Before the riots in Stonewall garnered national attention to the plight of queer revolution, an organization was planting its roots in the midwest that would capture national attention and set legal precedents for years to come. Fight Repression of Erotic Expression (F.R.E.E.), a student organization at the University of Minnesota, increased educational awareness of queer communities by engaging with public school programs and local police departments, organizing social LGBTQIA+ events and protesting inequitable state legislature. At the forefront of the activism, co-founders Jack Baker and Michael McConnell secured their own legacies as the first same-sex couple to be married in the United States. Focusing on the organizational structure, key players, the role of counter forces that contributed to FREE’s demise, with a contextual overview the role power structures play on liberation movements, this presentation and paper analyzes F.R.E.E.’s founding in 1969 to its disbandment in 1971, utilizing documents held at the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Archival Collection at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities.

Q​​ueering the Discourse: Heteronormativity and Consent is a Qualitative study that aims to unveil how queer people and those who have been ascribed labels of social deviance acquire consent knowledge in a white heteropatriarchal social world. Existing scholarship indicates Queer populations have sophisticated understandings of consent and in this study, I argue these understandings are an appropriate model for how all populations should approach consent (Beres, 2022). Further, in this study, I define a cultural phenomenon wherein hegemonic structures, hinged upon heteronormativity and whiteness, serve to construct a false notion of "consent" which proves to be inapt for all populations and situates Queer people and Queer bodies as inherently predatory. Using testimony derived from semi-structured interviews with Queer students on DePaul University’s campus, I examine the ways a label of deviance and a false association with predatory behavior construct a sense of shame among Queer people and catalyze a proclivity to acquire more sophisticated, nuanced, and concrete definitions of consent among Queer populations. Additionally, this study exists to discover the ways in which this sense of shame impacts Queer people's confidence, comfortability, and agency when attempting to form relationships and community. This study intends to intervene white heteropatriarchy and contextualize the ways in which Queer people are ascribed as deviant or predatory and made to feel as though their mere existence infringes upon “consent” while promoting the models and understandings of true consent that are proposed by Queer populations.

Today, many schools across the United States have a heteronormative climate that brings about LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) erasure in the hallways and in curricula. Though there has been progress in the representation of LGBTQ rights in legislation, this is still an issue. Previous research has shown that this erasure comes in many forms. First, discussions on LGBTQ identities, issues, and perspectives are limited or nonexistent in classrooms. Second, school administrators often do not address bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Lastly, schools lack resources readily available to LGBTQ students. By using how the previous research explains LGBTQ erasure, I will examine the questions: (1) What makes the absence of LGBTQ discourse and curricula LGBTQ erasure? and (2) What can we do to combat this ever-growing issue in schools? By doing this, it will raise awareness on just how serious LGBTQ erasure in schools are and that we need to start using strategies to combat this issue. This is important because many LGBTQ students are negatively impacted both physically and mentally, by the LGBTQ erasure going on in schools today. Many LGBTQ students go through intense bullying and harassment from their peers and are not seen or heard by school staff. LGBTQ students are also more likely than their heterosexual peers to think of suicide. Future research should look at how combating this issue directly affects LGBTQ students mental health and look for changes in LGBTQ student suicide rates.

While many typically believe transgender issues are new, Christine Jorgensen emerged as a media celebrity in 1952 as one of the first transgender women. Many historians and gender scholars have analyzed Jorgensen specifically in relation to gender, however, they do not analyze her larger role as the first representative of the transgender community. Thus, I ask: In what ways did Jorgensen both positively progress and negatively complicate the transsexual movement? How did Jorgensen articulate her understanding of gender? And in so doing, how did she become a key figure of social movements concerned with issues of sexuality and gender? My research contributes to the larger scholarly conversation about the transgender movement by analyzing the ways Jorgensen used her public platform to both occupy the spotlight and educate the public. She performed in her own show, released an autobiography, directed an autobiographical movie, and spoke at many universities, all to tell her story and answer questions. However, as much as she was an expert on transgender issues, she got into trouble when it came to both the Women’s Liberation and Gay Rights Movements. A product of her time, her views on gender conflicted with feminists and her conservative thoughts on the Gay community’s efforts caused many to denounce her. I discovered, however, that Jorgensen’s views were transformed through interactions with the efforts of lesbians to declare their rights in 1973. Overall, my paper demonstrates the importance of Christine Jorgensen as an early voice for transgender identity and the fluidity of gender.