Skipping toward seniority^*

^*With apologies to Dan Savage, who has a book (2002) with somewhat the same title (substitute ‘Gomorrah’ for ‘Seniority’). Savage’s book was comedic and very queer response to conservative legal scholar Robert Bork’s 1996 book, Slouching towards Gomorrah.

: one queer scholar’s romp through the weeds of academe

Abstract

This reflective essay, which is both autobiographical and historical in nature, is framed by answering the questions posed by the editors regarding my work: What values inform it, how I actually do it, and why do I do it? Quite simply, I am writing to encourage social change for all queer people, be it merely the little corner of my own social world. Furthermore, I consciously strive to be a ‘paid pestering queer.’

Keywords:

• Queer legal theory
• higher education
• tenure denial

Notes

^* With apologies to Dan Savage, who has a book (2002) with somewhat the same title (substitute ‘Gomorrah’ for ‘Seniority’). Savage’s book was comedic and very queer response to conservative legal scholar Robert Bork’s 1996 book, Slouching towards Gomorrah.

1. One of the worst queer bashings happened during the fall of 1994, when a freshman was attacked while walking to class on-campus (see Marchetti & Reitz, 1995, February 13, for a cryptic reference to the attack). Three to four homophobic white goons had spotted the numerous gay pride buttons on his backpack as they were driving by in an open jeep. They jumped out and promptly kicked his face in. The campus police did nothing, nor did the administration. But the local police arrested the young male attackers, and the county judge threw the proverbial book at the then Penn State students. Only after they were convicted did the administration act, booting the felons out of school. Not because they were violent bigots, but because they were finally convicted felons.

2. I was very conflicted by my own participation throughout this process (see Lugg & Murphy, 2014). Besides the structural hostility to all things queer, the erasure of queers of color is just odious. I ultimately decided to remain involved, hoping that the final product would be so odious that the larger membership would has the same questions that my colleagues and allies have been posing – for many years.