It is far easier to create the future we want when we know our past. At this time when some would deny us our history, it is especially important that we learn the stories of our people—where we came from, what barriers we faced, how we have made progress, the progress we have yet to create.
Doug Kimmel has lived through some amazing history, and he helped to create some history along the way. He grew up in Denver and then was an undergraduate at CU Boulder. How did gay men find each other on campus in the 1960s? How was it that his campus minister offered to marry Doug if he found a partner during his travels after CU—and what happened when Doug contacted that minister in 1969 and said he had found his life partner?
Two years later, Doug marched in one of the earliest New York City Gay Pride parades. Meanwhile, he became a leading figure in the psychology of aging and integrated LGBTQ+ issues into the field. His work extended beyond the academic. In 1978, Doug co-founded SAGE—Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders, an organization that is still going strong.
And that barely scratches the surface of Doug's stories. You'll hear about the Association of Gay Psychologists founded at the same time psychiatry was trying to decide if lesbian and gay people were still steeped in pathology, Evelyn Hooker (who also went to CU), marches and movies, research to change judges' minds, and all sorts of facts you didn't even know you needed to know.
You may come away from this talk with a better idea of just what James Baldwin meant when he wrote: "People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them."
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