Visiting Lecturer
Program for the Study of Women and Gender
Wright Hall 229, (413)585-3324
drivers@email.smith.edu

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) history is deeply important to me for both personal and scholarly reasons.  I grew up in a lesbian feminist household and community in Berkeley, California in the 1970s.   As a child, I spent most of my time in the company of others from that community.  My best friend, Shem, also grew up in a lesbian feminist household, and we felt separated from mainstream society by a wide gulf of homophobia. Those early experiences and the wonderful guidance I received from the community of radical women I grew up in have sustained me over the years in my scholarly work.

I received my PhD last year from Stanford University, where I wrote a dissertation entitled, Radical Relations: A History of Lesbian and Gay Parents and their Children, 1945-2003.   Radical Relations looks at the experiences of lesbian mothers, gay fathers, and their children from the Second World War to the present and looks at what implications these experiences have for LGBT history, histories of the family, and the history of sexuality in the United States. 

My research and teaching interests include LGBT history, Queer Studies, the history of radical social movements in the U.S., women’s history, feminist theory, and histories of sexuality.  I am here at Smith on a Mellon postdoctoral grant, teaching LGBT history and Intro to Queer Studies, and revising my dissertation for publication.