call for nominations: LCC activism award

LCC Activism Award:

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. 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. 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.

The current cochairs are Deb Kamen (dkamen@uw.edu) and Mark Masterson (Mark.Masterson@vuw.ac.nz). The current treasurer is Jorge Bravo (jbravo@umd.edu).

Award Recipients

2014 Ruby Blondell was awarded the first-ever LCC Activism Award for being a tireless member of the organization since its foundation and for supporting and promoting LGBT rights outside the context of the organization.