Queer Futurisms: Identity, Culture and Critique

James Madison College hosts the 2026 Stephen O. Murray Symposium, a daylong gathering of scholars and community members to explore the past, present and future of LGBTQ+ life and scholarship. This year’s theme, “Queer Futurisms: Identity, Culture, and Critique,” brings together scholars from across the U.S. and a nationally recognized drag artist for presentations spanning qualitative research, personal narrative and performance ethnography.

Attend in person or online via Zoom.

9:45 to 11:45 a.m.

Presider: Christopher T. Conner

• “Bonding in Murray’s Gay Male Friendships”
Presented by Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut

• “Race, Racism and the Future of Gay Pride,”
Presented by C. Winter Han, Professor of Sociology, Middlebury College

• “After the Gayborhood: Stephen O. Murray and the Problem of Gay Urban Space”
Presented by Theo Greene, Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology, Bowdoin College

• “Gay Places, Queer Futures”
Presented by Greggor Mattson, Professor of Sociology, Oberlin College

3:30 to 5:45 p.m.

Presider: C. Winter Han

• “‘We Will Win’: What I Learned by Reading The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, with a Queer Reading Group”
Presented by Vanessa Panfil, Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University

• “Library Joy and Digital Literary Activism on #BookTok and Beyond”
Presented by Anthony Boynton, University of Kansas

• “Queer Foretold: Sociological Futurology and Sexual Futurities”
Presented by Desmond Francis Goss, Assistant Professor of Sociology, George Washington University

• “By the Grace of Drag Queens Go I”
Presented by Christopher T. Conner, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia

• “What Makes a Man a Man” (performance)
Presented by Tajma Stetson, Drag Artist and Professional Clarinetist

Info: Four scholars examine the history and future of LGBTQ+ communities, friendships, and gathering spaces — from the bonds Murray built with fellow scholars to the evolving role of gay neighborhoods and pride events.

Info: Five presenters turn toward personal narrative and the future, exploring queer joy, literature, digital resistance and the role of drag in LGBTQ+ culture. This session will close with a performance by Tajma Stetson.

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Host or Publisher James Madison College