Ten noted rhetorical critics disrupt the silence regarding nonnormative sexualities in the study of American historical discourse and upend the heteronormativity that governs much of rhetorical history. Enacting both political and radical visions, these scholars articulate the promises of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender public address. The contributors consider figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harvey Milk, Marlon Riggs, and Lorraine Hansberry; and issues as diverse as collective identity, nineteenth-century semiotics of gender and sexuality, the sexual politics of the Harlem Renaissance, psychiatric productions of the queer, and violence-induced traumatic styles.

Queering the Public Sphere in Mexico and Brazil is a groundbreaking comparative analysis of the historical development and contemporary dynamics of LGBT activism in Latin America’s two largest democracies. Rafael de la Dehesa focuses on the ways that LGBT activists have engaged with the state, particularly in alliance with political parties and through government health agencies in the wake of the AIDS crisis. He examines this engagement against the backdrop of the broader political transitions to democracy, the neoliberal transformation of state–civil society relations, and the gradual consolidation of sexual rights at the international level. His comparison highlights similarities between sexual rights movements in Mexico and Brazil, including a convergence on legislative priorities such as antidiscrimination laws and the legal recognition of same-sex couples. At the same time, de la Dehesa points to notable differences in the tactics deployed by activists and the coalitions brought to bear on the state. De la Dehesa studied the archives of activists, social-movement organizations, political parties, religious institutions, legislatures, and state agencies, and he interviewed hundreds of individuals, not only LGBT activists, but also feminists, AIDS and human-rights activists, party militants, journalists, academics, and state officials. He marshals his prodigious research to reveal the interplay between evolving representative institutions and LGBT activists’ entry into the political public sphere in Latin America, offering a critical analysis of the possibilities opened by emerging democratic arrangements, as well as their limitations. At the same time, exploring activists’ engagement with the international arena, he offers new insights into the diffusion and expression of transnational norms inscribing sexual rights within a broader project of liberal modernity. Queering the Public Sphere in Mexico and Brazil is a landmark examination of LGBT political mobilization.

This book explores the interactions between queer identity, experience, and activism and a range of communal and public spaces.

The Handbook of Rhetoric and Public Address is a state-of-the-art companion to the field that showcases both the historical traditions and the future possibilities for public address scholarship in the twenty-first century. Focuses on public address as both a subject matter and a critical perspective Mindful of the connections between the study of public address and the history of ideas Provides an historical overview of public address research and pedagogy, as well as a reassessment of contemporary public address scholarship by those most engaged in its practice Includes in-depth discussions of basic issues and controversies public address scholarship Explores the relationship between the study of public address and contemporary issues of civic engagement and democratic citizenship Reflects the diversity of views among public address scholars, advancing on-going discussions and debates over the goals and character of rhetorical scholarship

The intersection of public washrooms and gender has become increasingly politicized in recent years: queer and trans folk have been harassed for allegedly using the 'wrong' washroom, while widespread campaigns have advocated for more gender-neutral facilities. In Queering Bathrooms, Sheila L. Cavanagh explores how public toilets demarcate the masculine and the feminine and condition ideas of gender and sexuality. Based on 100 interviews with GLBT and/or intersex peoples in major North American cities, Cavanagh delves into the ways that queer and trans communities challenge the rigid gendering and heteronormative composition of public washrooms. Incorporating theories from queer studies, trans studies, psychoanalysis, and the work of Michel Foucault, Cavanagh argues that the cultural politics of excretion is intimately related to the regulation of gender and sexuality. Public toilets house the illicit and act as repositories for the social unconscious. Also offering suggestions for imagining a more inclusive public washroom, Queering Bathrooms asserts that although toilets are not typically considered within traditional scholarly bounds, they form a crucial part of our modern understanding of sex and gender.

Throughout US history, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people have been pathologized, victimized, and criminalized. Reports of lynching, burning, or murdering of LGBTQ people have been documented for centuries. Prior to the 1970s, LGBTQ people were deemed as having psychological disorders and subsequently subject to electroshock therapy and other ineffective and cruel treatments. LGBTQ people have historically been arrested or imprisoned for crimes like sodomy, cross-dressing, and gathering in public spaces. And while there have been many strides to advocate for LGBTQ rights in contemporary times, there are still many ways that the criminal justice system works against LGBTQ and their lives, liberties, and freedoms. Queering Law and Order: LGBTQ Communities and the Criminal Justice System examines the state of LGBTQ people within the criminal justice system. Intertwining legal cases, academic research, and popular media, Nadal reviews a wide range of issues—ranging from historical heterosexist and transphobic legislation to police brutality to the prison industrial complex to family law. Grounded in Queer Theory and intersectional lenses, each chapter provides recommendations for queering and disrupting the justice system. This book serves as both an academic resource and a call to action for readers who are interested in advocating for LGBTQ rights.

This book addresses queer issues and current events from a communication perspective to articulate a queer communication pedagogy. Through putting communication pedagogy and queer studies into dialogue, the book investigates how queer theory and critical communication pedagogy intersect in pedagogical spaces. The chapters identify institutional and educational barriers, oppressions, and issues pertaining to queer lives in the context of higher education. Using a variety of critical methodological approaches (including dialogic methods, autoethnography, performative writing, and visual methods), each chapter theorizes a queer communication pedagogy, and offers a path toward and innovative ideas about materializing queer communication pedagogy as a disciplinary endeavor. This book will be of interest to scholars, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduate students in Communication Studies, Critical Communication Pedagogy, Intercultural Communication, Higher Education, Public Pedagogy, and Queer Studies, and Critical/Cultural Studies.