About the Committee on LGBTQ+ Issues

Mission Statement

The Society of Music Theory Committee on LGBTQ+ Issues exists to: 

• promote diversity and inclusion regarding gender expression and sexual identity
• serve as a consulting body for related issues of concern to all music theorists
• function as a resource to counter professional discrimination related to issues of gender and sexuality
• support members who have experienced gender- and/or sexuality-related discrimination and trauma
• provide resources and guidance for the professional development and mentorship of LGBTQ+ students and scholars
• advance scholarship and pedagogy that explores issues of gender, sexuality, and music
• foster a climate that better supports LGBTQ+ scholars and scholarship in the field of music theory

Projects in the pipeline

• Climate survey for LGBTQ+ music theorists
• Mentoring program
• Bibliography

Previous Conference Sessions

2025, Minneapolis

• Hearing Marginalization, Demanding Equity with the SMT Committee on Feminist Issues and Gender Equity
  • Cora Palfy (Washington & Jefferson College), Organizer & Chair
  • Presenters: 
    • Sonic Misogyny and Resistance: Genderbased Violence and Girlhood in J-pop by Yiqing Ma (University of Michigan)
    • ...And My (Trans?) Gender Analysis by Maeve Gillen (Eastman School of Music) 
    • Subversion and the Double Burden in Varvara Gaigerova’s Suite for Viola and Piano by Jacy Pedersen (Wichita State University) 
    • Teaching Fanny: Marginalized Voices in Rock and the Role of AI in Repertorial Equity by Sarah Louden (New York University) 
    • Identity in the Brass Quintet Genre by Abigail Webster (Indiana University)

2024, Jacksonville

• Creating Spaces that Connect Community: A Workshop and Discussion with the Scholars for Social Responsibility Interest Group
  • Vivian Luong (University of Oklahoma) and Stephen Lett (University of Oklahoma), Chairs 
  • Discussant: Graciela Cain (Duval Folx)

2023, Denver

• Queer Otherwise Possibilities in the SMT and Beyond: A Workshop and Conversation
  • Vivian Luong (University of Oklahoma), Chair
  • Presenters: 
    • Vivian Luong (University of Oklahoma) 
    • Edward Klorman (McGill University) 
    • Cora Palfy (Elon University) 
    • Deborah Rifkin (Ithaca College)

2022, New Orleans

• New Work in LGBTQ+ Music Theory 
  • Fred Maus (University of Virginia), Chair 
    • Don’t Play Gay: Music, Language, and Desire in a Queer Adolescence by Arved Ashby (Ohio State University)
    • Musical Bodies by Vivian Luong (University of Oklahoma) 
    • Seductive Mirrors: Dance, Music, and Queer Narcissus by Maeve Sterbenz (Smith College) 
    • Queer Aesthetics by Lloyd Whitesell (McGill University)

2021, Virtual [inaugural session]

• Voice, Sexuality, and Embodiment in Black Worship
  • Fred Maus (University of Virginia), Organizer 
    • Part 1 
      • Suzannah Clark (Harvard University), Chair 
      • Ashon Crawley (University of Virginia, Religious Studies), Presenter 
      • Vivian Luong (University of Oklahoma), Respondent 
    • Part 2 
      • Fred Maus (University of Virginia), Chair 
      • Alisha Lola Jones (Indiana University), Presenter 
      • Stephan Pennington (Tufts University), Respondent 
    • Part 3 Open conversation about LGBTQ issues and professional life (research, teaching, workplace) 

Resources

• LGBTQ+ music bibliography maintained by the AMS LGBTQ Study Group
• Interdisciplinary bibliography of Engaged Music Theory that focuses on “race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, intersectionality, decolonization, and disability”