Amplifying the Voices of LGBTQ+ MacArthur Fellows

Pride Month is a time to recognize one of the most significant events that led to the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States: the Stonewall uprising in Greenwich Village (a documentary by MacArthur Fellow David Isay’s StoryCorps titled Stonewall OutLoud chronicles the stories of people who were there).

Many MacArthur Fellows who identify as LGBTQ+ are tackling a number of issues in a wide range of fields, so we are taking this opportunity to amplify their voices and encourage you to explore their work.

Here are their thoughts on their work and their personal experiences:

“All of the characters in my comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” are actually thinly disguised versions of myself…when I told my family I was a lesbian, I learned to my total surprise that my father had relationships with other men over the years.” — Alison Bechdel, Cartoonist and Graphic Memoirist

“I’m an artist, and it’s part of my job to make people think outside their norms a little bit. And I wanted a gender pronoun that was fun, and that immediately emasculates you — because you can’t roll your eyes and say ‘judy’ without being camp.” — Taylor Mac, Theater Artist

“Infectious diseases are natural phenomena. Ebola, tuberculosis, HIV. But epidemics — when infectious diseases get out of control, that’s a policy choice…thousands and thousands of gay men, drug users, sex workers were dying in the 80s and nobody could give a shit. So, there was a choice to let the AIDS epidemic get out of control in the US.” — Gregg Gonsalves, Epidemiologist and Global Health Advocate

“You can’t just distribute a pamphlet that says, ‘Hey, you’ve got rights’…Often people don’t even know that their problem is a legal problem and that the law can help them.” — Rebecca Sandefur, Sociologist and Legal Scholar

“Being a gay man but not having experienced the generation of AIDS made me feel something like survivor’s guilt. But survivor’s guilt is not the right term. I was not a survivor. I felt more like an observer. It’s the same with racial identity. Because I didn’t grow up in a Native community, I would ask myself, ‘Am I a participant? Am I an observer? Where do I stand in there?’” — Jeffrey Gibson, Visual Artist

“A good puppeteer is game, ready and willing to do whatever it takes. It’s not comfortable: A puppeteer must put his body in weird positions. I’ve tried to use dancers as puppeteers but because they’re so into their own bodies, they have a hard time translating movement into another object. Musicians who play guitar and piano have more success.” — Basil Twist, Puppetry Artist and Director

“I am the type of person who does not notice barriers. So if there are any, I tend to walk right through without noticing I crashed into one. But breaking barriers has both good and bad elements to it. The good part: if you have a mission, you get it done. The bad part: since you do not notice these barriers, you cannot take them down systemically for others. I might have helped myself by being this way. But have I done anything useful for anyone else?” — Nergis Mavalvala, Quantum Astrophysicist