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UC Davis experts: Gay, lesbian and bisexual issues

The UC Davis faculty has expertise regarding gay, lesbian and transgender issues. Spanish-language media members, please note fluent Spanish speakers Sergio de la Mora and Francisco X. Alarcón.

Prejudice, stigma and hate crimes

Psychologist Gregory Herek is a leading international researcher in AIDS-related stigma and heterosexuals' attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. He can discuss his three national surveys on American attitudes toward people with HIV/AIDS and address a variety of issues related to homophobia. Herek has expertise on hate crimes and the nature and extent of sexual prejudice, and can talk about issues of antigay discrimination (such as in the military and Boy Scouts), lesbian and gay adoption issues, and common myths about homosexuality. Herek was awarded the 1996 American Psychological Association's Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and the Public Interest. Contact: Gregory Herek, Psychology, (530) 752-8085, gmherek@ucdavis.edu.

Hate crime and the police

Ryken Grattet, UC Davis associate professor of sociology, can address policy responses to hate crime in the United States and the role of gay and lesbian groups in the shaping of the hate crime laws. He is currently researching the policing of hate crime -- a portion of which will relate to how police are handling hate crime cases involving gay and lesbian victims, as well as how police agencies deal with the gay and lesbian communities more generally. Grattet is co-author of "Making Hate a Crime," published in 2001, which explores how violence against minorities has been transformed from an age-old problem into a crime that receives urgent attention. Contact: Ryken Grattet, Sociology, (530) 754-6137, rtgrattet@ucdavis.edu.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender family law

UC Davis School of Law Professor Courtney Joslin can discuss same-sex marriage and the law.  Professor Joslin co-authored an amicus brief that was filed on behalf of 28 legal scholars in the litigation challenging the validity of Proposition 8, the measure which purports to amend the California Constitution to eliminate the right to marry for same-sex couples.  Her areas of study include family and relationship recognition, particularly focusing on same-sex and nonmarital couples.  She is co-author of the 2009 edition of the book Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Family Law. Contact: Courtney Joslin, Law, (415) 902-7981, cgjoslin@ucdavis.edu.

Gay scoutmasters and cultural dissent

Law professor Madhavi Sunder studies law and culture. In a Stanford Law Review article, she examined the U.S. Supreme Court's 2000 ruling in Boy Scouts of America vs. Dale, a case that began when a gay Scout leader fought the organization's attempts to revoke his membership. Calling the case a "flashpoint" in culture wars, Sunder says it was the first time an association offered evidence that its ability to promote its message, here against homosexuality, was jeopardized by a state anti-discrimination law. Without a change in its approach to culture, she says, law may become complicit in the backlash of traditional leaders to silence dissent within cultural organizations. Contact: Madhavi Sunder, School of Law, (530) 752-2896, msunder@ucdavis.edu. Returns July 15, 2002.

Gender variations through history

Using historical contexts, Professor Catherine Kudlick can talk about non-traditional gender identities for people who are biologically male or female. She can also discuss how gay culture is typically transmitted -- outside of the family. Kudlick is knowledgeable about emerging disability issues regarding the gay culture, where a perfect body is key to identity, and the lesbian culture, which can be more accepting. Kudlick teaches about gender trouble and history and recently published "Reflections: The Life and Writing of a Young Blind Woman in Post-Revolutionary France." Contact: Catherine Kudlick, History, (530) 752-1635, cjkudlick@ucdavis.edu.

Gays in film

David Van Leer, professor of English, has taught and written widely on popular films and television, with a special emphasis on issues of sexuality, race and gender in commercial Hollywood films since World War II. He has published widely at academic presses and for The New Republic on such directors as George Cukor, Howard Hawkes, Jacques Rivette, Marlon Riggs and Cheryl Dunye. He has also written about such commercial films as "Auntie Mame," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "The Manchurian Candidate," "Psycho," and "Pretty Woman." His most recent book is "The Queening of America: Gay Culture in Straight Society." Contact: David Van Leer, English, (530) 754-8253, dmvanleer@ucdavis.edu.

Gays on TV

Sociologist Laura Grindstaff studies and teaches about American popular culture, including historical and contemporary perspectives on gay representations in movies and television. She can discuss the ways in which popular culture both reproduces and challenges assumptions about sexuality, using examples from popular TV shows such as "Will and Grace," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Laverne & Shirley," "Star Trek," as well as the daytime talk shows. Grindstaff is the author of the new book, "The Money Shot: Trash, Class and the Making of TV Talk Shows," which is based on fieldwork behind the scenes of the television industry. Contact: Laura Grindstaff, Sociology, (530) 752-1580, lagrindstaff@ucdavis.edu.

Marriage; lesbian styles; youths

Elizabeth Freeman, an associate professor of English at UC Davis, can talk about a wide variety of cultural issues including gay and lesbian marriages, weddings in American culture, butch/femme lesbians, youth culture, sex education and queer independent film. She teaches courses on race, gender and sexuality, and lesbian literature. She is the author of the 2002 book "The Wedding Complex: Forms of Belonging in Modern American Culture." Contact: Elizabeth Freeman, English, (530) 754-9198, esfreeman@ucdavis.edu.

Fashion-constructed identities

Susan Kaiser, professor of textiles and clothing and of women and gender studies, studies gender, race and sexuality in relation to clothing and appearance. Her work includes a focus on how gay, lesbian and other sexual identities are socially constructed through style and fashion. Drawing on interviews with gay men and lesbians, as well as popular cultural depictions of sexual identities in terms of various expressions of gender, age and ethnicity, she examines how sexual identities shape mainstream fashion trends and perceptions of beauty. Her textbook "The Social Psychology of Clothing: Symbolic Appearances in Context" has been translated into two foreign languages. Contact: Susan Kaiser, Textiles and Clothing (530) 752-9277, sbkaiser@ucdavis.edu.

Mexican and Latino popular culture

Sergio de la Mora, associate professor of Chicana/o studies, studies the representation of Chicano/Latino and Mexican men in film and video. He is currently researching a book-length project on the emergence of queer media in Mexico. He has written numerous articles on Mexican film that have appeared in Jump Cut, Film Quarterly and the Journal of Film and Video. His current book project focuses on Mexican film as cultural capital. He is also completing a study on the politics of programming for U.S. Latino film festivals. Contact: Sergio de la Mora, Chicana/o Studies, (530) 754-8743, sedelamora@ucdavis.edu.

Latino poetry

Francisco X. Alarcón, Spanish lecturer and national award-winning bilingual poet, can talk about gay and lesbian Latino poetry. He is compiling an anthology titled "Boca a Boca / Mouth to Mouth: A Gay Latino Poetry Anthology" to be published by the University of California Press. Alarcón is the author of 10 volumes of poetry, including "Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation" (Chronicle Books, 1992). His volumes of bilingual children's poetry have garnered three Pura Belpré Honor Awards from the American Library Association. He has been a recipient of several literary prizes, including the 1998 Carlos Pellicer-Robert Frost Poetry Honor Award. Contact: Francisco X. Alarcón, Spanish, (530) 752-1022, fjalarcon@ucdavis.edu.

Media contacts:

  • Jim Sweeney, News Service, (530) 752-6101, .

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Last updated Jan. 22, 2010