As a part of its LGBTQ 
Health and Wellness Week, the 
Spectrum Center hosted a talk 
titled Queer Martyrdom: The 
Religious and Sexual Politics 
of 
LGBTQ 
Inclusion. 
This 
event featured guest speaker 
Brett 
Krutzsch, 
a 
scholar 
from New York University 
and author of the book “Dying 
to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs 
and the Transformation of 
American 
Sexual 
Politics.” 
Krutzsch spoke to an audience 
of about 20 students, staff and 
community members. 
Krutzsch 
discussed 
both 

historical and modern issues 
pertaining to the intersection 
of religion and the LGBTQ+ 
community. He referenced two 
anecdotal stories about LGBTQ 
youth Matthew Shepard and 
Fred F.C. Martinez, whose 
murders sparked controversy 
in contrasting ways. Shepard 
was an openly gay college 
student in Wyoming who was 
kidnapped, robbed and beaten 
in 1998. He was tied to a fence 
and left to die in near-freezing 
temperatures. He succumbed 
to his injuries several days 
after the attack and quickly 
became a symbol in LGBTQ+ 
activists’ fight for acceptance 
and equality.
“Parents 
throughout 
the 

country felt that Matthew could 
have been their son, an idea 
many had never contemplated 
before 
of 
a 
gay 
person,” 
Krutzsch said. “Instead of 
describing him as an adult man 
who had boyfriends or lovers, 
he becomes a kid within the 
American nuclear family.” 
Krutzsch said the public 
connected to Shepard’s story, 
citing 
several 
journalists 
who wrote about the murder 
and how it sparked national 
response. 
“We have this Christian 
rhetoric that he is continuing 
to lead and teach others after 
he dies and in doing that, 
Shepard transforms into an 
image of gay men completely 

disassociated from public sex,” 
Krutzsch said. 
Martinez, 
who 
was 
murdered in Colorado in 2001, 
was “nádleehí,” a Navajo word 
used for a man with feminine 
attributes. 18-year-old Shaun 
Murphy 
beat 
16-year-old 
Martinez to death with a 
rock, and received a 40-year 
sentence 
for 
the 
crime. 
Murphy was paroled in 2019 
after serving 17 years in prison.
Krutzsch 
said 
because 
Martinez was a person of 
color, 
his 
murder 
carried 
a 
significantly 
different 
narrative than Shepard’s. 

“We 
have 
witnessed 
a 
national 
student 
movement 
for 
the 
growth 
of 
A/PIA 
Studies, but at the same time, 
we have watched a national 
struggle for A/PIA Studies to 
be institutionally supported 
by universities,” the letter 
said. “This University is no 
exception.”
The requirements outlined 
by the students include the 
creation of an A/PIA Studies 
major, 
more 
recognition 
and support for the faculty 
of ethnic studies programs, 
more spaces to hold lectures, 
additional faculty specifically 
dedicated to the ethnic studies 
program and meetings with 
LSA Dean Anne Curzan.
“The 
students 
of 
A/PIA 

Studies 
have 
witnessed 
a 
litigation 
in 
which 
the 
University that we chose to 
attend has excluded our role 
models, directly discredited 
our 
presence, 
and 
denied 
the existence of our lived 
realities,” the letter said. “We 
now need a period to heal and 
move forward from such an 
alienating process.”
As 
of 
Wednesday 
night, 
the letter had more than 100 
signatures from the A/PIA 
Studies community as well as 
other University students. 
In an interview with The 
Daily last week, University 
President Mark Schlissel said 
he was glad the University won 
the trial.
“We’re 
gratified 
they 
agreed 
with 
us,” 
Schlissel 
said. “As always with juries, 
it was a relatively lengthy 
and 
complicated 
trial. 
… 

We’re always trying to hear 
constructive 
criticism, 
even if we disagree with its 
conclusions.”
Schlissel 
said 
he’s 
spent 
time with A/PIA leadership 
to 
continue 
the 
ongoing 
conversation on how to improve 
the situation for the programs. 
“I would find it disappointing 
if any student felt as if they 
weren’t 
supported 
for 
any 
reason, any mode of identity,” 
Shlissel said. “Our student 
affairs staff and the folks that 
work on our multiculturalism 
programs are in contact with 
A/PIA and other groups. I’ve 
had A/PIA leadership to the 
house for breakfast, probably 
once a semester the last several 
years, and it’s an ongoing 
dialogue.”
In response to this statement, 
James Lee, LSA senior and A/
PIA Studies minor, said he felt 

offended by Schlissel’s mention 
of the entire A/PIA community 
being represented by a small 
group of leadership.
“When Schlissel says ‘A/PIA’ 
generally, that is completely 
antithetical to diversity,” Lee 
said. “Because if you’re going to 
say, ‘I listened to A/PIA,’ that’s 
15 percent of the student body. 
Who are you listening to? If you 
want to say something about 
diversity but then at the same 
time say the entirety of A/PIA 
is just a monolith and that you 
listen to everybody out there, 
when we’ve had experiences 
when 
we 
know 
you 
don’t 
(listen to us). You can have all 
this discourse about diversity, 
but that doesn’t matter when 
you’re doing nothing (to make 
improvements).”

2 — Thursday, February 6, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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genta @gentanishku
just reminiscing, but one of the wildest things about living in ann arbor 
for three years was getting emails boasting about the town & university’s 
“values” while watching the number of people on the streets grow before 
our eyes from year to year

BRAPRIPPER 
 
 
@ElectricJizzard
Walking across ann arbor 
with two eggs in my pocket 
please DO NOT bump into 
me

John @notbrokenow
Protesting @Umich’s 
investment in Fossil Fuels 
by stealing food from North 
Campus

Best Michigan Dining 
@UmichBroccoli
The combo of a “Saturdays 
are for the Boys” flag and a 
whole bunch of pride flags 
on the same house might be 
the best way to sum up Ann 
Arbor

LAV @_Lavar_
Nobody: 
People at umich: oh it’s not 
that far, just a 30 minute 
walk!

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NYU prof. talks intersection 
of LGBTQ rights and religion

Krutzsch lectures on queer martyrs and media attention paid to 
movement as part of Spectrum Center’s health and wellness week 

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