Queer & Trivial Tidbits: The Role of LGBT History in Self-Recognition and Cultural Acquisition

Abstract

In this essay, I raise questions regarding the role of LGBT/queer history in projects of self-recognition for LGBT/queer youth. I am particularly concerned with the LGBT/queer history that comes in the form of lists of famous historical LGBT/queer people and is easily accessible in the form of print and digital media. I grapple with the question of what work these pieces of history are doing. If they are providing LGBT/queer people opportunities for self-recognition, how are they also limiting opportunities? I contend that these opportunities are limited by the ways the information is commonly presented. When we get tidbits of information in the form of lists or trivia, statements are decontextualized and presented as simple facts without acknowledging the complexities of the lives and events themselves, or discussing how identities intersect to impact lived experience.