The LCC's mission
statement declares, "the purpose of the Caucus is twofold: scholarly and
political." If our scholarly purpose is (in brief) to support queer
scholarship, our political purpose is (in brief) to support queer politics. In
the 23 years since the Caucus was founded, we have done an increasingly
successful job in fulfilling the former purpose, both by organizing panels and
by offering awards for scholarly work. Our political purpose has, by contrast,
been confined to the valuable yet limited role of providing queer scholars with
the support of a like-minded community.
In order to redress
this imbalance, at the LCC meeting in Seattle in January 2013 the members voted
to institute an Activism Award of $100, to be given either annually or as often
as a fitting nominee is presented. The award is intended to honor an LCC member
who has worked to promote the rights and well-being of sexual minorities in
ways that go beyond the usual academic missions of teaching and scholarship.
Such work should have taken place at any time within the past five years, and might
include (without being limited to) any of the following:
-- Volunteering with,
or advising, college or community groups
-- Working for
political initiatives, causes, or candidates (locally or nationally)
-- Engaging in public
advocacy (e.g. through op-eds, letters to the editor, blogs, websites, or social
media)
-- Organizing and/or
participating in protests or other forms of resistance to hate and oppression
The nomination process
is extremely simple. Send either of the co-chairs, or the treasurer, the name
of the person who deserves such recognition, with a very brief description of
the reason (e.g. the name of the organization for which they have worked). We
will then contact the nominee for more details. All LCC members are eligible, including students and other non-paying members. Self-nominations are
encouraged, but since we are hoping to reach the unsung heroes among us, we
urge you to nominate those who may be too modest to identify themselves. Please note that nominators need not themselves be members of the LCC. Nominations
will be accepted throughout the year, but for recognition at the APA they
should be received by October 31st in the preceding year. Unsuccessful
nominations will remain on file for consideration in subsequent years.
