The American LGBTQ+ Museum

FIGHTING BACK: QUEER ACTIVIST HISTORY

“Fighting Back: Queer Activist History” is a dynamic lecture series featuring a diverse roster of historians, activists, scholars, and organizers, offering unique insights into LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S. From Stonewall to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the critical work of lesser-known organizers, movement workers, and collectives, this series examines the challenges and triumphs that have shaped the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and traces the trajectory toward queer liberation.

LECTURE 102: THE LAVENDER SCARE

Join historian David K. Johnson and the Up Until Now Collective for a thought-provoking virtual program on the Lavender Scare. Johnson will discuss his groundbreaking book, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, revealing how the U.S. government targeted LGBTQ individuals during the Cold War. The creative team behind the Up Until Now Collective will discuss their acclaimed opera Fellow Travelers’ 10th anniversary national tour. This event highlights the rich history of LGBTQ resilience amidst political persecution.

DISCUSSANTS

David K. Johnson is an award-winning historian and author. His book The Lavender Scare first brought the cold war era purge of homosexuals from the federal government to national prominence. The basis for the award-winning documentary film The Lavender Scare broadcast nationwide on PBS, the book has since inspired numerous cultural productions exploring how the gay community of Washington, D.C. experienced McCarthy-era homophobia.

His most recent book, Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement, chronicles the rise of a gay commercial mail-order network in the years before the Stonewall Riots. Shortlisted for the PROSE Award in U.S. history, the Hagley Prize in Business History, and the Randy Shilts Award in gay studies, Buying Gay won the John Boswell Prize from the LGBTQ+ History Association and the Smithsonian Institution’s Professional Prize for Scholarship in Postal History. The Advocate magazine named it one of the best queer books of 2019.

Dr. Johnson earned a B.A. from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, both in history. He has enjoyed fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Social Science Research Council. He has appeared on CNN and CBS Sunday Morning. As Professor in the History Department at the University of South Florida, he teaches courses on the post-1945 U.S. and the history of gender and sexuality.

Up Until Now is a collective of artists and thought-leaders co-founded by Kevin Newbury, Jecca Barry & Brandon Kazen-Maddox in the Summer of 2020 at the height of the global pandemic. Up Until Now is committed to developing and producing interdisciplinary work that helps build new structures for artistic creation across all art and media platforms. We create inclusive, expansive, collaborative spaces that center stories of empathy, intimacy, and connection.

Kevin Newbury is an opera, theatre & film director & producer. Career highlights: three PBS Great Performances Broadcasts: Bernstein’s MASS (Ravinia Festival), and the world premieres of Doubt (Minnesota Opera) & Bel Canto(Lyric Opera of Chicago); dozens of other world premieres including GRAMMY-Winner The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs(Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera,) Fellow Travelers (Cincinnati Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Prototype Festival, etc., NY Times: “BEST of 2016”), Castor & Patience (Cincinnati Opera, NY Times: “BEST of 2022”). Kansas City Choir Boy, starring Courtney Love (Prototype Festival & National Tour) The Righteous (Santa Fe Opera), The Good Swimmer (BAM Next Wave Festival) and Candy & Dorothy (GLAAD Media Award Winner: Best Play). Kevin’s work has been nominated four times for “Best World Premiere” at the International Opera Awards. Kevin’s long association with the work of Leonard Bernstein includes directing six productions of MASS (Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, etc), and Candide (starring Bradley Cooper & Carey Mulligan, Philadelphia Orchestra). Kevin has directed seven productions for the Prototype Festival in NYC, more than any other director. TV/Film credits include Apple TV’s Dickinson (“Split the Lark,” named one of the best episodes of 2021 by Entertainment Weekly), dozens of Film Festivals and awards, and the Time Square Midnight Moment. Kevin served as the Co-Creative Director for Liz Phair’s 30th Anniversary Exile in Guyville Tour in 2023. Co-Founder: Up Until Now Collective.

Baritone Joseph Lattanzi established himself as a major artist in the currentlandscape of opera with his portrayal of Hawkins Fuller in the worldpremiere and many subsequent runs of Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers.The New York Times said “Joseph Lattanzi was splendid as Hawk, hisbuttery baritone luxuriant and robust.”His ever-growing repertoire includes leading roles ranging from the classicto the contemporary; from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Rossini’s Figaro toBates’ Steve Jobs and Aucoin’s Orpheus. Lattanzi has enjoyed manyseasons on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and has performed atmany other major opera houses including San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago,and Atlanta. JosephLattanzi.com

Andres Acosta is a recipient of Opera America’s 2018 Career Blueprints grant and a Gerda Lissner and Sullivan Foundation Award semifinalist. He received an Encouragement award as a Central Regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council competition in 2017 and won awards in the Dorothy Lincoln Smith competition and the National Society of Arts and Letters competition. He was awarded the Judy George Junior Young Artist First Prize Award in the 2015 Young Patronesses of the Arts competition and is recognized as a Braulecht Estate Endowed and Music Guild Scholar. Acosta attended Indiana University for his master’s degree in music as a student of Carol Vaness. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in arts from Florida State University where he studied with David Okerlund. www.andresacostatenor.com

ACCESSIBILITY

This program will be presented via Zoom with live captioning in English. We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. Please reach out with any questions, requests or needs to info@americanlgbtqmuseum.org.

PHOTO

Senators Kenneth Wherry, left, and J. Lister Hill conducted the first congressional investigation into homosexuality in the federal workforce. U.S. Senate Historical Office.