Queer Futurisms: Identity, Culture and Critique

James Madison College hosts the 2026 Stephen O. Murray Symposium, a daylong gathering of scholars and community members to explore the past, present and future of LGBTQ+ life and scholarship. This year’s theme, “Queer Futurisms: Identity, Culture, and Critique,” brings together scholars from across the U.S. and a nationally recognized drag artist for presentations spanning qualitative research, personal narrative and performance ethnography.

RSVP via Eventbrite (in person or Zoom)

Event Lineup

Session 1: Friendship, Community, Pride, and Critique

9:45 to 11:45 a.m.
Presider: Christopher T. Conner

• “Bonding in Murray’s Gay Male Friendships,” Presented by Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut

• “Race, Racism and the Future of Gay Pride,” Presented by C. Winter Han, Professor of Sociology, Middlebury College

• “After the Gayborhood: Stephen O. Murray and the Problem of Gay Urban Space,” Presented by Theo Greene, Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology, Bowdoin College

• “Gay Places, Queer Futures,” Presented by Greggor Mattson, Professor of Sociology, Oberlin College

Session 2: Identity, Belonging, and the Future

3:30 to 5:45 p.m.
Presider: C. Winter Han

• “‘We Will Win’: What I Learned by Reading The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, with a Queer Reading Group,” Presented by Vanessa Panfil, Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University

• “Library Joy and Digital Literary Activism on #BookTok and Beyond,” Presented by Anthony Boynton, University of Kansas

• “Queer Foretold: Sociological Futurology and Sexual Futurities,” Presented by Desmond Francis Goss, Assistant Professor of Sociology, George Washington University

• “By the Grace of Drag Queens And Leather Men Go I” Presented by Christopher T. Conner, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia

• “What Makes a Man a Man” (performance), Presented by Tajma Stetson, Drag Artist and Professional Clarinetist