LGBTQIA+ Scholars Series: Visibly Hidden: Exploring queer masculinities in 1950s popular music

Featuring Dr. Vincent L. Stephens, Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, College of Arts & Sciences and Lecturer in the School of Music

American audiences of the 1950s regularly consumed gender transgressions in popular media well before they were aware of LGBTQ+ identities, communities, or politics. "Visibly Hidden" examines how the public personae of four popular male musicians of the era, Johnnie Ray, Little Richard, Johnny Mathis, and Liberace, deftly expanded the boundaries of male gender expression before the emergence of queer visibility politics.

This presentation draws from Vincent L. Stephens's 2019 book Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace, and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music (University of Illinois Press.

Sponsored by the LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff, College of Arts & Sciences, and CFA School of Music