Pride Month Challenge | June 2021

Hey, everybody!

I have decided, for once, to make a post, as I want to enter the #Pride2021 Challenge.

I hope my cover image didn't make you think I have chosen Frank Iero. I hate to break it to you, but he was not my choice. He may be a very entertaining guitarist to watch, but I don't on how much he impacted education... instead, I will be looking at Mr. James Sears!

Round of applause? Please? Anyone? No? No... okay.

Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I had to get my fun out before starting this. I take research projects seriously, you know.... now, onto my essay.

What? Another essay? Come on... I thought I was done with these for a month...

James Sears is an American university professor, who has also written multiple books about LGBTQ+ history and is the editor of the Journal of LGBT Youth (Queer Bio, 2021). By assessing who he is and what he has done for both education and pride awareness, it will be possible to judge just how important James Sears is to the LGBTQ+ community.

James Tears is a historian, author and educator born in Indiana (Prabook, 2021). He has become a well-known LGBT rights activist, writing many works covering the topics of sexuality, LGBT history, identity and the gay rights movement as well as editing a number of LGBT-based journals (Prabook, 2021). Sears has been a university professor since 1992, working at universities such as Harvard and the University of Southern California (Prabook, 2021). He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Queensland (Prabook, 2021). Because of this, he has become known in both the world of education and the world of LGBT rights and history.

Now that we have a little more background on who James Sears is, we can look deeper into his involvement with both education and LGBT rights. As previously mentioned, Sears has worked with multiple universities as well as his association with a series of academic journals. The majority of his work covers between 1950 and 2004, focusing on LGBT history (Sears, N..D.). He has a Bachelor of Science degree in History, Government and Social Psychology from Southern Illinois University, and a Masters of Science in Secondary Education from Indiana University (University of Southern California, 2018). This would show that universities across the world look to Sears for their research, which is especially demonstrated by his association with Australia’s University of Queensland. Sears’ work for the Brazilian government further points to a skill in research that is highly regarded across the world (University of Southern California, 2018).

The main indication of Sears’ value to the LGBTQ+ community can be found in his books and the journal articles that he edits. Much of his published work relates to LGBT rights, history, or identity. He is known as an activist for LGBTQ+ rights, often drawing attention to problems with homophobia and inequalities in the world (Prabook, 2021). For example, one of his works is titled Overcoming Heterisexism and Homophobia: Strategies That Work (Prabook, 2021). These works would both bring awareness to those outside of the LGBTQ+ community and remind existing of the community that there are always people out there who them.

In of academic journals, Sears edits the Journal of LGBT Youth, which covers and education on the LGBTQ+ community and any issues they may face (ResearchGate, N.D.).

Therefore, by briefly looking at the contributions James Sears has made to both education and the LGBTQ+ community, it can be seen that he is a very influential and vital member of the LGBTQ+ community. This has been demonstrated using his research-based achievements, while also looking at the work he has done surrounding the community.

In case you can't read the full formatted references list or want to see any of the links:

Prabook. (2021). James Thomas Sears. https://prabook.com/web/james.sears/3755427

Queer Bio. (2021). James T. Sears. https://queerbio.com/wiki/index.php/James_T._Sears

ResearchGate (N.D.). Journal of LGBT Youth. https://aminoapps.programascracks.com/journal/Journal-of-LGBT-Youth-1936-1661

Sears, J. (N.D.). James T. Sears Papers, 1918-2011 and undated, bulk 1950-2004. Archives & Manuscripts Collection Guides. https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/searsjames

University of Southern California (2018). James T. Sears. https://scalar.usc.edu/works/paradoxpraxis/james-t-sears

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Well, it turns out writing a proper essay on someone who doesn't have nearly as many sources as my normal essay topics woukd have is a little harder than writing an essay for uni.

I hope that was at least half interesting to anyone who bothered reading this."

Cover inspiration from: Custom and Craft