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LESBIAN & GAY STUDIES
WMS 300  Fall 2001
 
Group Project Assignment

            Your group will be assigned one of the social institutions below.  Your task is to conduct research, in the library and perhaps on the Internet, and to analyze how the institution affects and/or reacts to Lesbians and gay men.  How have Lesbians & gays used the institution?  Been helped by it?  Harmed by it?  How has the institution changed to accommodate (or not) Lesbians & gay men?

·       Health-care:  topics might include AIDS, Lesbian health, health insurance, homophobia among health-care providers, health-care proxies, the medicalization of homosexuality, etc.

·       Legal & Criminal Justice System:  topics might include hate crimes, gay cops on the beat, gay rights ordinances, sodomy laws, etc.

·       Military:  topics might include history of anti-gay discrimination in US military, cross-cultural comparisons of military policy, gay experiences in the military, etc.

·       Families:  topics might include a review of court cases re custody and joint property, Lesbians & gays as parents, parents of Lesbians & gays, chosen families, etc.

·       Religion:  topics might include Lesbian spirituality, ordination of Lesbian & gay clergy, preaching against homosexuality, welcoming denominations, etc.

·       Work:  topics might include discrimination in the workplace, domestic partner benefits from work, inequality from work, etc.

Sources:  The group will need to examine at least six sources, four of which must be scholarly (from a scholarly book or journal article).  You may also get sources from the Internet—but you must evaluate those sites in terms of credibility, etc.  (We’ll meet with a Librarian to assist in this evaluation process.)

Presentation:  The group will present the results of its research and analysis to the rest of the class on November 14th or November 28th.  This presentation should include the basic facts and the group’s analysis of those facts, and leave time for questions and discussion.

The group will meet with the professor a couple of times before the presentation!

Paper:  The group will write up all of this nicely for the professor.  The paper should conform to some standard style (APA, ASA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), with sources cited and listed.  In the paper, review the scholarship and other information, analyze it, come to some conclusion about L&G’s and the institution. 

The paper is due absolutely, positively on December 5th, at the beginning of our last class meeting.

Last Edited 08/13/2001
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