Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Sewell, Shaun Erwin
URN	etd-01212005-212501
Title	Public Sexuality: A Contemporary History of Gay Images and Identity
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department	Theatre
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Leslie A. Wade, Committee Chair Angeletta KM Gourdine Committee Member Jennifer Jones-Cavenaugh Committee Member Michael Tick Committee Member Matthew Lee Dean's Representative
Keywords	identity public history imaging gay
Date of Defense	2004-12-17
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This study is an examination of the public imaging of gay men and lesbians during the latter part of the twentieth and early part of the twenty-first centuries. The study looks at public imaging as it is performed in the service of the political aims of gay people, with an eye towards the kinds of tensions and erasures that occur when one monolithic identity is promoted. Through these examinations, I create a kind of contemporary history of the gay political rights movement. In the study, I examine theoretical approaches to identity from several postmodern theorists and then use these approaches to support my work in the three chapters. In each chapter I focus on one site of gay identity performances: Southern Decadence in New Orleans, the murder of Matthew Shepard, and the decriminalization of sodomy. At each site, I examine the event, the various identities presented, and the tensions and erasures that result from the specific identity performances. In conclusion, I envision a political movement which is inclusive of multiple identities – not just those which fit a predetermined conservative public presentation.
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