APPENDIX III

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues
as Reflected in Papers and Roundtables
Presented at the American Sociological Association
Annual Meetings, 1986-1999

Prepared by
Michelle Robertson and Amy S. Wharton
Department of Sociology, Washington State University.

The annual meetings provide an important venue for the presentation of sociological research. To assess the state of GLBT scholarship in this arena, we examined annual meeting programs published from 1986 to 1999. Our analyses included:

• A yearly count of the number of papers and roundtables presented on LGBT issues.
• An assessment of the percentage of the total ASA papers and roundtables devoted to LGBT issues in the 1990s.
• A yearly count of the topic areas of LGBT papers and roundtables.

LGBT Papers and Roundtables at the Annual Meetings

Our results show that the number of papers and roundtables devoted to LGBT issues was quite low (i.e., <10) during the late 1980s, but increased significantly in the early 1990s, peaking in 1994 and 1995. Although the number of papers and roundtables on LGBT issues has declined somewhat since 1995, there is considerably more scholarship on these issues being presented now than ten years ago. These data are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

LGBT Scholarship as a Percentage of All Papers and Roundtables Presented at the ASA

The number of papers and roundtables on LGBT topics presented at the annual meetings rose significantly in the mid-1990s and continues to remain high relative to ten years ago. But has LGBT scholarship increased as a percentage of all sociological research presented at the meetings? The results presented in Table 3 suggest that this is not the case. From 1994 to 1999, the percentage of all papers and roundtables presented at the ASA meetings devoted to LGBT scholarship has decreased slightly. In 1999, just over 1 percent of all papers and roundtables presented at the ASA meetings were devoted to LGBT topics.

Topic Areas of LGBT Papers and Roundtables

As Appendix 1 reveals, LGBT scholarship presented at the annual meetings has addressed a wide array of topics, exploring issues ranging from aging to work. Virtually all substantive areas within sociology have been the focus of at least one paper or roundtable on LGBT issues presented at the annual meetings.
Despite this diversity, some areas of research have received more attention than others. In particular, LGBT research as presented at the annual meetings has been most heavily concentrated in four areas: identity; social movements; communities, and HIV/AIDS. High research interest in these topics no doubt also accounts for the prominence of Social Problems as a publication outlet for LGBT work.

Conclusions and Recommendations

• Conclusion: LGBT scholarship has increased since the early 1990s, but this scholarship remains a tiny (and perhaps declining) percentage of all papers and roundtables presented at the annual meetings.

Recommendation: We are pleased that LGBT scholarship at the annual meetings has risen over time. However, we would urge the ASA leadership to continue to monitor these trends, so that we can insure a fair representation of LGBT work at the annual meetings.

• Conclusion: LGBT scholarship is diverse; however, research on these topics has focused greater attention on identity, social movements, communities, and HIV/AIDS than other areas of sociology.

Recommendation: Although there are some common themes in LGBT scholarship, this research addresses a range of important sociological issues. This pattern suggests that two strategies be pursued for increasing the visibility of LGBT scholarship at ASA. First, we would like to continue the previous practice of devoting at least one ASA session to LGBT issues broadly defined. This would provide a venue for the presentation of research important to the LGBT community, such as papers on social movements or HIV/AIDS. Second, we would like to increase the amount of LGBT scholarship presented on ASA panels not devoted solely to LGBT issues. One way this could be done is through co-sponsorship of sessions with an ASA section. Overall, we want to avoid marginalizing LGBT scholarship within the ASA, but we also believe it is important to offer LGBT scholars some opportunities to present their work to the LGBT community.

Table 1. Topic Areas for LGBT Papers

Table 2. Roundtable Papers

Table 3: