Rethinking Sexual Citizenship after the Demise of DOMA, a lecture by Dr. Jyl Josephson '82November 3, 2015 at 6:30–8 p.m.

Join GWSS in welcoming Dr. Jyl Josephson '82, professor of Political Science, American Studies, and Women and Gender Studies at Rutgers University-Newark, when she returns to the Gustavus campus to deliver the talk "Rethinking Sexual Citizenship after the Demise of DOMA." Dr. Josephson will examine how recent changes in the federal policy landscape may (or may not) be challenging the American family "ideal" as heterosexual and white--and what that means for our democracy, particularly in light of recent events such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Talk begins at 6:30 with questions and answers to follow. See below for a full abstract of the lecture.

"In 1996, two new laws, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA"more commonly known as 'welfare reform'), passed by substantial majorities in Congress and were signed by then President Clinton. Although they were 'targeted' at different groups, both laws were based on a set of deeply moralistic and exclusionary ideas about the need to legislate the hegemonic heteronormative white family as the ideal and preferred form of democratic citizenship. Twenty years later, DOMA has been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the welfare law, with its healthy marriage initiative and abstinence-only sex education, remain the law of the land. In this talk I will discuss what unites these policies, and why democratic equality requires the dismantling of the ideal of the hegemonic heteronormative white family, and why the #BlackLivesMatter movement constitutes a hopeful step in this direction."