LGBTQ+

Founder of Out West Talks LGBTQ History in the American West

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Founder of Out West Talks LGBTQ History in the American West Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/11/2022 - 00:00

Claire Bettor

Gregory Hinton (Bus’77) is a California-based author, historian and founder of Out West, a national museum program series exploring the contributions of LGBTQ communities to Western American history. By discussing these cultural themes and how they connect to communities through his work, Hinton hopes to educate people about LGBTQ history and culture in the American West.

How has the LGBTQ landscape in the American West changed since you were a CU student?

Countless rural-born western gay men and women of my generation (myself included) intially evacuated to the urban coasts — Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle — seeking community, companionship and safety. Fortunately, this evacuation has slowed over the years, and now, some are returning. Despite progress in areas like marriage equality, however, non-discrimination protections and hate crimes legislation still have not passed in many western states.

Tell us about the work you’ve done as an author and historian.

I attended CU on a creative writing scholarship, always hoping to have a literary career. Though I ultimately graduated with a business degree, I have since published three novels — Cathedral City, Desperate Hearts and The Way Things Ought to Be — along with several short stories, plays and film productions. In 2009, quite by chance, I created an educational program series called Out West. The Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles was the first museum to invite me to create programming — lectures, exhibitions and plays — dedicated to shining a light on LGBTQ history and culture in the American West. Since then, we’ve shared stories all over the country.

Tell us about the work of the Gay & Lesbian Rodeo Heritage Foundation (GLRHF), where you’re a founding director.

GLRHF was formed after the acquisition of the International Gay Rodeo archives by the Autry Museum of the American West in 2009, and it has been closely connected to my public programming for Out West. Its purpose is to support scholarship that illuminates gay rodeo visibility and to ensure gay rodeo receives recognition and its own place in rodeo history.

Which of your three books means the most to you and why?

It’s tough to choose just one — almost like admitting you have a favorite kid. But I would have to say that because it’s my own coming out story, The Way Things Ought to Be, set against the backdrop of 1970s Boulder.

If you could give one piece of advice to other LGBTQ folks who want to make an impact on the community, what would it be?

Don’t wait for permission. Act on your hunches. Don’t be afraid to write a letter or email or tweet to get what you need. Never deny who you are.

What is one of your favorite memories from CU?

I always loved to walk around campus, especially on winter days when the frozen Flatirons would actually sparkle in the sun. I also loved my Spanish teacher — her name was Maddie. I used to watch her from the second-floor window of Old Main coming to class in her long fur coat. She was so glamorous. I’d wave and she’d wave back. I think about her often.

What is your biggest takeaway from your Out West journey so far?

I am so happy to find that we don’t need to leave our small western communities behind if we don’t want to. I love telling our stories. And I love the solitary drives they afford me into the most beautiful country you can imagine — I feel most like myself on those drives. Out West was just a whim I had, a spark that got fanned by the flames of need. I remember watching a young waiter in Red Lodge, Montana, as he was serving a large table of cowboys. He was so professional, and they treated him courteously. I later ran into him in a bar and asked how things were for him in Red Lodge. “At least I know I am safe here,” he told me. “At least I know I am accepted.”

What do you hope people will take away from the Out West series?

I hope they will see the value in telling all the stories of the American West.

Interview condensed and edited.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos courtesy Gregory Hinton

Author and historian Gregory Hinton discusses his work in educating people about LGBTQ history and culture in the American West.

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Two Letters, Big Difference

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Two Letters, Big Difference Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 04/20/2019 - 01:00

Sam Linnerooth

In Hebrew, it's harder than you'd think to write "student" in a gender-neutral way. A CU Duo changed that.

When Lior Gross (Ecol, EvoBio’18) enrolled in a Hebrew course at CU, Jewish Studies instructor Eyal Rivlin foresaw a challenge. Gross identifies as gender nonbinary — neither male nor female — and uses the English personal pronouns they/them/their. But standard Hebrew requires masculine or feminine identifiers for many words.

The sentence “I am a good student,” for example, requires Hebrew speakers to assign gender to both “good” and “student.”

“If you don’t have a word to conceptualize your experience, then you can’t connect to others and you feel really isolated about it,” said Gross, who graduated in December and plans to become a rabbi.

So, student and teacher drafted new gender-inclusive Hebrew language rules and introduced the Nonbinary Hebrew Project, which they describe as “a third-gender grammar systematics for Hebrew.”

The project essentially creates a third gender category by adding the suffix “-eh” to most words, and can be used for both nonbinary individuals and mixed-gender groups, which previously were referred to using the masculine plural.

“It was probably either really hard or maybe even impossible within Hebrew to identify as nonbinary,” said Rivlin, an Israeli army veteran who also is a professional recording and touring musician.

The new rules are useful for Hebrew, he said, and “also for educating students about diversity."

Gross and Rivlin have received positive reviews from the nonbinary community and others eager to spread their approach, they said. Some people have introduced it to their own universities and congregations.

Gross sees the project as a natural continuation of traditional Jewish teachings.

“One of the biggest things that resonates with me about Judaism,” they said, “is the encouragement of doubting and questioning and pushing back and holding multiple right answers.”

Read more about the project at here.

Photo by Patrick Campbell

In Hebrew, it's harder than you'd think to write "student" in a gender-neutral way. A CU duo changed that.

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Her Kind of Case

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Her Kind of Case Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/01/2019 - 01:00

Amanda Clark

As a public defender and attorney, Jeanne Winer didn't care what crime her clients committed. It was her job to make their lives better one way or another.

As a Colorado public defender and private criminal defense attorney for 35 years, Jeanne Winer (Engl’72; Law’77) was not afraid to take the difficult cases.

“It didn’t matter what crime they committed, it was my job to make their lives better one way or another,” said Winer, of Boulder.

When she lost her first case as a public defender in Jefferson County, she sobbed in the bathroom. The client, who struggled with multiple personality disorder, was sentenced to years in prison for serial rape.

“It was my first really big case, and even though he had done horrible, horrible things, I still felt like I had failed him,” Winer said.

A lifelong political activist who grew up in Boston, her tireless advocacy for the voiceless led her to law school.

“I spent most of my free time protesting against the Vietnam War, and then for women’s civil and reproductive rights, then gay and lesbian liberation,” she said.

Winer received the Dan Bradley Award from the National LGBT Bar Association in 1996 for her trial work in Romer v. Evans, a landmark civil rights case that preceded and paved the way for the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States.

“Romer was a huge win,” said Winer, who has been with her partner for 20 years. “I was deliriously happy. I was one of the few ‘out’ lesbians on the legal team. So I really felt the pressure."

Life as a defense lawyer took its toll. Martial arts became a lifeline. She now holds a third-degree black belt in tae kwon do.

“It was a way for me to get into my body and out of my head,” she said. “It became the greatest love of my life.”

Writing has also helped her decompress. Last year, she published her second novel, Her Kind of Case, a legal drama that centers on a female defense attorney on the cusp of 60 who represents a young man accused of helping kill a gay gang member.

“It’s one of the ways that I can escape into an alternative reality,” she said. “A reality that is happening in a different time.”

She says that women’s and gay rights have come a long way in the United States, but since the 2016 election, it’s been hard for her to stay positive. “Everything we worked so long on can disappear in an instant. It’s hard to come to terms with that reality.”

But she’s found productive ways to channel her energy: “There is a lot of creativity involved in being a trial lawyer, writer and martial artist,” she said. “All three take discipline and a lot of heart.”

As a public defender and attorney, Jeanne Winer didn't care what crime her clients committed. It was her job to make their lives better one way or another.

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