The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Student Resource Center released on May 5 its first list of “queer-friendly” classes to be offered in fall 2010.
“We basically wanted to put this together for students who are interested in queer studies,” said Jennifer Reed, assistant professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies.
Courses included on the list range from American Indian literature to a seminar on Chicano/Latino and Asian American film.
Reed said this is the first time the resource center has compiled such a list, which was accomplished by forming a curriculum committee and is a subcommittee of the LGBT Task Force.
According to Reed, the LGBT Task Force was created three years ago to lobby the curriculum, as well as develop political alliances and support from the university for the LGBT community on campus. She said the task force is currently working on funding the LGBT Resource Center in order to form a queer studies minor, which would help the center gain support from the campus and establish its presence.
So far, Reed has suggested two classes for her proposed curriculum: a 200-level class — Intro to Queer Studies, and a 400-level queer and gender studies course.
“I want to start with courses that already exist, as long as these classes contain 25 percent queer content,” Reed said of the proposed queer studies minor.
Reed said she hopes to finish proposals for the queer studies minor and have the classes available online after next year.
“There seems to be lots of support and interest from students,” she said.
However, Reed said nothing is certain because there seems to be a lack of support from the university.
“LGBT Resource Center doesn’t have funding,” Reed said. “We don’t have formal recognition from the campus. We asked them to give us recognition — they basically said ‘no thank you’. “
According to their website, the LGBT Resource Center was established in 1989. Former CSULB President Robert Maxson established a regular source of funding for the center in 1994, and in 2005 the center became a part of Student Life and Development.
The women’s, gender and sexuality studies department expanded their name so it could include more of the campus community and explore ideas such as gender.
“We broadened our name to women’s, gender and sexuality so that we can include concepts — not just study women but also sexuality as well as gender,” Reed said.
Reed said the need for these courses is becoming more evident due to recently reported LBGT-related occurrences around campus.
“With the Chicana Feminist Conference and the negative comments on the Daily 49er site about it, and the recent attack on the transgender student, there was no one to head up reaction — a resource center would have been the place.”
The purpose of the LGBT Resource Center is to promote full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, and queer-identified individuals and their allies at CSULB, according to the center’s website.
Currently, the LGBT Resource Center hopes to work with the university to get enough support for a full-time staff. The center is located in Faculty Offices Building 4.
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