January 29, 2024 On Campus
Brace Student Fellow Presentation
Anna Du ’24
Ray Bradbury begins his novel Fahrenheit 451 with the line “It was a pleasure to burn” to describe a society in which books are destroyed and outlawed as deviations from the conformist society they threaten. This is not just a fictional scenario—it reflects the reality many queer people face in the United States, where their voices continue to be suppressed.
In this presentation, Anna Du ’24 investigates how the censorship of LGBTQ+ voices has been interconnected with and affected by the queer liberation movement—from the Stonewall Riots, which led to a fractured queer community in which gender-nonconforming people were often silenced by their peers, to the present, when self-censorship is rampant, especially in schools. Du examines historical examples of censorship and the damage done to the queer community, from the withholding of vital medical data to the erasure of queer identities.
Open to the PA community; dinner will be served.
Faculty Advisor: Comfort Halsey, Instructor in Spanish
School Room, Abbot Hall“It Was a Pleasure to Burn” The Development of Queer Censorship in the United States
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., School Room, Abbot HallBrace Student Fellow Presentation
Anna Du ’24
Ray Bradbury begins his novel Fahrenheit 451 with the line “It was a pleasure to burn” to describe a society in which books are destroyed and outlawed as deviations from the conformist society they threaten. This is not just a fictional scenario—it reflects the reality many queer people face in the United States, where their voices continue to be suppressed.
In this presentation, Anna Du ’24 investigates how the censorship of LGBTQ+ voices has been interconnected with and affected by the queer liberation movement—from the Stonewall Riots, which led to a fractured queer community in which gender-nonconforming people were often silenced by their peers, to the present, when self-censorship is rampant, especially in schools. Du examines historical examples of censorship and the damage done to the queer community, from the withholding of vital medical data to the erasure of queer identities.
Open to the PA community; dinner will be served.
Faculty Advisor: Comfort Halsey, Instructor in Spanish