Lecture Series in LGBTQ2S+ Studies
Together, we can continue to host internationally renowned LGBTQ2S+ scholars, artists and activists in our city.
Timed to coincide with Calgary's Pride Week, the annual LGBTQ2S+ Lecture brings something important to the celebration: lively and accessible academic perspectives that help us to understand how far we've come, and how far we still need to go.
To secure the future of this lecture and ensure this series continues for our community - today and tomorrow, the CIH is raising $250,000 to support the lecture for years to come.
Growing the LGBTQ2S+ Lecture Series fund will enable us to bring powerful and recognized speakers to our city, allowing us to celebrate diversity and continue moving the conversation forward.
Since the 1960s, UCalgary has been a strong voice in our city for the LGBTQ2S+ community. The CIH Annual Lecture continues this proud tradition, providing an open, free and accessible forum to discuss issues of vital importance to the LGBTQ2s+ community. This lecture is a key part of UCalgary's continued commitment to issues of diversity and inclusion and plays an essential role in promoting those values in the communities we serve. Launched in 2019, the LGBTQ2S+ Lecture Series has featured history altering figures who continue to play a leading role in shaping our future.
In 2019, we hosted pioneering historian Professor George Chauncey. Chauncey is the author of the ground-breaking study Gay New York and has been an expert witness in more than thirty gay rights cases in the US-changing the course of LGBTQ history in our era.
In 2020, the series hosted the equally distinguished historian Dr. Lillian Faderman, author of Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers and internationally celebrated scholar of lesbian and queer history and literature.
In 2021, during the pandemic, we had an online salon featuring three acclaimed young indigenous artists and activists: poet Billy-Ray Belcourt, novelist Joshua Whitehead, and singer-songwriter Shawnee Kish.
To continue these important conversations, we need your support.
The Calgary Institute for the Humanities has committed funds to support the development of this lecture series. However, to ensure the long-term sustainability of this initiative, financial support from the community is essential. With your support we can build an initiative that explores the history of the LGBTQ2S+ while engaging in pivotal conversations about building a stronger future.