A New QATC Venture

Welcome to the Queer and the Classical blog!

Around the world, queer people’s rights—to build community, to be heard, and to exist—are being viciously curtailed. From book bans targeting LGBTQ+ texts to anti-trans legislation aimed at young people, we’re facing efforts to erase us from public discourse and punish us for our visibility. In the midst of this climate of pervasive queerphobia, platforming queer writers, artists, and thinkers is enormously important—these are the people we can look to for alternative ways of coexisting with each other and the planet, ways that are more radical, more generous, queerer. By launching this blog, we at Queer and the Classical are trying to give queer voices more room to be heard at a time when transgressive visions of queer liberation are urgently needed.

As an organization focused on the queer and the classical, we are acutely aware of the global rise in fascism of which this queerphobic violence is a part. Classics has always been a site of reactionary elitism and a tool of white supremacy, the core of the dog whistle that is “Western civilization,” and is weaponized by the far right today to defend everything from gun ownership to eugenics. We can’t claim these connections are specious and leave it at that; they’re a reality of the field, past and present. What we can do is envision an engagement with antiquity that combats bigotry with democratization and inclusivity, and that resists queerphobia by centering the continuity of queerness from the ancient world to now. The interconnectedness of the queer and the classical is a reminder that we’ve always been here, and we’re capable of thriving in the most hostile of circumstances.

Among Queer and the Classical’s objectives is to reimagine queer possibilities outside of the academy, connecting people in the field who’ve been excluded from those institutions due to racism, classism, sexism, and countless other barriers to entry. This blog is for everyone drawn to the queer and the classical, but particularly for everyone who has struggled to find a place for their research and writing in the academic establishment, or who has chosen to live and work outside it, sharing their ideas in other venues and with other communities. If this sounds like a good fit for your voice, let us know, and feel free to reach out to us with any questions!