In honor of Austin’s annual celebration of Pride in August, this post and the accompanying display on the 3rd floor of PCL highlights LGBTQIA+ history in Austin and across the southern United States. These display materials serve to provide context for this event and share historical experiences and information about the LGBTQIA+ community focusing as much as possible on intersectional marginalized identities.

This display was developed by iSchool Pride, a student group out of UT’s School of Information, in collaboration with UT Libraries staff, and this post was compiled by Ask A Librarian Intern Karen Scott.

By Karen Scott

Happy Austin Pride! This month’s display is a collection of materials inside and outside of the UT Library system curated by graduate research assistants, subject librarians, and iSchool Pride co-leaders. We began collecting materials around the idea of highlighting Austin’s historical Pride materials, since Austin celebrates Pride in August. However, we found few materials that were this specific. We expanded our search to include materials written by and about LGBTQIA+ persons, issues and interests across the Southern United States. In addition to both physical and electronic resources from UT Libraries, we have included links to archives, AV materials, and LibGuides for further research and exploration. Visit the display on the 3rd floor for even more!

Physical Materials

1. LGBTQ : a resource guide for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning students by the Queer Students Alliance
   • Guide written in 2008 by students at the University of Texas at Austin to help other students find resources and assistance while at UT
2. From closet to crusade : the struggle for lesbian-gay civil rights in Austin, Texas, 1970-1982 by Eric Jason Ganther
   • Master’s thesis for the University of Texas at Austin published in 1990
3. Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South by E. Patrick Johnson [eBook]
   • “E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as “backward” or “repressive” and offers a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks, and find sexual and life partners–often in spaces and activities that appear to be antigay.”
4. My mama’s dead squirrel: Lesbian essays on Southern Culture by Mab Segrest
   • “A down-home insider’s look at the South she lives in, struggles with and loves.”
5. Rebels, rubyfruit, and rhinestones: queering space in the Stonewall South by James T. Sears
   • “In this chatty, free-ranging cultural survey, Sears (Growing Up Gay in the South) presents a vivid kaleidoscope of the mores and political activities of many gay Southerners following the 1969 Stonewall riots and leading up to the 1979 march on Washington.”
6. Below the Belt: Sexuality, Religion, and the American South by Angelia R. Wilson
   • “This study of the American rural South addresses the psychological effect of religious fervour, right-wing Republicanism, internalized self-hatred and the intervention of urban gay/feminist politics on gay/feminist life, identities and communities in the Southern States.”
7. G.R.I.T.S – girls raised in the South : an anthology of southern queer womyn’s voices and their allies by Poet On Watch; Amber N. Williams
   • “G.R.I.T.S. is a critical self-analysis and celebration from the perspectives of womyn who live in the Southern region of the United States and/or have a strong affinity for this locale. The theme of the publication surrounds the subject matter of erotica while enjoying food, our connection to the South, the bonds created between lovers, and in sisterhood, personal growth, be it spiritual or otherwise and our best G.R.I.T.S recipes.”
8. Prison Wolves: a Depiction of Gay Life in Prison by Paul F. Archuleta
   • “Paul’s first prison visit takes him to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where one of the worst prison riots took place. The Hispanic gangs and the Aryan Brotherhood led the majority of these prisons. Paul had to figure out how to stay clean from trouble, how to keep sexual predators at bay, and how to keep his mouth shut.”
9. The queer limit of Black memory: Black lesbian literature and irresolution by Matt Richardson [eBook]
   • “A new archive of Black women’s literature that has heretofore been on the margins of literary scholarship and African diaspora cultural criticism. It argues that Black lesbian texts celebrate both the strategies of resistance used by queer Black subjects and the spaces for grieving the loss of queer Black subjects that dominant histories of the African diasporas often forget.”
10. Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism by Uriel Quesada, Letitia Gomez, and Salvador Vidal-Ortiz [eBook]
    • “Comprising essays and oral history interviews that present the experiences of fourteen activists across the United States and in Puerto Rico, the book offers a new perspective on the history of LGBT mobilization and activism.”
11. With her Machete in her Hand: Reading Chicana Lesbians by Catriona Rueda Esquibel
    • “A history of Chicana lesbian writing from the 1970s until today, this book explores a wide range of plays, novels, and short stories by Chicana/o authors that depict lesbian characters or lesbian desire.”
12. Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country by Brian Joseph Gilly [eBook]
    • “Drawing on a wealth of observations from interviews, oral histories, and meetings and ceremonies, Brian Joseph Gilley provides an intimate view of how Two-Spirit men in Colorado and Oklahoma struggle to redefine themselves and their communities. The Two-Spirit men who appear in Gilley’s book speak frankly of homophobia within their communities, a persistent prejudice that is largely misunderstood or misrepresented by outsiders.”
13. Queer Indigenous Studies: Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature by Qwo-Li Driskill, Chris Finley, Brian Joseph Gilley, Scott Lauria Morgensen
    • “Rooted in the Indigenous Americas and the Pacific, and drawing on disciplines ranging from literature to anthropology, contributors to Queer Indigenous Studies call Indigenous GLBTQ2 movements and allies to center an analysis that critiques the relationship between colonialism and heteropatriarchy.”
14. A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities by Mady G & J.R. Zuckerberg
    • “Covering essential topics like sexuality, gender identity, coming out, and navigating relationships, this guide explains the spectrum of human experience through informative comics, interviews, worksheets, and imaginative examples. A great starting point for anyone curious about queer and trans life, and helpful for those already on their own journeys”
15. A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni & Tristan Jimerson
    • “A quick, easy and important educational comic guide to using gender-neutral pronouns.”
16. Q & A: Queer in Asian America by David L. Eng; Alice Y. Hom
    • “Q & A approaches matters of identity from a variety of points of view and academic disciplines in order to explore the multiple crossings of race and ethnicity with sexuality and gender. Drawing together the work of visual artists, fiction writers, community organizers, scholars, and participants in roundtable discussions, the collection gathers an array of voices and experiences that represent the emerging communities of a queer Asian America.”
17. Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison
    • “Two or Three Things I Know for Sure tells the story of the Gibson women — sisters, cousins, daughters, and aunts — and the men who loved them, often abused them, and, nonetheless, shared their destinies. With luminous clarity, Allison explores how desire surprises and what power feels like to a young girl as she confronts abuse.”
18. Partly Colored: Asian Americans and the Racial Anomaly in the Segregated South by Leslie Bow [eBook]
    • “Spanning the pre- to the post- segregation eras, Partly Colored traces the compelling history of “third race” individuals in the U.S. South, and in the process forces us to contend with the multiracial panorama that constitutes American culture and history.”
19. Another Country: Queer Anti-Urbanism by Scott Herring [eBook]
    • “Herring leads his readers from faeries in the rural Midwest to photographs of white supremacists in the deep South, from Roland Barthes’s obsession with Parisian fashion to a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel set in the Appalachian Mountains, and from cubist paintings in Lancaster County to lesbian separatist communes on the northern California coast.”
20. Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi and Trans Men who Came Out Later in Life by Vinnie Kinsella
    • “What happens when adult men come out? What triumphs and struggles do they experience? The stories in this collection explore the impact of exposing long-held secrets.”
21. Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color by Christopher Soto
    • “The first major literary anthology for queer poets of color in the United States. In 2014, Christopher Soto and Lambda Literary Foundation founded the online journal Nepantla, with the mission to nurture, celebrate, and preserve diversity within the queer poetry community, including contributions as diverse in style and form, as the experiences of QPOC in the United States.”
22. Unheard Voices: the Effects of Silence on Lesbian and Gay Educators by Ronni L. Sanlo
    • “In this qualitative research project, sixteen lesbian and gay teachers in the Northeast Florida public school system were interviewed about their experiences in their professional settings and how those experiences affected their lives.”
23. Voices in the Dark by Sharon Bridgforth
    • “The Voices in the Dark was originally a concept (named by Alva Nelms) for a multi-media/multi-cultural celebration, that was produced April 11, 1991 in Austin, Texas. Sonnata blue was presented as a one wo’mn/one-act produced by Word of Mouth, Women’s Theatre Company in Austin, Texas”–Page [1].
24. In Jewish Texas: A Family Memoir by Stanley E. Ely [eBook]
    • “Stanley Ely says that when the fiftieth or so person confronted him with a skeptical, ‘You mean you’re Jewish, and you’re from Texas?’ he decided to do more than smile and say, ‘Yes.’ The result is this funny, caustic, and nostalgic tale in the tradition of popular regionally and ethnically focused memoirs. Though the book is not a typical “coming out” story, the reader also learns of Ely’s gradual and at times reluctant acceptance of himself as a gay man.”

Electronic Resources

1. A brief and improper geography of queerspaces and sexpublics in Austin, Texas by Shaka McGlotten 
   • “This article offers ethnographic and autoethnographic vignettes from the author’s research on cultures of public sex in Austin, Texas. It also tracks some of the ways their own racialization as a black queer man shaped the research project.”
2. Men in Place: Trans Masculinity, Race, and Sexuality in America by Miriam J. Abelson [eBook]
   • “American masculinity is being critiqued, questioned, and reinterpreted for a new era. In Men in Place Miriam J. Abelson makes an original contribution to this conversation through in-depth interviews with trans men in the U.S. West, Southeast, and Midwest, showing how the places and spaces men inhabit are fundamental to their experiences of race, sexuality, and gender.”
3. Couples : a photographic documentary of gay and lesbian relationships by John Gettings [eBook]
   • “Photos & commentary portray diversity & commitment in same sex unions.”
4. Forgetting the Alamo, or, Bloody Memory by Emma Perez [eBook]
   • “This literary adventure takes place in nineteenth-century Texas and follows the story of a Tejana lesbian cowgirl after the fall of the Alamo. Micaela Campos, the central character, witnesses the violence against Mexicans, African Americans, and indigenous peoples after the infamous battles of the Alamo and of San Jacinto, both in 1836. “
5. Performing the US Latina & Latino Borderlands by Arturo J. Aldama, Chela Sandoval, & Peter Garcia [eBook]
   • “In this interdisciplinary volume, contributors analyze the expression of Latina/o cultural identity through performance. With music, theater, dance, visual arts, body art, spoken word, performance activism, fashion, and street theater as points of entry, contributors discuss cultural practices and the fashioning of identity in Latino/a communities throughout the US.”
6. Toxic Silence : Race, Black Gender Identity, and Addressing the Violence Against Black Transgender Women in Houston by William T. Hoston [eBook]
   • “Toxic Silence: Race, Black Gender Identity, and Addressing the Violence against Black Transgender Women in Houston contributes to a growing body of transgender scholarship. This book examines the patriarchal and heteronormative frames within the black community and larger American society that advances the toxic masculinity which violently castigates and threatens the collective embodiment of black transgender women in the USA.”
7. Out in the South by Carlos L Dews; Carolyn Leste Law
   • “In this book gays and lesbians from the Deep South to East Texas and Appalachia speak from vivid personal experience and turn an analytical eye on the South and its culture.”
8. Intersections of disability, gender, and sexuality in higher education : exploring students’ social identities and campus experiences by Ryan Andrew Miller
   • “This study begins to address a need for empirical research on the social identities and higher education experiences of this population.”
9. Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray by Rosalind Rosenburg [eBook]
   • “Throughout her prodigious life, activist and lawyer Pauli Murray systematically fought against all arbitrary distinctions in society, channeling her outrage at the discrimination she faced to make America a more democratic country. In this definitive biography, Rosalind Rosenberg offers a poignant portrait of a figure who played pivotal roles in both the modern civil rights and women’s movements.”
10. Queering the Redneck Riviera: Sexuality and Rise of Florida Tourism by Jerry T. Watkins [eBook]
    • “Jerry Watkins reveals both the challenges these men and women faced in the years following World War II and the essential role they played in making the Emerald Coast a major tourist destination. In a state dedicated to selling an image of itself as a “family-friendly” tropical paradise and in an era of increasing moral panic and repression, queer people were forced to negotiate their identities and their places in society.”
11. Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940 by Julio Capo Jr. [eBook]
    • “As Julio Capo Jr. shows in this fascinating history, Miami’s transnational connections reveal that the city has been a queer borderland for over a century. In chronicling Miami’s queer past from its 1896 founding through 1940, Capo shows the multifaceted ways gender and sexual renegades made the city their own.”
12. Black. Queer. Southern. Women. : an oral history by E. Patrick Johnson [eBook]
    • “Drawn from the life narratives of more than seventy African American queer women who were born, raised, and continue to reside in the American South, this book powerfully reveals the way these women experience and express racial, sexual, gender, and class identities–all linked by a place where such identities have generally placed them on the margins of society.”

Archives

1. Waterloo Counseling Center records, 1982-1997 located in the Briscoe Center for American History 
   • “Waterloo Counseling Center is a non-profit organization specializing in supplying mental health services to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities of Austin, TX. Established in 1983, the Waterloo Counseling Center began as one room facility that grew into a much larger center. The Center’s work also expanded into helping those afflicted with HIV and AIDS as well as their family members.”
2. Allgo pasa! : newsletter of the Austin Latino/a Lesbian & Gay Organization located in the Benson Latin American Collection
   • “allgo celebrates and nurtures vibrant queer people of color communities here in Texas and beyond through cultural arts, wellness, and social justice programming. They support artists and artistic expression; promote health and wellness; and mobilize our community to make change. They work deeply and intentionally with our partners and allies to challenge marginalization and oppression in all their forms, and to build a just and equitable society.”
3. National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGÓ) Records, 1987-2004 located in the Benson Latin American Collection
   • “The National Latino/a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Organization (LLEGÓ), was a nonprofit organization committed to organizing Latino/a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities through mobilization and networking.”
4. Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas records, 1981-1991 located in the Briscoe Center for American History
   • “The Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas was founded in 1982 as the Lesbian/Gay Rights Advocates, which itself was formed from a meeting of members of the Lesbian/Gay Democrats of Texas and the Texas Gay Task Force. Since 2005 the LGRL has been known as Equality Texas. Equality Texas is a statewide political group dedicated to fighting for the cause of equality in Texas.”
5. The Texas triangle : the lesbian and gay news weekly of Austin located in the Briscoe Center for American History
   • Weekly newspaper covering LGBT news and culture published in Austin, Texas.
6. Texas Lesbian Conference located in the Briscoe Center for American History
   • “Correspondence, classified files, lists, artifacts, financial records, notebooks, newspaper clippings and photographs documenting and assembled by the Texas Lesbian Conference relating to annual conferences 1988 to 1992, organizational activities including fund raising, and gay and lesbian issues and rights.”
7. A Guide to the Glen Maxey Papers, 1991-2003 located in the Briscoe Center for American History
   • “Composed of correspondence and personnel, office, and legislative files, the Glen Maxey Papers, 1991-2003, chronicle Maxey’s career and activities as a politician. Personnel case files relate to his relationship with his constituents and their concerns, while office files pertain to a number of political, medical, and social issues that he was researching, such as higher education, LGBTQ communities and rights, environmental regulations and legislation, HIV research and medical programs, and affirmative action, among others.”

Zines

1. Holding My Own: Art & Poetry by LGBTQ Prisoners in Texas by Austin Anarchist Black Cross
   • “A zine composed for and by LGBTQ prisoners currently incarcerated in the Texas prison system. This project is a response to the anticipated Trans Prisoner Day of action, which calls for a greater effort to raise awareness around prisoner’s struggles, to connect people inside and outside of prisons, and to promote non-criminalized identities and personal expression.”
2. Feminist Action Project Zines in the UT Libraries’ collection
3. GSC list of Zines by UT Student Organizations
   • A collection of zine titles put together by UT Austin’s Gender and Sexuality Center.

Join the conversation by contributing to a Zine! Stop by the display and decorate one of the half-sheets provided following one of the prompts below. iSchool Pride will choose pages from these submissions to incorporate into a collective zine. This project aims to fill in information gaps in LGBTQIA+ experiences on campus. The pages will be collected into a zine and distributed by iSchool Pride in September.

Prompts:

• Write or draw about your experience with Austin Pride or LGBTQA+ organizations/events.
• What type of support do you want to see around UT Austin?
• What is pride?