Call for Papers 

The LGBTQ+ History Association is pleased to announce a call for papers for its fourth conference, the Queer/Trans History Conference* 2026 (#QTHC26), to be held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from June 2 to 5, 2026. 

*Yes, this is a new name! The LGBTQ+ History Association has always interpreted “queer” as an umbrella that included queering of gender identity and expression, but it is important to name the work that we do more explicitly. With this name change, we’re affirming that this conference is a place to have the conversations about how sexuality, gender, and transness intersect and diverge. Also, in a political moment when the U.S. federal government is actively erasing trans history, we are committing to defending history, resisting fascism, and continuing to tell stories from the queer and/or trans past. 

Scholars working on any aspect of the queer and/or trans past, in any region of the world, during any period, are encouraged to apply. This conference highlights historical approaches to queer/trans scholarship, and while interdisciplinary approaches are welcome, we are soliciting proposals that explore queer/trans lives in the past. There is no specific theme; rather, we hope that this gathering will simply showcase the best of current work and new directions in the fields of queer and/or trans histories, including panels addressing historiographical debates or states-of-the-field. We encourage queer/trans scholarship on racial formations and racial capitalism, colonialism and empire, disability and embodiment, paid and unpaid labor, and practices of kinship and intimacy. Moreover, we are interested in panels that look beyond the twentieth-century United States. To promote robust conversations, we encourage panels organized by theme rather than region.

We particularly encourage panels and roundtables that respond to the political crises and technological changes impacting how we research, study, and teach queer/trans history today. In an era in which the teaching of history, ethnic studies and gender/sexuality studies faces increased scrutiny and backlash, we welcome panels and roundtables that explore critical reflections on queer/trans history in the classroom, from K-12 through higher education. As the US National Park Service deletes trans history content from government webpages, we encourage submissions that discuss queer/trans public history projects today. As the media through which queer/trans history knowledge circulates continue to diversify, we welcome panels that discuss how historians are using podcasts, online exhibitions, blogs, documentaries, social media rolls, Signal threads, Zoom webinars, and other formats to tell stories about the queer/trans past. 

Dorm rooms and on-campus hotel rooms will be available to make this conference as affordable as possible and registration fees will be minimal. 

A note from the conference co-chairs:

We want to thank members who’ve reached out to express concern about hosting the 2026 conference in the United States. We’re working to address those concerns, and particularly to make the conference as accessible as possible given the circumstances, including offering fully virtual options, sponsoring visas, and helping keep the costs of the conference as low as possible. We encourage folks to keep reaching out to us--this process is collaborative, and there would be no QTHC without all of you.

There is no perfect solution. While the U.S. is a place that international scholars may want to boycott or feel is unsafe to travel to, it is also a place that is hard for our trans and/or immigrant members to leave and return to. We also believe it is important to keep discussing trans and queer histories in the United States when the federal government is actively trying to erase these fields of inquiry. We considered several options and went with one where we had a dedicated local organizer with the capacity to facilitate the logistics on the ground. We want this conference to be accessible for as many people as possible. Ann Arbor has a generally welcoming climate for LGBTQ folks, ample institutional resources, interesting archives, and a richly documented local/regional LGBTQ history, so we’re excited about this opportunity. 

We see a future for the QTHC that continues to move around, and if you and your institution can host for 2028, please be in touch with the LGBTQ History Association co-chairs! We are open to a Canadian location for 2028, and look forward to an ongoing discussion with our membership to explore how best to facilitate accessible transnational dialogue about the queer/trans past in the years to come.

Guidelines for Submission

We are accepting proposals for:

1.      Fully in-person panels (three papers, a chair, and a comment; chair and comment roles can be fulfilled by the same person), roundtables (three to five speakers who will speak for 5-10 minutes each, plus a chair), workshops (an event in which one or more facilitators present on a topic and engage the audience in hands-on activity or constructive dialogue; examples might include  “Writing for the Public with the Editors of Nursing Clio,” “How to Launch a Podcast with Dig: A History Podcast,” “Writing a Book Proposal,” etc; workshops will require attendees to pre-register, and a max participant threshold should be set in the proposal), or single papers. 

2.     Fully virtual panels (three papers, a chair, and a comment; chair and comment roles can be fulfilled by the same person), roundtables (three to five speakers who will speak for 5-10 minutes each, plus a chair), or single papers. In response to member feedback about hybrid panels and prohibitive costs around technical support, we have decided not to accept hybrid proposals that require conference support to implement the hybrid experience. 

Our hope is that with options for fully virtual panels we can support opportunities for scholars who feel unsafe traveling to the United States to gather, share scholarship, and connect. 

We will consider individual paper submissions, out of which the program committee will assemble a very limited number of panels (either fully virtual or in-person). See below for ways to connect with others working in your field.

Panels and roundtables will be 1.5 hours. We encourage all full panel submissions to include at least one graduate student where possible. All panels should include a diversity of scholars in terms of institution, rank, and identity. Please only apply as part of one panel or roundtable. (The exception to this rule is for the role of chair or commentator, which may be performed by someone who is also giving a paper or appearing on a roundtable.) You do need to include someone to perform the chair, with an optional commenter. 

You may reach out to conference co-chairs for help in locating a chair and/or commentator: email conference@lgbtq-ha.org. In order to assemble panels, feel free to use the LGBTQHA listserv to connect with others working on similar topics (LGBTQHA@groups.io; if you are not already a member, you can register here: https://groups.io/g/lgbtqha) or use the hashtag #qthc26 on BlueSky or Facebook. 

Full Panels should include, in one Word document:

· Title of panel

· Panel abstract (300 words max.)

· Title and abstract for each paper (300 words max.)

· One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information for each participant

· Chair (required) and Commenter (optional) roles specified

Roundtables should include, in one Word document:

· Title of roundtable

· Panel abstract (300 words max.)

· Abstract for each contribution (300 words max.)

· One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information for each participant

· Chair role specified

Workshops should include, in one Word document:

· Title of workshop

· Workshop description  (300 words max.)

· Maximum number of participants 

· Expectations of participants (Do they need to bring a book proposal in progress? A laptop or other equipment? Sturdy walking shoes?) 

· Support that the facilitators would need from the conference staff

· Workshops can run up to 3 hours; please make a note in the proposal of the desired run time. 

· One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information for each facilitator

Single paper submissions should include, in one Word document:

· Title of paper

· Paper abstract (300 words max.)

· One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information

Please submit all proposals by November 1, 2025 to conference@lgbtq-ha.org. The QTHC 26 program committee will make decisions and send notifications in December. All presenters are expected to be (or become) members of the LGBTQ History Association by the time of the conference. Membership information is here.