ABSTRACT
What happens when politically conscious historians do not take gender or sexuality seriously as intellectual inquiries? Does it matter if historians of women and gender are not cognizant of the ways gender or sexuality function in their lives? Why have the fields of women’s history and queer theory grown so far apart when some of the earliest works on sexuality and gay and lesbian lives came from historians? What follows is both a critique of and an impassioned plea to liberal faculty and graduate students to be aware of the political and personal impact of homophobia and heterosexism in the classroom on all students. This chapter aims to identify an experience that many gay and lesbian students share but few have the opportunity to articulate within the academy.
