Dear Friends:

James Wilson and Susan Stryker at Kessler Conversations 2012.

This past fall CLAGS faced the worst financial crisis of its first twenty-plus years. As a result of the CUNY budget cuts and the scarcity of outside funding opportunities that have become the new economic reality, we confronted the very real threat of having to close our office for good. Concerned--nay, frightened--for the short- and long-term future of our organization, we sent an emergency appeal to our entire electronic and postal mailing lists. The response was nothing short of inspiring. Within 48 hours of sending the entreaty, our email folders were blinking with online donation notifications, and our office mail basket was brimming with envelopes containing checks. The dramatic and tangible outpouring of generous support was reminiscent of the scene from It's a Wonderful Life in which the entire Bedford Falls community rallies around the nearly destitute Jimmy Stewart and showers him with donations. In the first four weeks of our appeal, we collected over $20,000. It's a wonderful life, indeed.

Unlike the fictional George Bailey in Frank Capra's film, CLAGS's economic difficulties have not been miraculously resolved once and for all. We have our work cut out for us as we reassess, revise, and refine our fundraising and grant-writing strategies. We will have to double down and find inventive ways to impress upon institutional, foundational, and private donors the necessity of an organization that supports, nurtures, and promotes the work of both established and emerging scholars, activists, and artists in local and global LGBTQ communities.

This is where CLAGS excels. Our financial resources may be limited, but this past semester I was reminded of the unlimited intellectual, creative, and progressive energies of which CLAGS has an embarrassment of riches. In the fall we hosted or co-hosted a roster of individuals working in a range of disciplines and fields including: novelists and essayists, Edmund White and Rakesh Satyal (and hosted by English scholar Matt Brim); musical theatre researcher and academic, Stacy Wolf; anthropologists, Esther Newton, Gayle Rubin, and Carole S. Vance (hosted by Rebecca Jordan-Young); Caribbean scholar and memoirist, Thomas Glave; visual artists, Chitra Ganesh and Simone Leigh (and hosted by curator, Dean Daderko). The spring line-up promises to be as equally exciting, and I am sure we will be grateful for the intellectual and social opportunities as we gear up for the right-wing negativity and attacks we are sure to experience until at least November 2012.

Over the next several months, if history is any indication, as the presidential campaign intensifies, there will be a lot of noise about the sanctity of marriage, the scourge of the so-called gay agenda, and calls for boycotts of organizations that support transgender rights. Even as the job market limps along and financial crisis looms large over Europe and other global economies, candidates are signing "marriage pledges," publicly opposing gay adoption, and speaking out against the Girl Scouts of America for welcoming a transgender child into the organization.

We plan on countering the assaults from the Right in the most effective ways we know how: through our continued efforts to host events showcasing the cutting edge work of LGBTQ artists, scholars, and activists. We will conclude the marvelously successful Kessler Conversation series over the course of the spring semester, and we will offer a Seminar in the City series focused on LGBT pedagogy. We will also initiate a Town Hall Meeting series in the spring, possibly providing a space for addressing the most pressing issues confronting LGBTQ communities. We hope you will check our Website, Facebook page, and CLAGS listserv regularly for the most up-to-date listings of what's happening at CLAGS.

As we enter a new semester with cautious optimism, I want to thank the CLAGS Board Members, who collectively and individually work long hours without remuneration to help move the organization into exciting and unchartered territories. And the CLAGS staff, an amazing and committed group (many of whom are new to the organization this year) bring energy and commitment to their work and have done tremendous work.

Finally, on behalf of the Board and the staff, I would like to thank everyone who has given so generously to CLAGS in our time of need, and we hope that we can continue to give back to our communities. We have a great deal of work ahead of us, but with your support and confidence we will weather this financial crisis.

Best,

James F. Wilson, Executive Director

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