Summary
I am a historian of social justice movements in the postwar United States, focusing especially on LGBTQ politics, racial justice, and activism against HIV/AIDS and the carceral state. I am the author or editor of two books, Lavender and Red: Liberation and Solidarity in the Gay and Lesbian Left, and (with Dan Berger) Remaking Radicalism: A Grassroots Documentary Reader of the United States, 1973-2001. My current book project examines the history of HIV/AIDS activism by, for, and with people in prisons in the 1980s and 1990s United States.
As an associate professor jointly appointed in the departments of Gender, Race, and Identity (GRI) and History, I teach a range of undergraduate and graduate courses in both departments.
Research interests
- United States history, 1945-present
- Social justice movements
- LGBTQ history and queer and trans studies
- HIV/AIDS
- Critical prison studies
- Intersections of race, sexuality, and gender
- American studies
Selected publications
Books
- Co-edited with Dan Berger. Remaking Radicalism: A Grassroots Documentary Reader of the United States, 1973-2001. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2020.
- Lavender and Red: Liberation and Solidarity in the Gay and Lesbian Left. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016.
Journal issues
- Co-edited with Dan Royles. Radical History Review No. 140, Special Issue: The AIDS Crisis Is Not Over (May 2021).
Selected articles and book chapters
- “Women/Lesbian/Prison/Trans?: Categories of Mobilization in the Campaign to Change the Definition of AIDS.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 51: 2 (Winter 2026).
- The AIDS Quilt in Prison: Care Work in and against the Carceral State.” Radical History Review No. 148 (January 2024).
- “Fighting HIV/AIDS in Prison.” Sinister Wisdom 126: Out of Control (Fall 2022).
- With Dan Royles, “Editors’ Introduction.” Radical History Review No. 140, Special Issue: The AIDS Crisis Is Not Over (May 2021).
- “Movements.” In The Routledge Handbook of American Sexuality, edited by Kevin P. Murphy, Jason Ruiz, and David Serlin. New York: Routledge, 2020.
- “Thinking Transnationally, Thinking Queer.” In The Routledge History of Queer America. Edited by Don Romesburg. New York: Routledge, 2018.
- With Jonathan Bell, et al. “Interchange: HIV/AIDS and U.S. History.” Journal of American History 104 (September 2017).
- “LGBTQ Politics in America since 1945.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American Urban History, edited by Timothy Gilfoyle. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019; and in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, edited by Jon Butler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
- With Felicia T. Perez. “Questions, Not Test Answers: Teaching LGBT History in Public Schools.” In Understanding and Teaching U.S. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History. Edited by Susan Freeman and Leila Rupp. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2014; revised edition 2017.
- “Policing Gay LA: Mapping Racial Divides in the Homophile Era, 1950-1967.” In The Rising Tide of Color: Race, State Violence, and Radical Movements Across the Pacific. Edited by Moon-Ho Jung. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014.
- "’Si Nicaragua Venció’: Lesbian and Gay Solidarity with the Revolution.” The Journal of Transnational American Studies Vol. 4 No. 2 (Fall 2012).
Selected fellowships and awards
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2025-26 (terminated by federal action)
- National Humanities Center Fellowship, 2024-25
- Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada Reno, 2021
- LGBTQ Research Fellowship, ONE Archives Foundation, 2019
- Carel B. Germain Fellowship, Smith College, 2019
- Mousel-Feltner Award for Excellence in Research, College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada Reno, 2017
- Joan Heller-Diane Bernard Fellowship, Center for LGBTQ Studies, CUNY, 2013
Education
- Ph.D., American Studies & Ethnicity, University of Southern California, 2009
- M.A., American Studies & Ethnicity, University of Southern California, 2007
- B.A., History & Literature, Harvard University, 1998