To commemorate the 50th anniversary of coeducation, the Dartmouth LGBTQIA+ Alum Association (DGALA) and Women of Dartmouth invite you to an event exploring Dartmouth stories and perspectives of queer and trans women pre- and post-coeducation.
LGBTQIA Women at Dartmouth in the Early Years
May 10, 2022
7pm-8:30pm EST Register online
Dana Bevan ’69, Mary Klages ’80, Amelia Cramer ’82, and Dottie Foley ’86 will speak about their journey to and through Dartmouth, where they found queer community, their struggles and triumphs, and their personal and professional lives since graduation.
Becca Wade ’22 and Jess Chiriboga ’24 will join the conversation to share about their own experiences as queer students on campus now and throughout COVID-19.
This event will be moderated by S. Caroline Kerr ’05, a current Dartmouth Trustee, and is co-sponsored by all Dartmouth alumni affiliated groups and the Dartmouth Office of Pluralism and Leadership (OPAL).
To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of our Native American entities at Dartmouth (NAP, NAD, and NAIS), Native American Alumni Association of Dartmouth and Women of Dartmouth invite you to ‘My Journey To Dartmouth And Beyond’, a panel of three phenomenal alumnae highlighting their stories of Dartmouth, and beyond. In showcasing these women’s stories, we will shine a light on their contributions to Dartmouth and their alumni & Native communities, as well as the profound impact that Dartmouth had on them. We are proud of our alums – come and hear about their journeys.
Panelists
Hilary C. Tompkins (’90, Navajo), current Dartmouth Trustee
Mabelle Drake Hueston (’86, Navajo), former co-chair of the Native American Visiting Committee (NAVC)
Sarah Harris (’00, Mohegan), NAVC committee member
Moderator
Kalina Newmark (’11, Dene), co-chair of the NAVC and former Alumni Council representative of the Native American Alumni Association of Dartmouth (NAAAD).
Please join us for this important conversation.
My Journey to Dartmouth and Beyond Thursday, April 7, 2022 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. EST Register online
This event is co-hosted by the Native American Alumni Association of Dartmouth and Women of Dartmouth, and co-sponsored by all affiliated alumni groups.
On October 7th this fall, DGALA hosted a Zoom event with Jonathan Skurnik ’86 about his documentary films “Becoming Johanna” and “A Portrait of Robert Jackson.” “Becoming Johanna” (2016) follows a transgender Latina teen as she is rejected by her mother and deals with life issues over a 5-year period. Skurnik made the Jackson short documentary when he was a senior at Dartmouth; it is a roving-around-campus interview with Robert Jackson ’86, who speaks candidly about his struggles as a black man and a gay man. The film had never been digitized, and so DGALA put up the funds to do so, and the film now will be permanently housed in the Dartmouth library system. Jonathan made both films were made available to DGALA members for viewing before the Zoom event and for a limited time thereafter. If you are interested in seeing either or both, or the Zoom event, email us at DartGALA@gmail.com.
The event was hosted by DGALA leader Lee Merkle-Raymond ’86, who knew Jonathan while the two were at Dartmouth; questions from the audience followed. The following is a summary of what was discussed.
Jonathan on Why He Made Becoming Johanna
I was gender non-conforming as a youth, and I was horribly bullied. So this project was personal to me. And it is for all youth, as well as all adults: we all are gender non-conforming to some extent, and we all are oppressed by a strict binary system. I had been reading about transgender youth living in communities that supported them. These children and their families were doing what my community hadn’t been able to do when I was a child. As a social change filmmaker, I wanted to document and help grow the movement that embraces rather than suppresses children with gender expansive identities. I found Johanna in an LA program for transgender youth, when she was 16. We worked together for five years as I followed her, and later as we toured the country to speak to large groups about the film [which also appeared on PBS].
Jonathan on the Robert Jackson ’86 Film
Robert was my friend at Dartmouth, and he had come out to me about a month before we made the film. Filmmaking was my passion at Dartmouth, and I asked if he would collaborate with me on a film about him, discussing his being black, and possibly his sexual orientation. Robert agreed, and he did come out during the filming. Later the film was screened at Webster Hall to over 300 people (as one of ten films from Jonathan’s class). Robert and I sat together; Robert was nervous; I told him I’d tell them not to run it if he wished, but he said, “No; it’s OK.” We held hands for the whole film. Afterwards, Robert received a standing ovation and much support from the audience.
Jonathan on the Future and Continued Relevance of LGBTQ+ Film-Making
There is still so much oppression and homophobia in our culture. Look at the status of Roe: such protections will continue to be under attack for many years. It is just part of the picture of progress against oppression. No one wants to give up OutFest in LA, or NewFest in New York City. I filmed a convention of LGBTQ+ Jewish young people in Orlando a few years ago. There were extremes of experience. Some kids were threatened; but in other communities there was no need to come out, as a variety of orientations were accepted. That is more what it is like today – levels of acceptance and oppression vary all around the country, and we need to approach the topic in that regard.
Jonathan Speaking with Green Light after the Zoom Event
“It was a joy to connect with both alumni and students to discuss my films. DGALA supported the digitization of the first major film that I made at Dartmouth, which I hadn’t viewed in over 25 years. It was gratifying to realize that the voice and themes that I’ve developed over a lifetime of creative output were incubated and developed while I was a student, and to see the extraordinary similarities between my very first film and my most recent PBS documentary. Another key part of my life that started at Dartmouth is my lifelong commitment to being an ally to the LGBTQ community, and making the world safe for all of us who deviate from the gender binary.”
Comment from Student Leader Jess Chiriboga ’24 About the Event
“Within, Dartmouth’s LGBTQ+ club, gathered together in Brace Commons over delicious pizza (thank you DGALA for funding!) and yummy snacks and desserts! There were a couple of new faces, which was incredible. Our group especially enjoyed seeing Dartmouth of the past in Jonathan Skurnik ’86’s film on Robert Jackson ’86. Collis sure looks a lot different these days! Thank you to DGALA for the incredible Q&A, the free pizza, and for digitizing the Jackson film for us to enjoy!”
Her publisher Random House aptly described Torrey Peters GR ’13’s best-selling 2021 novel as “brilliantly and fearlessly navigating the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.” The novel (now available in paperback and currently being adapted into a television series) has won numerous accolades (Named One of the Best Books of the Year by Esquire: Long listed for The Women’s Prize; Roxanne’s Gay Audacious Book Club Pick; New York Times Editors’ Choice). However, tackling taboos and writing honestly about sex, gender and relationships can also bring forth detractors, as well as challenge thoughtful readers. On June 15 of this year, DGALA leader Sheila Hicks-Rotella ’04 led a candid conversion about these issues, ideas and more in a Zoom presentation co-hosted by Women of Dartmouth and attended by a large audience from around the world, who also asked questions. Following is a summary of what Torrey had to say. If you’d like to view the full Zoom recording, contact us at dartgala@gmail.com.
Torrey on Her Time at Dartmouth
I transitioned and came out then; it turned out to be a good experience; people were not hostile; they were interested. My thesis advisor ended up being one of the most important people whom I have ever met. We started with a traditional thesis advising relationship, but it evolved to include broad philosophical issues; it shaped my thinking.
Influences for Detransition, Baby
Transitioning in my early 30s, I had to find meaning in life. Older trans women generally were not able to have the broader horizons that younger trans women do today. As a guide I read works of divorced cis women who were starting life anew in their 30s. You need to start over with less time, fewer illusions. They used humor, sadness, joy and loss. I tried to apply that model to trans women.
Controversies
The phenomenon of detransitioning is sometimes used by bigots and transphobes; I do not believe that it is something that we cannot talk about. We all do things in life that we come to regret, but that does not mean that we were wrong in the first place. Most people who detransition do so because it can be very difficult; you can lose friends, family, jobs. I say, “Let’s talk about it.” That is more healthy. Even to joke about it. A comparable example has arisen when same-sex couples divorce; they may feel that they are stigmatizing same-sex marriage, but that is not true. Divorce should not just be for straight people.
Another controversy was my nomination for the Women’s Prize for Fiction [a prominent prize awarded annually in England to a female author of any nationality for a work in English]. Some critics called me a man in disguise infiltrating a women’s contest. These attacks did not bother me; they triggered good conversations in the UK and actually helped sales there. I take more seriously criticisms by trans people; some felt that my book exposes too many secrets. I say that no transgender people should feel shame about any aspect of their lives, and the way to get rid of that shame is to shed sunshine, as my novel does, and as my public appearances, such as on “Good Morning America” and “Today” have done.
How Allies Can Help
There are short-term and long-term issues. Currently there are a lot of anti-trans bills in legislatures in many states. Yes, we should fight those. But you also need to understand that they are distractions so that energy gets siphoned off the fight. There are bigger issues than sports. Some trans women cannot get jobs and have other much more serious issues. And those issues extend to a lot of other people.
Advice for Writers
My early writing was for everyone and no one. Later, when I wrote for trans people, I found a sense of urgency. Don’t worry much about your craft as a writer, but ask to whom do you have something to say with urgency. Imagine those people and speak to them. If you do that, it will be interesting to others as well.
Use in the Book of “Transsexual”
Question from the audience: What were your motives in using “transsexual” rather than “transgender?” Answer [paraphrased]: This is the milieu in which I live. We sometimes make fun of the term “transgender.” Some of my trans friends have issues with the way that we have been grouped. It is not that “transgender” is a wrong term. But “transsexual” has the word “sex” in it, so it’s more fun and has a pulpy 70s feel. It’s just a preference.
How People Should Come Away from Detransition, Baby
It’s not that the book gives a solution. It describes the situation for trans women today and shows their problems. How are we going to make a life together and not lie to each other? This is the question that the book raises; the current generation of trans women must figure out how to live. In my own life I am grappling with some of the questions that the book raises.
The Zoom Session
Thank you for having me and asking such thoughtful questions. The logistics were great and the turnout was wonderful.
We are thrilled to announce that documentary filmmaker, educator, and activist Jonathan Skurnik ’86 is providing DGALA members with special FREE access to watch his film Becoming Johanna, and will then join us for a Q&A on Zoom.
You will also be treated to a short about Robert Jackson ’86 coming out his senior spring (7 min). DGALA funds are being used to fund the digitization of this film!
A Vimeo link will be sent after registration to permit viewing in advance of the Oct. 7 Q&A event. There will not be a joint viewing session for these films.
Join DGALA as we explore: “On view outdoors in New-York Historical’s rear courtyard, this exhibition explores the gay and lesbian community that flourished during the 1950s in Cherry Grove through some 70 enlarged photographs and additional ephemera from the unique holdings of the Cherry Grove Archives Collection.”
Tickets are free. This is a timed-entry event, and you must reserve your own tickets in advance here. (Please select the 6:30pm time slot.) For those interested, we can find an outdoor place to eat after the exhibition! Please RSVP here to let us know you’re coming, and that you have reserved your ticket!
Patricia Fitzgerald and Kay Guinness, Cherry Grove Beach, September 1952 |
Cherry Grove Archives Collection, Gift of Gay Nathan and Julie Paradise
DGALA had the great honor to support the research of Olivia Goodwin ’21 this year. Olivia will now be presenting their interesting and important thesis research to the DGALA community on July 13th, 7-8pm EST. Join us by registering here.
Olivia shares more information about their thesis:
Olivia Goodwin ’21
My thesis is a mixed methods approach, which explores:
how LGBTQ+ Dartmouth undergraduate students have changed their use of support networks during the COVID-19 pandemic,
the differences between students by how their environment impacted their experiences with stress, and
the differences of stressors between students of marginalized sexual orientations and marginalized gender identities.
I am specifically studying the experiences of LGBTQ+ students’ potential homotransphobic-specific stressors that quarantine imposed on some. I hope that this project becomes part of Dartmouth’s history as a record of students’ experiences during COVID-19.
Featuring Dartmouth and diversity-themed trivia, plus social time after.
Q: Which US politician, who was openly gay, was fundamental in defeating Proposition 6, which would’ve made it illegal for members of the queer community to teach in schools?
Join us at 7:30pm for trivia and awesome tunes with your host, David Blum ’93, of Great Big Trivia. Each round begins easy and gets progressively more difficult, so whether you’re a casual trivia player or seasoned trivia buff there’s something for everyone!
We’re playing for fun (and PRIDE), but like traditional pub trivia we’ll keep score.
You’ll submit answers via a Google Form and the winner will receive some DGALA swag!
Please join DGALA and Women of Dartmouth for a virtual alum book club event, held in partnership with alumna-owned Still North Books & Bar in Hanover.
We will hear from Torrey Peters GR’13, whose new book Detransition, Baby is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can’t reach. Torrey will be joined in conversation by Sheila Hicks-Rotella ’04. Reading the book is encouraged, but not required to attend.
In Detransition, Baby, Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel. Kirkus Reviews calls the debut, “Smart, funny, and bighearted. Trans women will be matching their experiences against Reese’s, but so will cis women—and so will anyone with an interest in the human condition.” And Garth Greenwell says, “It’s the smartest novel I’ve read in ages. Peters manages to be utterly savage and lacerating while also conveying endlessly expanding compassion. It’s kind of a miracle.” Peters is set to write the pilot episode of the TV adaptation for Detransition, Baby with Grey’s Anatomy writer-producers Joan Rater and Tony Phelan lined up to serve as showrunners on the half-hour dramedy adaptation of the novel.
Torrey Peters GR’13 is the author of the bestselling novel Detransition, Baby (Random House, 2021), which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize and was a Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club Pick. She is also the author of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker. Peters holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. She splits her time between Brooklyn and an off-grid cabin in Vermont.
Sheila Hicks-Rotella ’04 has worked in college and independent school admissions and financial aid for 15 years. At Dartmouth she played rugby and was a Women’s and Gender Studies major (more or less in that order). She graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a degree in School Leadership in 2009. She lives in The Bronx with her wife Emily, a technology entrepreneur, and their two young children. In her spare time she writes comedy and organizes play dates (which means something different than it did 20 years ago).
Zoom in as a panel of DGALA alums answers questions from the existing LGBTQ+ students of the campus group Within. Panelists have been selected based on Within’s survey of careers that are of the most interest. “We have lots of business presentations, so we’d like to hear more from DGALA alums in government, non-profits and the performing arts.” In addition to the panel discussion, attendees can ask questions and receive responses from alums participating. Chloe Fugle ’23 and Lee Merkle-Raymond ’86 will moderate.
DGALA and the Dartmouth College Fund are excited to be partnering for this live online opportunity for DGALA alums to meet two of our DGALA/DCF scholars.
Join us for this Zoom meeting on Wednesday, May 5 at 5pm (EDT) to hear from seniors Colin Goodbred and Jess Zhang as they share moments from their Dartmouth experience. To receive your personalized link, please register via the email distributed to DGALA members. Need help registering? Email dartgala@gmail.com.
Colin Goodbred D’21 Colin Goodbred will share stories from his experience with the triathlon team, testifying against anti-trans legislation in NH, and how his classes have shaped the person he is today.
HOMETOWN: Brentwood, TN MAJOR: Quantitative Social Science
Jess Zhang D’21 Jess Zhang will speak about her leadership role with Phi Tau (a gender-inclusive Greek house) and the project she created with the Class of 1961 arts initiative grant.
On October 15th of this year, DGALA’s board of directors, together with the Dartmouth Asian Pacific American Alumni Association (DAPAAA) Executive Board and concerned DAPAAA Alumni, wrote to President Hanlon, urging the College to provide institutional backing and long-term funding for Dartmouth’s relatively new Consortium of Studies in Race, Migration, and Sexuality (RMS Consortium). Of our Ivy League peers, Dartmouth remains the sole institution without a centralized race/ethnicity/ migration studies program, and there remains a notable lack of funding in the areas of sexuality and gender studies. DGALA believes that increased investment in this effort is a necessary step toward addressing systemic inequalities, and preparing our students to identify, tackle, and dismantle inequities across the globe.
The Consortium is directed by Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Professor Eng-Beng Lim, who was instrumental in starting the program and already making it a significant presence on campus during what is now its second year of operation. The Consortium is co-directed by Professor Kimberly Juanita Brown, and has 19 founding faculty members across the college’s departments. Notably, Matthew Garcia, professor of history and Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies and founding RMS faculty member is co-chairing the search committee for Dartmouth’s first Senior Vice President of Diversity and Equity.
DGALA and DAPAAA leaders led an awareness campaign with all alumni prior to Alumni Council that resulted in a significant number of emails about RMS being shared with alumni councilors and the Alumni Liaison committee. RMS was brought up repeatedly during Alumni Council. We hope to continue to elevate the conversation.
As a result of emails to President Hanlon and the Dean of the Faculty Professor Elizabeth Smith, the leaders have now scheduled an early November meeting with Professor Smith, whose office provided initial support for the Consortium and could be instrumental in assuring its continuation and growth.
Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Professor Eng-Beng Lim
To learn more about the RMS Consortium, DGALA recently conducted a virtual interview with Professor Lim, who is Dartmouth’s first tenured professor specializing in LGBTQIA-related academics.
Would you tell us more about the Consortium?
Thank you so much for your inquiry. I have had several meetings with the leadership of DAPAAA and DGALA concerning RMS’s status and future.
RMS is driven primarily by faculty and student interest on questions of justice (economic, social, racial, gender, sexual, migrant). It has tremendous buy-in from our campus community, and has a national presence with over twenty top scholars on our advisory board.
In terms of the Consortium’s priorities, we are putting together the following:
An interdisciplinary minor
Strengthening our Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows program (we recruited 30 this Fall)
Weekly Faculty workshops and salons, “Putting Radical Thought to Action.”
Humanities Institute on Transnational and Decolonial Ethnic Studies
Consortium lectures
Weekly newsletter (that you can subscribe by writing to us).
Our curriculum is aligned with intersectional and decolonial approaches to questions race, migration and sexuality.
My sense is that new initiatives in academia can be a challenge to advance. What is the current status and future hopes for the Consortium?
In terms of the College’s support, Dean Smith provided generous seed funding to establish the Consortium on May 6, 2019. Our agreement was for the funding to last 12-18 months, and to then find sustainable funding after that. In the meantime, I have secured additional funding from the Leslie Center [at Dartmouth] to augment her initial infusion of funds. We hope to become a Center and/or to find reliable sources of funding. Institutional priorities and fundraising are areas that are outside of my control or honestly, understanding. However, lots of alums have expressed support for RMS.
Because the work we do as a Consortium is also a matter of faculty volunteerism, we can do this work regardless of the College’s fundraising efforts. Having structural permanency would obviously have greater impact across the board on campus, and facilitate this work better. I can say in the areas where faculty have control, that is around RMS curricular re-thinking and programming for example, there is immense excitement about the Consortium across the campus. We are currently well positioned to make transformative contributions to the College in intersectional and decolonial studies of race, migration, and sexuality and their critical surround. Also, in areas of under- or zero representation, such as Asian American Studies and queer studies, RMS will try to fill in the gap and provide small offerings in and through RMS.
How does the Consortium compare with what other peer institutions are doing?
No other peer institution has a center that incorporates queerness and sexuality as part of their thinking on race. And speaking of race, we are the only Ivy League campus without a center on race and ethnicity, let alone gender and sexuality! We are on fallow ground indeed.
If you would like to express your support for the RMS Consortium and for Dartmouth to provide institutional backing and long-term funding to RMS, please write to the Alumni Liaison Committee at alc@dartmouth.edu. Those emails are shared with the Board of Trustees.
Vermont Supreme Court Justice (Freedom to Marry superhero-lawyer-icon!) Beth Robinson ’86 Zoom-side chat! How many of us know the story of the legal case Baker v. State of Vermont? One of our own, Beth Robinson ’86, was one of the lead attorneys who filed a lawsuit in Vermont on behalf of three couples seeking the freedom to marry – AND WON! Supreme Court Justice Robinson (aka Beth) offered to join us for a Q&A about the documentary “The State of Marriage,” which was made about this case! We hope you will join us for this extraordinary event!!
“Mary Bonauto partnered with small-town Vermont lawyers Beth Robinson and Susan Murray in a 2-decade struggle that built the foundation for the entire marriage equality movement. Despite fierce opposition, Vermont became the first state to grant same sex couples legal recognition through a groundbreaking 1999 State Supreme Court decision, and the first to legalize marriage equality by legislative vote in 2009.” (Amazon)
Hollywood Reporter said, “The State of Marriage” is an indispensable addition to the history of the marriage equality movement and a suspenseful nail-biter right up to the feel good ending. From groundbreaking LGBT legal recognition for same sex couples in 2000, to becoming the first state to enact same sex marriage through a dramatic legislative vote in 2009, the film shows in a very personal way how, as HRC national field director Marty Rouse says, Beth, Susan and Mary really changed the course of American history.
HRC’s Marty Rouse said, “They really changed the course of American history.” Featuring Freedom to Marry founder Evan Wolfson, civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis, and Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally.
You can watch the documentary in advance and join us at 8pm for the Q&A, or you can join us as we watch it together at 6:15pm on January 21st via Zoom before the Q&A. More details coming via email and our social media.
To mark our 35th anniversary, and in honor of SpeakOut, we are honored to be hosting an event in collaboration with The Generations Project – an organization that facilitates intergenerational queer writing workshops, and bringing LGBTQ+ experiences to life through storytelling (check them out on Instagram)!
At this event, our partners from The Generations Project will facilitate a virtual and intersectional learning program, bringing together LGBTQ+ Dartmouth alums for a creative sharing and discussion group. The Generations Project facilitators will guide us through multiple short prompts, with an emphasis on free self-expression and imagination.
The exercises are designed to be non-intimidating and easy for writers and beginners alike, and to spark various avenues of discussion. It’s sure to be the most interactive virtual event you attend all year!
Both events will be followed by Happy Hours (Facebook Event), co-hosted by Chuck Edwards ’86 A&S and Leandra Barrett ’15 – both of whom participated in the SpeakOut project!
Dartmouth Lawyers Association, Women of Dartmouth, and DGALA, the Dartmouth LGBTQIA+ Alum Association invite you to a special Zoom presentation:
Becoming a State Supreme Court Justice: A Conversation with the Hon. Beth Robinson ’86 of Vermont and the Hon. Anne Patterson ’80 of New Jersey September 17, 2020, 6:00 – 7:30 PM EDT
Please join the Honorable Beth Robinson ’86 of the Vermont Supreme Court, and the Honorable Anne Patterson ’80 of the New Jersey Supreme Court, as they discuss their respective paths to becoming a judge on the highest court in the state-court system, and the important role of the states in protecting individual rights and liberties. In particular, Justice Robinson will discuss Vermont’s efforts to protect the rights of same-sex couples, and Justice Patterson will discuss New Jersey’s recent criminal justice reforms.
Justice Robinson received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1989. She clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, entered private practice, and then served as counsel to Governor Peter Shumlin. Governor Shumlin appointed her to the Vermont Supreme Court as an Associate Justice on November 28, 2011.
Justice Patterson received her J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1983. She practiced in the firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti and also served as a deputy attorney general and special assistant to New Jersey Attorney General Peter N. Perretti, Jr. Governor Chris Christie nominated her to serve as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and was sworn in on September 1, 2011.
The moderator, Amanda Prentice ’06, is currently an Assistant Regional Counsel for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, in the Air Branch.
This program is free.
A link to the Zoom meeting will be emailed shortly before the program to all registered attendees.
Upon request, a certificate of attendance for 1.5 hours will be provided tor those who wish to seek CLE credit from their respective state regulators.
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