Sexploration lecturer chronicles GLBT history

In honor of GLBT History Month beginning next week, Dr. Kand McQueen spoke to Indiana University students Monday about the history of societies’ responses to homosexuals in a presentation titled, “GLBT: History and Heroes.”

McQueen, a professor at Indiana State University, is a nationally known keynote speaker on issues of intersexuality and the inadequacies of the current two-gender way of thinking.

McQueen said his gender identity is fluid, and he tends to not conform to the binary way of looking at people.

“I simply consider myself a human being above anything else,” McQueen said.

McQueen’s speech took the audience through centuries of GLBT history, detailing legislation and experience of homosexuals around the world.

“I want to tell students about some of the people who stood up in different ways and protested some of the ostracism that was happening,” McQueen said. “They were the ones that made a difference.”

The presentation began with the first instance of repression. In 1533 the European Buggery Act outlawed same-sex activity and any form of anal sex.

“We made people nervous,” he said.

Doug Bauder, director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Support Services at IU, helped bring McQueen to campus and introduced the event.

“It’s an opportunity to explore various aspects of our sexuality,” he said. “The talk presented a new way at looking at sexuality from different disciplines and diversities.”

Bauder read McQueen’s favorite quote from American poet Mark Van Doren aloud to the audience.

“‘There are two statements about human beings that are true. That all human beings are alike, and that all are different,’” he said. “‘On those two facts all human wisdom is founded.’”

According to McQueen’s website, his goal is to educate about the existence of those who fall outside the dichotomous categories of male and female, and in the process, facilitate societal understanding and acceptance of all human beings.

“Two genders are not enough,” McQueen said.

Sophomore Jessica Proctor sat in the crowd of 40 students.

She said she heard about the talk and wanted to learn more about what her great grandmother’s generation went through in regards to the treatment of lesbians.

“My grandmother came out as a lesbian after she had been married and had four children,” Proctor said.

Growing up watching her grandmother hold hands with another woman didn’t strike her as wrong or bad, she said.

“I was happy because she was happy,” Proctor said.

McQueen’s talk culminated in a discussion about modern-day GLBT issues such as gay marriage and transgender equality.

Sexploration 2013 at IU sponsored the lecture.

Paul Nagel, health educator at the IU Health center and organizer of Sexploration at IU, said he hopes the program will create a sex-positive attitude for students and community members.

“Our programs present a perspective on how we see things in the present,” Nagel said. “Having a historical perspective can add to the ubiquitous nature of sexuality today.”

McQueen will return to IU in November to give a speech on transgender issues and the binary way society looks at gender.

“This is my love, my passion and main focus professionally,” McQueen said. “Tonight was a celebration of GLBT heritage.”

Follow reporter Matt Bloom on Twitter @matthew_bloom.