News and Events
Kevin Jennings Establishes Eugene R. Cummings LGBT Studies Senior Thesis Prize
Save the Date! HGLC 25th Anniversary Weekend September 26 - September 28, 2008, in Cambridge
James Esseks, ACLU Litigation Director, talks about LGBT Rights and the Courts
Andrew Holleran talks about the Gay & Lesbian Review
Harvard Corporation Adds Gender Identity to Non-Discrimination Code
The Supreme Court Affirms the Solomon Amendment
An interview with Keith Boykin, author of Beyond the Down Low: Sex Lies and Denial in Black America
Massachusetts Representative Jarrett Barrios talks about marriage equality
May-June LGBT Reunion Events
Don't miss your reunion this June! In addition to the Caucus' Annual Dinner on Thursday, June 5th, there will be many other LGBT events for reunion goers to enjoy.
Harvard Business School Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association will be hosting a reception for alumni and current HBS students on Saturday, May 31st from 2-4 pm in Hawes' 2nd Floor lounge area (building attached to and behind Aldrich) on the HBS campus.
The 50th Reunion will have a get-together for gay and lesbian classmates and their partners on Monday, June 2, from 4:30 to 6pm.
The 25th Reunion will be holding a final Reunion Brunch on Sunday, June 8th at noon.
The 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th Reunions will hold a joint GLBT Gathering on Saturday, June 7th, 2008, 4-6pm in the Quincy House Senior Common Room and (weather permitting) Courtyard.
The HAA hosts a joint cocktail party for the 25th, 35th, 50th & 55th Reunions on Wednesday, June 4th, from 4-6 p.m. at Grays Hall in Harvard Yard.
A Medical Area Reunion Event social hour will be held for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender members of reuning medical area classes, as well our straight friends, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Friday June 6, 2008, in the 3rd floor Atrium in Gordon Hall, 25 Shattuck Street.
For more details, please go to the Reunions page in our Members Only area. You will be asked for the Members Area user name and password. If you are a current member and do not know them, please log in to our Online Membership Directory, then follow the link to the "Members Only Area" on the main menu. Once on the Members Only page, the Reunions page is the first link under Noteworthy Topics. Or you can email Brian Sands at for access instructions. If you are a member or are eligible for membership, but are not a registered user of the Online Membership Directory, we invite you to sign up at the link above. If you are not a member and would like to join, please click on the Join HGLC on the menu bar above.
Kevin Jennings Establishes Eugene R. Cummings LGBT Studies Senior Thesis Prize
Caucus member, Kevin Jennings, AB '85, has established the Eugene R. Cummings LGBT Studies Senior Thesis Prize at Harvard College, announcing the gift at the Caucus' 2007 annual June dinner. Cummings, the son of an Irish immigrant schoolteacher from Fall River, Massachusetts, was a gay student at the Harvard Dental School who ended his life on June 11, 1920, just days short of receiving his degree, after being interrogated and informed that he would be expelled by the "secret court" that purged gay men from Harvard in 1920. The prize was established to ensure that his name and experiences will not be forgotten and that future generations will have opportunities for self-expression that were denied to Mr. Cummings.
Read Harvard's announcement
Read Kevin's announcement speech
Watch the annoumncement video
Save the Date! Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus Reunion Weekend
From the Closet to a Place at the Table: Celebrating 25 Years of HGLC
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, September 26 - September 28, 2008, Cambridge, MA
co-sponsored by the Harvard Alumni Association
HGLC is pleased to announce our first-ever, Caucus-wide weekend for LGBT alumni/ae, faculty, staff and students. Please join us for three days of events, symposia, meals, parties and socializing to celebrate HGLC's 25 years of advocating for Harvard's LGBT community.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Sheraton Commander in Harvard Square. To book a room, call 1-888-627-7121 and mention the Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus.
To help us determine programming for the event, we hope you'll give us your feedback by clicking on this link http://memdir.org/HGLC/members/update_major_event.cfm (If you haven't already registered for our online membership directory, you'll first be asked to select a user name and password and then answer some basic profile questions.)
If you would like to participate in the planning for the weekend, we hope you'll indicate your interest by checking the appropriate boxes on the survey or by contacting Tom Parry at . Watch for more information on this website. We look forward to seeing you in the fall of 2008!
LGBT Rights and the Courts
Keynote address by James Esseks
2006 Annual Commencement Dinner
Caucus member James Esseks is litigation director for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender, and AIDS Project of the non-partisan American Civil Liberties Union. Founded twenty years ago, its mission is to insure even- handed treatment of LGBT people by the government, equal rights and protection for couples and families, and protection from discrimination in jobs, schools, housing and public accommodations. Its HIV mission is to insure that AIDS-related fears do not lead to the discrimination against people with HIV and do not compromise their basic constitutional rights. Today, under James' guidance, the project advances more LGBT cases and than any other national civil rights organization. James graduated from Yale in 1987 and Harvard Law School in 1991, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. On June 8, 2006, James delivered the keynote address at HGLC's Annual Commencement Day Dinner.
2006 HGLC Intellectual Innovator Award Presentation to Richard Schneider, Ph.D. '81, Founding Editor, Gay & Lesbian Review
By Andrew Holleran
Andrew Holleran (ne Eric Garber, AB '65) is a prominent author and essayist best known for his seminal novel Dancer from the Dance published in 1978. His latest work is Grief: A Novel (Hyperion 2006). Mr. Holleran is a frequent contributor to the Gay & Lesbian Review and his 10,000-word memoir entitled "My Harvard"—a transcript of the talk he gave at the HGLC annual dinner in 1993—was featured in the very first issue of the Review. On June 8, 2006, Andrew presented Richard Schneider, Founding Editor of the Gay & Lesbian Review, with the 2006 HGLC Intellectual Innovator Award at the Caucus' Annual Commencement Day Dinner.
Harvard Corporation Adds Gender Identity to Non-Discrimination Code
On April 11, 2006, the heads of Harvard’s Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Human Resources announced in a meeting with the Transgender Task Force that “gender identity” had been added to the list of protected categories in Harvard’s nondiscrimination code. This protection applies to all members of the Harvard community: students, faculty, staff and all other employees. Harvard is the third largest employer in Massachusetts, and the largest full-time employer in the state, and Harvard is the 56th U.S. University to include gender identity as a protected class. (See http://www.transgenderlaw.org/college/index.htm). Since 1997, the Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus has been lobbying the Harvard administration to make this crucial change. (See http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512669)
2006 was a major year for trans activism, education, and visibility at Harvard, sparking much discussion both within the student body and between students and administrators. (See http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512591 and http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512321)
An anonymous ‘zine appeared on campus in the fall, with first-person experiences and rationales for change. (See http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/queer/ttb.pdf)
The Supreme Court Affirms the Solomon Amendment
On March 6, 2006, in the case of Rumsfeld v. FAIR, the Supreme Court rejected the arguments of FAIR (Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights), SALT (Society of American Law Teachers) and several individual plaintiffs and upheld the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment.
In Rumsfeld v. FAIR, the Supreme Court decided that law schools' and law faculties' First Amendment free speech rights were not violated by the Solomon Amendment because law schools and faculties remain free to voice their opposition to the military's discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus will continue to support students, faculty and staff as they protest against military recruiters on campus. In addition, the Caucus seeks ameliorative measures from the university for the suspension of Harvard’s anti-discrimination policy as it relates to sexual orientation. The Supreme Court's opinion in Rumsfeld v. FAIR is a call to arms to Harvard administrators to vocally demonstrate their opposition to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and to publicly endorse the recently introduced legislation, The Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2005 (H.R. 1059), sponsored by Rep. Martin Meehan (D-MA). This proposed law would repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military.
For further information, please go to:
An Interview with Keith Boykin
Author-activist Keith Boykin's latest book, Beyond the Down Low, published in 2005 by Carroll & Graf, explores an underground subculture of men who engage in same-sex sexual activity in secret while projecting a heterosexual public image. Attempting to counteract some sensationalized reporting on this phenomenon-such as the notion that the down low is exclusively the province of African-American men-the book became a bestseller that refocused the debate on "the DL."
In his first book, One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America, Keith argued that blacks and gays have in common a struggle against oppression and negative stereotypes. This and other points of intersection between gay issues and black issues have found their way into many articles in places like The Advocate and The Village Voice, and in Keith's widely syndicated column in GLBT newspapers. Daily commentary can be found on his website at www.keithboykin.com.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, JD '92, where he was a leader in the campus diversity movement and editor of The Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Keith went on to take a position in the Clinton White House as special assistant to the President and director of specialty media. For a time the highest-ranking openly gay person in the White House, Keith helped organize the nation's first meeting between gay and lesbian leaders and a U.S. president. Residing in New York City, he now serves as board president of the National Black Justice Coalition.
A popular public speaker and national media commentator, Keith was the featured speaker at the 2005 annual dinner. We asked Keith to elaborate a little on some of his remarks and also discuss Beyond the Down Low. The following exchange was conducted by Richard Schneider, PhD '81, Editor of the Gay & Lesbian Review.
Marriage Equality in Massachusetts
Keynote address by Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett Barrios
2004 Annual Commencement Dinner
Jarrett Barrios, AB '90, works for Massachusetts as the Democratic State Senator representing Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Charlestown, Allston and parts of Revere, Saugus and Somerville.
The son of a carpenter and a social worker, Jarrett came to Harvard University at the age of 17 where he chaired the Harvard-Radcliffe Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Student's Association. After graduating in 1990 with high honors, working for the Boston City Council and on local campaigns, he obtained his law degree with honors from Georgetown University.
Jarrett returned to Cambridge, where he practiced law at the Boston firms of Hill & Barlow and Piper Rudnick. At Hill & Barlow he was awarded the "Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year" award in 1997 for his representation of a gay Dominican in asylum proceedings. In 1998, he began his legislative career when he was elected to the House of Representatives--the first openly gay man ever elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was reelected without opposition in 2000. In 2002, he was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate.
In the spring of 2004, Jarrett lead the opposition in the Massachusetts Statehouse to the proposed Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. On June 10, 2004, Jarrett delivered the keynote address at HGLC's Annual Commencement Day Dinner.
