The James Robert Brudner Memorial Prize and Lecture celebrates lifetime accomplishment and scholarly contributions in the field of

LGBT Studies Queer studies, sexual diversity studies, or LGBTQ studies is the study of topics relating to sexual orientation and gender identity usually focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender dysphoric, Asexuality, asexual, Aromanticism, arom ...

. It is given annually by the Committee for LGBT Studies at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Recipients receive a cash prize and the opportunity to give a public lecture on the Yale campus in

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, as well as a second lecture in New York City.

Overview

The prize is named for James Brudner (1961–1998), a member of the

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

class of 1983. Brudner died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

-related illness on September 18, 1998. Through his will he established the prize and lecture as "a perpetual annual prize for scholarship in the history, culture, anthropology, biology, etiology, or literature of gay men and lesbians or related fields, or for advancing the understanding of homosexuality as a phenomenon, or the tolerance of gay men and lesbians in society". Brudner was an AIDS activist, urban planner, journalist, and photographer. He wrote for various publications on gay- and AIDS-related topics. He became a member of ACT UP, the Treatment Action Group, and other organizations after the death of his twin brother, Eric, of AIDS in 1987. He worked on treatment and prevention issues with the National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical corporations, and federal agencies. In his final years he devoted much of his time to traveling the back roads of rural America with a camera. La Mama Gallery in New York mounted an exhibition of his photographs in 1997. He died of AIDS-related illness on September 18, 1998, at the age of 37.

Winners

* 2019–2020 — Siddhartha Gautam (posthumously), in recognition of his work on behalf of LGBT rights and welfare in India. * 2018–2019 —

Bill T. Jones William Tass Jones, known as Bill T. Jones (born February 15, 1952), is an American Choreography, choreographer, director, author and dancer. He is the co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. The company's home in Manhattan. J ...

, choreographer, director, author and dancer * 2017–2018 —

Carolyn Dinshaw Carolyn Dinshaw is an American academic and author, who has specialised in issues of gender and sexuality in the medieval context. Education and career Dinshaw was born to an Indian father, Dudley Dinshaw, a Parsi from Lucknow, and an American mot ...

, scholar of gender and sexuality in the medieval context * 2016–2017 —

Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Early life Juli ...

, artist and film director * 2015–2016 —

Susan Stryker Susan O'Neal Stryker (born 1961) is an American professor, historian, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT St ...

, academic, author, filmmaker * 2014–2015 —

Richard Dyer Richard Dyer (born 1945) is an English academic who held a professorship in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London. Specialising in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment ...

, film studies scholar * 2013–2014 —

Cherríe Moraga Cherríe Moraga (born September 25, 1952) is an influential Chicana feminist writer, activist, poet, essayist, and playwright. A prominent figure in Chicana literature and feminist theory, Moraga's work explores the intersections of gender, sex ...

, Chicana writer, feminist activist, poet, essayist, and playwright * 2012–2013 —

Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ; born April 1, 1942) is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexual orientation, sexuality, and ...

, science-fiction author and English literature scholar * 2011–2012 — David M. Halperin, classicist and English literature scholar * 2010–2011 —

Mary Bonauto Mary L. Bonauto (born June 8, 1961) is an American lawyer and civil rights advocate who has worked to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and has been referred to by US Representative Barney Frank as "our Thu ...

, attorney and civil rights advocate * 2009–2010 —

Edwin Cameron Edwin Cameron (born 15 February 1953 in Pretoria) is a retired judge who served as a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He is well known for his HIV/AIDS and gay-rights activism and was hailed by Nelson Mandela as "one of Sou ...

, human rights lawyer and justice of South Africa Constitutional Court * 2008–2009 — Cathy J. Cohen, political scientist * 2008 —

Didier Eribon Didier Eribon (born 10 July 1953) is a French author and philosopher, and a historian of French intellectual life. He lives in Paris. Biography Didier Eribon was born in Reims into a working-class family. He was the first in his family to fin ...

, philosopher (Eribon returned the prize in 2011: see his letter "I Return the Brudner Prize" on his personal homepage). * 2007 — B. Ruby Rich, critic * 2006 — Matthew Coles, Director,

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

Gay and Lesbian Rights Project * 2005 —

John D'Emilio John D'Emilio (born 1948) is a professor emeritus of history and of women's and gender studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He earned his B.A. from Columbia College and Ph ...

, historian * 2004 —

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...

, philosopher * 2003 —

Jonathan Ned Katz Jonathan Ned Katz (born 1938) is an American author of human sexuality who has focused on same-sex attraction and changes in the social organization of sexuality over time. His works focus on the idea, rooted in social constructionism, that the ...

, historian * 2002 —

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (; May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American feminist academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory, and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered groundbreaking in the field of quee ...

, English literature scholar * 2001 —

Lillian Faderman Lillian Faderman (born July 18, 1940) is an American historian whose books on lesbian history and LGBT history have earned critical praise and awards. ''The New York Times'' named three of her books on its "Notable Books of the Year" list. In addi ...

, English literature scholar * 2000 —

George Chauncey George Chauncey (born 1954) is a professor of history at Columbia University. He is best known as the author of ''Gay New York, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940.'' Academic career Chauncey ...

, historian

References

{{Reflist

External links

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies (LGBTS) at Yale University
LGBTQ studies organizations LGBTQ-related awards Awards established in 2000 Awards and prizes of Yale University