Keeping the academy queer: Lessons from the queer community for the future of public affairs education

Abstract

Academics are becoming more thoughtful on where they want to live as the culture war on queerness has entered higher education. Universities, in order to recruit the best and the brightest, need to consider how to create an environment that retains and attracts diverse talent. In this article, we examine how to recruit and support LGBTQIA+ faculty, acknowledging that universities are part of wider cultural and political forces. We use heteronormativities, creative class, and queer geographies to better understand the current state of the LGBTQIA+ community. We start by exploring the heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions about the community. We link university and creative class cultures and their impact on town-gown queer realities. Finally, we conclude with a look at the different steps a university can take to make their organization a more welcoming and inclusive place for LGBTQIA+ faculty and their families.