"I beg my president to care" : examining intersectionality and substance use in the LGBTQ+ community and the impact of drug policy on minoritized communities

Abstract

This thesis examines the historical significance of drug policy in the United States from 1875 to 2022. Specifically, this thesis will explore drug policy’s impact on minoritized communities, particularly the LGBTQ+ community and its intersections with communities of color. At the center of this research, however, my goal is to discuss substance use in the LGBTQ+ community and explore why the rates of substance use remain so high today. This research is important and relevant because the LGBTQ+ community is largely ignored throughout historical narratives despite the deep historical trauma endured by this community. I will make relevant contributions to this discussion using analysis, oral history interviews, and the archives available to me through The Women’s Research and BGLTQ+ Student Center at the University of Central Oklahoma. This thesis will utilize a multidisciplinary approach of both History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies methodologies and pedagogies. In addition, this thesis will utilize approaches from other academic fields such as Political Science, Law, and Sociology. Although several scholars across a variety of fields discuss the impacts of drug policy on minoritized communities and substance use in the LGBTQ+ community, very few historians present their voices in the parameters of these discussions. It is my goal to introduce these issues to the historical field and call attention towards reforming these policies. In this thesis, I argue that drug policy is indeed a tool of the government to control and police bodies that do not fit the status quo, specifically those within the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, I will argue that the LGBTQ+ community has been ignored in historical narratives related to substance use and drug policy, leading to further demonization and isolation of this community.