Ecstatic
07-13-2006, 05:15 AM
77-year-old Vern Bullough, pioneer in the study of homosexuality and gender, died of cancer on June 21 in Los Angeles. One of the most prolific and influential writers on the history of sex, homosexuality, and sex and gender issues, he was a past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and in 1960 persuaded the ACLU of So Cal to become the first chapter of the ACLU to defend gays and lesbians. Among his books was Cross-Dressing, Sex and Gender, published in 1993 and used as a textbook in gender studies programs at universities across the country. His other books include Sexual Variance in Society and History (1976), ]Homosexuality: A History[/i] (1979), and with his wife, Bonnie, American Sexuality: An Encyclopedia (1994).
His interest in homosexuality and gender studies began when he met his future wife's mother, an ex-Mormon, in the 1940s in Salt Lake City: she had left her husband and was living "in a committed relationship" with another woman. His research and writing help establish gay and lesbian history and gender studies are legitimate fields of study in academia, begining in the early 1960s.
You can read Elaine Woo's LA Times obituary of Vern Bullough at http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-bullough2jul02,1,4107223.story?coll=la-news-obituaries.
His interest in homosexuality and gender studies began when he met his future wife's mother, an ex-Mormon, in the 1940s in Salt Lake City: she had left her husband and was living "in a committed relationship" with another woman. His research and writing help establish gay and lesbian history and gender studies are legitimate fields of study in academia, begining in the early 1960s.
You can read Elaine Woo's LA Times obituary of Vern Bullough at http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-bullough2jul02,1,4107223.story?coll=la-news-obituaries.