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Why Minor in LGBTQ Studies?

LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) social, cultural, and political issues are a defining feature of 21st-century life. Including fights for human rights and efforts toward fair representation in popular media, LGBTQ topics and concerns continue to transform societal institutions on a global scale.

Situated within the context of these wide-ranging transformations, Champlain’s LGBTQ Studies minor provides students with an educational grounding in queer epistemologies so they can participate as politically engaged and informed citizens and intellectuals.

This minor focuses on the social and political forces shaping norms (particularly those pertaining to sexuality, gender expression, and family formation) and, conversely, how these norms come to be challenged—either through their own internal contradictions or through the pointed interventions of activists seeking social justice. In this minor, you’ll examine the complex histories, cultures, political activities, and expressions of LGBTQ people while exploring questions related to larger social and institutional foundations.

Upon completion of this minor, you will be able to:

  • describe the lives and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in different times and places;
  • identify the theories—Queer theory, LGBT theories, and theories of power and agency—that make sense of and explicate queer and LGBT lives;
  • examine LGBTQ political action and social movements;
  • utilize intersectional analysis to examine LGBTQ life in the U.S. and transnationally;
  • analyze the cultural production of LGBTQ individuals and how their lives and identities have been represented by others; and
  • advance LGBTQ human rights and social and economic justice.

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