SFA's Department of History to host lecture featuring LGBT activists

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin State University's Department of History will present a public lecture featuring Dr. Eric Walther and Raymond "Ray" Hill at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in Liberal Arts North, Room 102. The lecture is titled "LGBT History: Harvey Milk, Houston Gay Liberation and New Directions in the Movement."

The lecture will cover the historical fight for LGBT equality in the United States with an emphasis on the movement in Texas.

Walther is a professor at the University of Houston and is currently working on a book concerning LGBT politics in Houston during the 1970s and 1980s. He also is currently working on a manuscript titled "Harvey Milk: The Public Face of Gay Rights Politics" for Routledge Press.

Hill is a well-known figure in the Texas gay liberation movement, life-long Texas resident, and alumnus of SFA, the University of Houston and Tulane University. He has been involved in human and LGBT rights movements since 1958, including authoring the nation's first safe sex pamphlet in the wake of the AIDS epidemic during the 1980s.

Hill has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award from The Unity Committee and the 2008 John P. McGovern award from the University of Texas School of Public Health, among numerous other awards.

SFA's Department of History also will host two sessions Thursday for SFA faculty members and students to talk with Hill and Walther. The session for faculty members will be from noon to 1 p.m. with the student session following from 1 to 2 p.m. both in the Department of History's conference room, located in LAN, Room 308.

For more information about the lecture or meeting times, contact Dr. Savannah Williamson, SFA visiting assistant professor, at williamssl50@sfasu.edu.