Gay Studies 101?

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

October 05 2009 1:40 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Massachusetts should institute gay studies programs across its 29 state and community colleges, declared an op-ed in Monday's edition of TheBoston Globe.

David LaFontaine -- an English professor at Massachusetts's Massasoit Community College and former chairman of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth -- said that his state has always led in the area of gay rights, and should continue to do so by offering gay history courses at its universities. Citing Harvard University's June announcement that it is establishing and funding an endowed chair in LGBT studies, LaFontaine said the Ivy League school should be used as a model for Massachusetts's state-run colleges and universities.

"The creation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender studies programs in Massachusetts's state colleges would validate the contributions of a minority group still struggling for full recognition and equality," LaFontaine wrote. "Academic excellence would be served by diversification of the curriculum, and the milestones Massachusetts has achieved in gay civil rights would be translated directly to the new generation of college students."

LaFontaine suggested literature courses be taught that delve into gay themes in works by Shakespeare and Virginia Woolf, and making additions to history books to include contributions by gay people as well as the struggle for gay rights.