David K. Johnson

Last updated
David K. Johnson
Born
David Kenneth Johnson

Keene, New Hampshire
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Georgetown University
University of Chicago
Northwestern University
OccupationHistorian
Employer University of South Florida
TitleProfessor

David K. Johnson (born c. 1962) [1] is an American historian and author who has taught at the University of South Florida since 2003. He specializes in LGBTQ and gender history in the 20th-century United States.

His first book, The Lavender Scare, was made into a documentary film that garnered best documentary awards at over a dozen film festivals and broadcast nationwide on PBS June 18, 2019. [2] His second book, Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement chronicles the rise of a gay commercial network in the years leading up to the Stonewall Riots. It was released in March 2019 by Columbia University Press in its series on "Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism". It was featured in a starred review in Publishers Weekly . [3]

A nationally recognized authority on LGBT history, Johnson has contributed to government reports and amicus briefs that document a history of discrimination and thereby seek to expand civil rights protections and create a more inclusive educational curriculum. [4] He contributed to the National Park Foundation’s study "LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History". [5]

Johnson, who is gay, [1] earned a B.A. from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, both in history. He has enjoyed fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Social Science Research Council. As a professor in the History Department at the University of South Florida, he teaches courses on the post-1945 U.S. and the history of gender and sexuality.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ community</span> Community and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

The LGBTQ community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBTQ activists and sociologists see LGBTQ community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBTQ community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBTQ community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBTQ community.

Gay bashing is an attack, abuse, or assault committed against a person who is perceived by the aggressor to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+). It includes both violence against LGBT people and LGBT bullying. The term covers violence against and bullying of people who are LGBT, as well as non-LGBT people whom the attacker perceives to be LGBT.

Queer studies, sexual diversity studies, or LGBTQ studies is the study of topics relating to sexual orientation and gender identity usually focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender dysphoric, asexual, aromantic, queer, questioning, and intersex people and cultures.

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 1975.

The origin of the LGBT student movement can be linked to other activist movements from the mid-20th century in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement and Second-wave feminist movement were working towards equal rights for other minority groups in the United States. Though the student movement began a few years before the Stonewall riots, the riots helped to spur the student movement to take more action in the US. Despite this, the overall view of these gay liberation student organizations received minimal attention from contemporary LGBT historians. This oversight stems from the idea that the organizations were founded with haste as a result of the riots. Others historians argue that this group gives too much credit to groups that disagree with some of the basic principles of activist LGBT organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marsha P. Johnson</span> Black American gay liberation activist (1945–1992)

Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Johnson was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Rivera</span> American LGBT rights activist (1951–2002)

Sylvia Rivera was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera, who identified as a drag queen for most of her life and later as a transgender person, participated in demonstrations with the Gay Liberation Front.

Over the course of its history, the LGBTQ community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lavender Scare</span> Mid-20th century U.S. government discrimination against homosexuals

The Lavender Scare was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign which is known as McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. Gay men and lesbians were said to be national security risks and communist sympathizers, which led to the call to remove them from state employment. It was thought that gay people were more susceptible to being manipulated, which could pose a threat to the country. Lesbians were at less risk of persecution than gay men, but some lesbians were interrogated or lost their jobs.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450 on April 27, 1953. Effective May 27, 1953, it revoked President Truman's Executive Order 9835 of 1947, and dismantled its Loyalty Review Board program. Instead, it charged the heads of federal agencies and the Civil Service Commission, supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with the task of investigating federal employees to determine whether they posed security risks. It expanded the definitions and conditions used to make such determinations. The order contributed to the ongoing Lavender scare of the mid-1950s, barring thousands of lesbian and gay applicants from government jobs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Florida</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Florida have federal protections, but many face legal difficulties on the state level that are not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity became legal in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas on June 26, 2003, although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy law. Same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since January 6, 2015. Discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations is outlawed following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. In addition, several cities and counties, comprising about 55 percent of Florida's population, have enacted anti-discrimination ordinances. These include Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and West Palm Beach, among others. Conversion therapy is also banned in a number of cities in the state, mainly in the Miami metropolitan area, but has been struck down by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In September 2023, Lake Worth Beach, Florida became an official "LGBT sanctuary city" to protect and defend LGBT rights.

William Leap is an emeritus professor of anthropology at American University and an affiliate professor in the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University. He works in the overlapping fields of language and sexuality studies and queer linguistics, and queer historical linguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ history in the United States</span>

LGBTQ history in the United States spans the contributions and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, as well as the LGBTQ social movements they have built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education and the LGBT community</span>

Historically speaking, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people have not been given equal treatment and rights by both governmental actions and society's general opinion. Much of the intolerance for LGBT individuals come from lack of education around the LGBT community, and contributes to the stigma that results in same-sex marriage being legal in few countries (31) and persistence of discrimination, such as in the workplace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African-American LGBTQ community</span> African-American population within the LGBT community

The African-American LGBT community, otherwise referred to as the Black American LGBT community, is part of the overall LGBTQ culture and overall African-American culture. The initialism LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-LGBT curriculum laws in the United States</span> Current and former laws limiting discussion of LGBT topics in public schools

Anti-LGBT curriculum laws are laws approved by various U.S. states that limit the discussion of sexuality and gender identity in public schools. In theory, these laws mainly apply to sex ed courses, but they can also be applied to other parts of the school curriculum as well as to extracurricular activities such as sports and organizations such as gay–straight alliances. In July 2022, a wave of anti-LGBT curriculum resurgence saw ten such laws beginning to take effect in six different states. Some states enacting these new laws appear to have mirrored similar laws from other states.

<i>Grecian Guild Pictorial</i> Magazine

Grecian Guild Pictorial was an American physique magazine published from 1955 until 1968. While ostensibly dedicated to art, health, and exercise, like other physique magazines of the time, it was understood that, in practice, its homoerotic photography and illustrations were almost exclusively created by and for gay men. It differed from other physique magazines in its focus on themes and imagery from Ancient Greece, which was seen by many as a coded reference to homosexuality. It has been described as one of the "gayer" of the physique magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ah Men</span> Clothing store that catered to gay men

Ah Men was a clothing store in West Hollywood which catered to a gay male clientele. It was founded in the late 1950s or early 1960s by Jerry Furlow and Don Cook. It specialized in flamboyant styles, including garments made from see-through mesh, form-fitting swimwear, "erotic" underwear, and flowing caftans. It has been called the first gay retail business in West Hollywood, an area which would eventually come to be known as one of the most prominent gay villages in the United States. Ah Men also operated one of the first gay mail order businesses, which it advertised in physique magazines and other gay-interest publications. Between its retail business, mail-order operations, and manufacturing, Ah Men employed more than fifty people. Its success paved the way for other gay-oriented clothing boutiques in the area such as All American Boy, as well as the similar mail-order business International Male, which debuted in the mid-70s.

Madeleine Tress (1932–2009) was an American employment lawyer, LGBT rights activist and memoirist who worked in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. She lost her job working for the U.S. government in the 1950s as a direct result of the lavender scare.

The notion that LGBT people, or those supportive of LGBT rights, are engaging in child grooming and enabling child sexual abuse is a far-right conspiracy theory and anti-LGBT trope. Although the belief that LGBT individuals are more likely to molest children has no basis in fact, this stereotype has existed for decades in the U.S. and Europe, going back to before World War II.

References

  1. 1 2 "Being gay in America: A historian's view". Tampa Bay Times (Interview). Interviewed by Jay Cridlin. August 28, 2005. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  2. "THE LAVENDER SCARE Premieres Tuesday, June 18 on PBS". PBS. May 14, 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  3. "Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement". Publishers Weekly. February 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  4. "BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE HISTORIANS OF ANTIGAY DISCRIMINATION IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS-APPELLEES" (PDF). ACLU. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  5. "LGBTQ Heritage Theme Study". October 31, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2021.