CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies would like to invite all GC students, faculty and staff to join us at the 33rd annual Kessler Lecture honoring Robert F. Reid-Pharr on Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 6:30 PM.

This year is the 40th anniversary of CLAGS so we’re particularly eager to fill as many seats as we can for the Kessler Lecture, our flagship fall event, and would appreciate any support we can get in spreading the word and inviting as many folks from the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.

The event will be held both online and in-person at The Graduate Center (CUNY) at 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.  This event is free, open to the public, and will feature live American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation.

The Kessler Award is given to a scholar who has produced a substantive body of work that has had a significant influence on the field of LGBTQ Studies.

This year’s honoree Robert F. Reid-Pharr is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and an M.A. in African American Studies from Yale University as well as a B.A. (with honors) in Political Science from UNC, Chapel Hill. His books include: Archives of Flesh: African America, Spain, and Post-Humanist Critique, 2016; Once You Go Black: Choice, Desire, and the Black American Intellectual, 2007; Black Gay Man: Essays, 2001; and Conjugal Union: The Body, The House, and the Black American, 1999.

The RSVP page is linked here.