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NWSA LESBIAN CAUCUS
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SUNY Prize for first book manuscript in the field of queer studies

SUNY Press is proud to announce our 2009 competition for the best single-authored dissertation or first book manuscript in the field of queer studies. We welcome nonfiction manuscripts that exemplify cutting-edge scholarship that engages issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or other non-heteronormative experience, whether
the area of focus is historical or contemporary. The competition is open to scholars from all disciplinary backgrounds, but we especially encourage work that speaks effectively across disciplines, and projects that offer new perspectives on concerns central to the field of queer studies. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Activism and resistance
Religion
Queer histories and subcultures
Intersectionality
Queer assimilation
Experiences of queer people of color
Health and sexuality
Queer feminisms
Global and transnational queer issues
Sexuality and the law
Institutions and public policies
Queer economics
Sex work
Queer families
Passing and issues of performance
Queer youth and queer aging
Affect, desire and embodiment
Gender and queer sexuality
Transgender studies
Gender and violence
Heterosexism and homophobia
Queerness and disability
Queer pedagogy
Cultural production (media, film, music, literature)

If a winner of the competition is selected, he or she will receive a publication contract with SUNY Press and a $3,000 advance. Runners up may also be considered for publication with SUNY Press.

All submissions must be postmarked between April 1 and June 1, 2009, and should include the following materials:

--Cover letter
--C.V.
--Proposal, including a 4-5 page overview of the scope of the project
and analysis of competing titles (competing titles are books already
published that would compete for individual sales and course adoptions
with your book)
--Complete manuscript, at least 150 double spaced pages, unbound, 12 pt.
Courier font

Please mention the competition in your cover letter, and also indicate if any material from the manuscript has been previously published. All submissions must be exclusive submissions to SUNY Press for the duration of the contest, and the winner will be announced by October 1, 2009.

Please direct all questions and submissions to

Larin McLaughlin
Acquisitions Editor
SUNY Press
194 Washington Ave., Ste. 305
Albany, NY 12210
larin.mclaughlin@sunypress.edu


GENERAL RESOURCES

THE TOOLKIT for LGBT and Ally College Students & Organizations

Twelve organizations from around the country have joined forces to create a comprehensive, web-based toolkit for LGBT and ally campus groups.

The Toolkit provides streamlined access to hundreds of resources that can be used to strengthen, develop, support, and expand college and university organizations.

Whether you are looking for information, publications, strategies, or resources, this is the one-stop source you have been waiting for.

http://www.getthetoolkit.com


Click here to access our resources

Queer People of Color Documentaries
( PDF download resource)
While not exhaustive, this list has several good listings of a diverse array of documentaries on queers and queer issues.

List of High Profile GLB people
( PDF download resource)

Tips for faculty to make their classrooms inclusive
( PDF download resource)

Domestic Partner Benefits:
An Overview with Resources
A free compilation of domestic partner benefit strategies and examples for establishing DP benefits on campuses
(downloadable PDF )


Latest News from The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Lesbian
Caucus Chair:


Lisa R. Burke
Click to email

Office: 609-658-1614


GET INVOLVED

Join the Caucus
Visit our Forum!


NWSA GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
IN LESBIAN STUDIES $500

Click Here

2009 Lesbian Caucus Graduate Student Scholarship Award
sponsored and administered by
the Lesbian Caucus of the National Women’s Studies Association

Submission Deadline:  May 1, 2009 (postmark deadline; electronic submissions encouraged via NWSA website)

The purpose of the annual NWSA Lesbian Caucus Award is to provide a $500 research award in recognition of a Master’s Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation research project that resonates with the mission of NWSA and the goals of the Lesbian Caucus.

Graduate students embarking on this phase of their academic career are encouraged to submit. Membership in NWSA is encouraged but not required. 

The field of the degree is open, but the work should focus on lesbian (defined broadly) lives, identities, or realities and make a contribution to the fields of lesbian and sexuality studies. 

Award applications (http://www.nwsa.org/scholarship/lcguide.php) are evaluated on the basis of

  1. Clarity of project description;

  2. Relevance to mission of NWSA, goals of Lesbian Caucus, and field of Women’s and Gender Studies;

  3. Engagement of feminist analytical frameworks/ methodologies; and

  4. Potential impact on the fields of lesbian/sexuality studies.

All applicants are encouraged to apply for NWSA Travel Grant Awards if financial assistance is needed to attend the NWSA Annual Conference (a separate application is required so see www.nwsa.org for details).  
For further information,
contact Lisa Burke at lcchair@lists.nwsa.org.


The Marraige Issue

Jeff Jones, of the University of Kentucky, compiled the following as of April 7, 2009.
______________________

With this week's news about same-sex marriage in Iowa, Vermont, and DC, the patchwork of varying rights for same-sex couples is becoming more complex:

WHERE SOME RIGHTS EXIST:

MA, CT, IA, and VT have full marriage rights.

CA, NJ, NH, and OR offer almost all the benefits of marriage under another name (civil unions, domestic partnerships).

WA, DC, HI, MD, and ME offer some limited benefits to same-sex couples under domestic partnership laws.

NY and DC both explicitly recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

RI and NM may recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states but this has not been tested yet.

NH and ME are both considering bills to legalize equal marriage benefits for same-sex couples.

MD had a bill seeking to legalize same-sex marriages but it didn't move in the latest legislature.

NM and HI both considered bills to create full civil unions, but they failed this term. HI's bill passed its House but did not come up for a vote in the Senate.

CA had domestic partnerships, then marriage, and then banned marriages. The CA Supreme Court is considering whether a majority of voters can amend a state constitution to erase a fundamental right for a minority and whether the 36,000 people married under the prior law should be forcibly divorced.

NO RIGHTS:
Some states ban same-sex marriages but not civil unions. Thus, they leave the door open for civil unions.

Some ban marriage by statute/state laws. Others ban marriage via a constitutional amendment. Some states have both.

Kentucky has one of the most oppressive legal status. Both a state law and constitutional amendment ban same-sex marriages in the state and recognition of those performed in other states. To boot, Kentucky voters amended the state constitution to ban civil unions as well.

IN OTHER COUNTRIES:
In general, same-sex couples receive all or some of the rights granted opposite-sex couples in Europe, Australia/New Zealand, South America, and North America (more conservative areas of the US and Mexico now becoming the exceptions). Most of Asia has no recognition of same-sex couples. Much of the Middle East and Africa (except for South Africa), on the other hand, criminalize homosexuality (which is punishable by death in some countries). The pattern closely resembles which countries and provinces have the most women in political life and/or have laws more equitable to women.

Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, South Africa, and Norway all have full marriage rights.

France and Israel do not perform same-sex marriages but recognize them if performed elsewhere.

Most of western and central Europe, New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland, Uruguay, etc. offer civil unions or recognition of cohabitating couples. A number of provinces and states in Australia and several South American countries also offer some type of civil union or domestic partnership.

National Women's Studies Association
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(301) 403-0407 • nwsaoffice@nwsa.org