CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

In this keynote address delivered by Alyson Bechdel on the final day of CLAGS Queers and Comics conference, Bechdel reflects on the history of queer comics and how it can serve as a stand-in for queer history. Bechdel, who is known for her groundbreaking comic Dykes to Watch Out For and her graphic memoir turned Broadway play, Fun Home, uses her personal history as an example of how queer comics rose from the shadows and into the mainstream. Bechdel concludes by raising the question of what it would be like if there were no labels and if comics and queer characters could live on bookshelves alongside more traditional characters and novels.

Although formally instituted at the CUNY Graduate Center in 1991, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies was first conceived 5 years earlier by Martin, Duberman, one of the first historians to embrace the, then infantile, field of Queer Studies. Duberman sensed the need for a formal center devoted to queer research. As the first university-based center for LGBTQ research, CLAGS continues to demonstrate its dedication to advancing Queer Studies, by hosting public events showcasing queer research and sponsoring fellowships to support queer scholars. Among its many notable contributions, CLAGS annually puts on at least one major conference and holds the Kessler Award Lecture every fall to celebrate a queer scholar who has made a notable contribution to the field of queer studies.