the theme for Qualia 2006 will be “We are Family.”
f. Plans for AFS 2006. To be posted on our AFS webpage as they are developed (Craig).
~~A paper session on gay marriage
~~A Latino LGBT paper session (Leo)
~~A speaker sponsored by the LGBT section in partnership with another section. Possible speakers were named: Tammy Baldwin, Will Fellows, Jack McGuire, Jay Estrada (a gay comic), Someone at Madison (?Gerda Lerner), Someone at Chicago (Laurie Berlant), Steve Greenberg (a Jewish gay scholar). Kay Turner will think these options through by March 15, 2006 and will get back to the conveners.
~~A plenary on marriage, esp. contested marriage practices. Pauline Greenhill, Will Roscoe. Use tools of folklore to investigate why people are so threatened by gay marriage
6. Reports and Announcements.
Polly reported on the Conveners Breakfast held Friday Oct. 21 a.m. sponsored by Tim Lloyd.: Brent Björkman, from Western Kentucky University, is a new staff member at AFS whose job is to take some of the pressure off Tim. Write Brent on membership and other routine matters at bjorkman.2@osu.edu .
Future AFS meetings are scheduled as follows:
2006 Milwaukee, WI, same hotel as 1994
2007 Quebec City, Canada, Hilton, joint meeting via Laval University with the
Folklore Studies Association of Canada
2008 Louisville, KY, Hyatt
2009 Boise, ID, Grove Hotel (historic downtown)
AFS will soon open an international listserv for folklore scholars <H-net/folk> . / AFS has secured a Mellon Grant for a meeting at Vanderbilt University of folkorists, oral historians, and ethnomusicologists (that is, of ethnographic social scientists who are not anthropologists), hosted by Bill Ivey, on the changing place of these disciplines within the academy. The conference will be held in late winter or early spring 2006. / An AFS bylaws change is being offered to the membership to allow the Executive Board to create new categories of members, e.g., new professionals, retired folklorists. / Brent Bjorkman will attempt to start a new practice of sending out membership lists to sections twice a year.
7. The meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m. Respectfully Submitted by: P. Stewart, Recorder

 

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