User:Masondavidp/George Chauncey

General Life Facts:
George Chauncey is a talented author, born in 1954, who worked as a history professor at the University of Columbia (1994). Prior to arriving at Columbia, Chauncey served as a professor at the prestigious Yale Universities and the University of Chicago. Chauncey additionally spent time as the director of the Columbia Research Initiative on the Global History of Sexualities, focusing on literature that researched gender and sexuality. George Chauncey is most well known for creating the popular text "Gay New York", which showed the public on a national scale the struggles that members of the LGBTQ+ community experienced on daily basis. However, what goes unnoticed are the actions and events Chauncey participated outside of his time as an author. Most notably, Chauncey spent time as an expert witness in thirty cases involving gay rights, some examples including Romer vs Evans (1996) and Lawrence vs Texas (2003). In his later years, Chauncey spent time working as a consultant on historical research projects as well as lecture series in New York City and Chicago. Chauncey's activism in gay right movements as well as creating powerful literature caused him to receive countless community and writing accolades that are tied to his historical legacy forever.

Literature Awards and Achievements:
As stated prior, Chauncey is best known in the public eye for his accomplishments as a literature writer. His first national accolade was won in 1987, when he received the Samuel Golieb Fellowship in Legal History, New York University School of Law. This fellowship awards young law students and historians research support to help fund their projects and literature work. In 1992, Chauncey spent time serving on the American Council of Learned Societies, which is a non profit organization that provides fellowships and scholarships for young aspiring students in history and other educational fields. In 1996 George Chauncey also spent time serving on the National Humanities Center, which is a non-profit organization that focuses on building the study of humanities at a national level. In 1997, Chauncey was the recipient of the Sprague Todaes Literary Award for his book "Gay New York", which rewards authors who create a powerful piece of work on LGBTQ+ history.

As time passed and the twenty first century began, George Chauncey continued to win national awards. In 2000, Chauncey was the recipient of the very first James Brudner Memorial Award in Lesbian and Gay Studies during his time teaching at Yale University. The purpose of this award is to bring national spotlight to Chauncey's accomplishments and breakthroughs in the LGBTQ+ field of history. In 2004, Chauncey received the Community Service Award, Lesbian Community Cancer Project in Chicago, which rewarded his work in offering support and one on one conversations with lesbian women battling cancer. Between the years 2005 and 2007, George Chauncey was elected to serve as a member of both Society of American Historians (2005) as well as the New York Academy of History (2007). Chauncey's legacy as both a historian and gay civil rights activist made him a popular choice amongst the public and his peers.

Romer vs Evans (1996):
In addition to the literature awards and involvement in high-level academics, what typically goes unnoticed is George Chaunceys role in the LGBTQ+ groups fight for equality. The most public case Chauncey contributed to was the Romer vs. Evans case. This situation occurred on May 20th of 1996 in the state of Colorado. In this scenario, voters in Colorado chose to instill the 2nd Amendment, which discriminated members of the LGBTQ+ community from receiving judicial or legislative action (protection) from the federal government. This gay civil rights movement ensued, and members of the LGBTQ+ ended up winning the trial against the state of Colorado in a 6-3 decision. It was determined that the 2nd amendment was in fact discriminatory against a certain group, therefore causing the supreme court to overturn the ruling. George Chauncey served as an expert witness in the case, helping members of the jury come to a conclusion that the federal government was unfairly treating the gay community. This shows that Chauncey's participation in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement extended further beyond his literature, but included physicaly activism in civil court cases.