Academic literature on the topic 'Activism (LGBTQ)'

This article explores the complex intersections of visibility, identity and consumer activism in LGBTQ+ communities. While the purchase of consumer goods may serve important functions for identity construction and increasing awareness, it also raises concerns about commodification and the effectiveness of consumer activism. Beginning with a description of support for LGBTQ+ communities following the massacre at the Pulse nightclub, the discussion moves to a brief history of different modes of consumer activism. Next, Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model (PM) is presented, adapted and then applied to LGBTQ+ consumer activist commodities with a focus on the role of flak. Distinct from other forms of consumer activism, flaktivism refers to the merging of flak with activism. Key issues surrounding identity formation and raising awareness are integrated into questions of LGBTQ+ visibility and the importance of symbolic values generated through consumption practices. The article concludes with a critique of the limitations of flaktivism and calls for the advancement of LGBTQ+ civil and human rights.

This article investigates the relationship between exposure to structural injustice, experiences of social discrimination, psychological well being, physical health, and engagement in activist solidarities for a large, racially diverse and inclusive sample of 5,860 LGBTQ/Gender Expansive youth in the United States. Through a participatory action research design and a national survey created by an intergenerational research collective, the “What’s Your Issue?” survey data are used to explore the relationships between injustice, discrimination and activism; to develop an analysis of how race and gender affect young people’s vulnerabilities to State violence (in housing, schools and by the police), and their trajectories to activism, and to amplify a range of “intimate activisms” engaged by LGBTQ/GE youth with powerful adults outside their community, and with often marginalized peers within. The essay ends with a theoretical appreciation of misrecognition as structural violence; activism as a racialized and gendered response to injustice, and an elaborated archive of “intimate activisms” engaged with dominant actors and within community, by LGBTQ/GE youth who have been exiled from home, school, state protection and/or community and embody, nevertheless, “willful subjectivities”.

This article theoretically and empirically explores meanings of recent activism practised by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other non-heterosexual groups (LGBTQ+) in China. Chinese LGBTQ+ individuals, like the majority of Chinese citizens, are generally self-restrained in popular contention because of the political risks involved. They also face widespread discrimination from the public when revealing their LGBTQ+ identities. This article is concerned with the perceived meanings of Chinese LGBTQ+ individuals suppressing engrained self-constraint to promote LGBTQ+ contention and certain level of collective action. Theoretically, I conceptualize Chinese LGBTQ+ protests as relational interactions undertaken by LGBTQ+ individuals with other people of queer identities (ingroup members), authorities and the public based on the logic of connective action. I also explore the concepts of embodiment and online embodiment to understand individuals’ sensual experiences during LGBTQ+ contention. Empirically, I examine university student Qiu Bai’s lawsuits with the Education Ministry and her social media campaign against homophobic textbooks. Drawing on in-depth interviews and textual analysis, the case study provides a dialectical account of individuals’ experience of embodiment and self-constraint.

Abstract Mark Stenhoff looks back at the life of US astronomer Frank Kameny (1925–2011), whose career-ending dismissal led to a life of gay rights activism, and explores what his legacy means for LGBTQ+ scientists today.

The conservative ideology influences the life scenario of LGBTQ+ people by pushing them out of the public sphere and controlling the private sphere of their lives. At the same time, over the past three years, online projects about and for LGBTQ+ people and communities have been actively developing, gaining popularity and support. LGBTQ+ scene is a decentralized space of various initiatives, organizations, and independent activists. The participants of the scene are fighting against gender and sexual-based discrimination by organizing protests, educational projects, and other activities. The empirical basis of the study is 20 interviews involving LGBTQ people.The LGBTQ+ scene is constituted through a reflexive, often conflicting discussion of issues that have fundamental importance for the community such as status of sexuality, public actions, power, and hierarchy, as well as new sexual and gender identities.The person engaging in activism on an individual level not only chooses a form of participation (professional work, volunteering, or independent activity), but also the direction of activity within the community or outside it. The core of the scene is set by active individuals and groups, the periphery and borders are supported by passive participants and opponents of the LGBTQ+ scene. The article examines the relationship of solidarity of LGBTQ + scene participants with other initiatives, or rather, what values serve as the basis for the formation of intergroup solidarity. KEYWORDS:

Purpose Previous research examining the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) youth in schools suggests that schools are not inclusive places for non-heterosexual students. Some scholars, however, suggest that a continued focus on how these young people are marginalised is itself a problem, and that research should also focus on strengths and what is working. The purpose of this paper is to examine the activities of a group of LGBTQ students in one school in Auckland, New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a critical ethnographic approach in a diverse co-educational, public high school in Auckland, New Zealand. The researcher spent 3-5 days per week at the school throughout three terms (32 weeks) of the 2016 school year and participated, observed and interviewed students and teachers. Post-structural theory was used to analyse the ethnographic materials. Findings The study found that LGBTQ students actively challenged the heteronorms of their school. They met regularly to discuss issues, support each other and to plan activist initiatives. These initiatives, in turn, impacted the environment of the school and made LGBTQ students more visible. This visibility, however, also created tensions as students grappled with their identities and the public space of school. Originality/value Despite a wealth of research in education on the exclusion of young people at the intersection of gender, sexuality and other identity positions, there is very little research that reports on school-wide health promotion initiatives that both engage young people as leaders and participants in their schools, and work towards creating safe and empowering spaces for LGBTQ youth.

This paper examines Croatian lgbtq activists’ engagement with discourses of human rights and European identity in their struggles for anti-discrimination legislation. Utilizing the external pressure imposed by European Union institutions on the Croatian government and the government’s aim to become an eu member state during the pre-accession process, some activists and the organizations with which they collaborated focused their efforts and resources toward lobbying for legislative protection again discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Aside from the specific circumstances of eu accession, part of the thrust behind the focus on legislative change and lobbying derives from processes of professionalization or the changing financial and legal support structures that the organization began to use during this period, the international and transnational networks in which they took part, and their internal organizational structures. Some activists construct a hierarchical differentiation between a professionalized sphere consisting of serious, professionalized types of activism vs. so-called amateur, cultural-based activism and embrace similar lobbying strategies used by transnational lgbtq organizations in Europe. These professionalized lobbying strategies have reproduced discourses of human rights and European identity that may foreclose recognition of difference within the larger, diverse lgbtq community and its needs.

“Affective Economies of Activism: Reimagining Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crime” is a critique of racism and misogyny within the contemporary LGBTQ movement. I argue that the mainstream LGBTQ movement’s narrow focus on street crimes against white gay men has resulted in a hyperreality that distracts us not only from the effects of the actual racialized violence that takes place, but also denies meaningful discussion of structural violence. This dissertation traces the origins of this exclusive and harmful discourse since the late 1960s with each chapter describing different forms of active resistance and possibilities for finding solutions today. I analyze publications gathered from special collections across the country; oral histories I conducted with activists in the South; documentary films; and queer online culture. My scholarship combines theory with everyday lived experience in order to bring social justice to the center of our field of vision. I do not only discuss and theorize about social justice, but also practice what I preach by engaging in archive activism and contributing to a grassroots LGBTQ history.

Sustained gay activism in Charlotte, North Carolina, only emerged in response to the HIV AIDS epidemic. Community building among Charlotte’s closeted gays and lesbians began in the 1970s with the emergence of safe spaces, particularly gay bars. However, before the mid 1980s, activism was intermittent, largely inward facing, and suffered from over-reliance on a few leaders. As the reality of AIDS gripped the community after 1985, two imperatives created by the epidemic gave rise to sustained gay and lesbian activism. First, the critical need to provide care for people suffering from AIDS galvanized the gay community into action and led to the creation of the Metrolina AIDS Project (MAP). MAP became the first outward looking and visible gay organization in Charlotte, and, critically, it enjoyed a degree of civic legitimacy. However, this civic legitimacy did not extend to the second imperative, the more contentious terrain of AIDS education. In this arena Charlotte’s gay activists came into conflict with the Religious Right and the county government, which forced activists to become more politically organized. By the early 1990s, it became clear that further progress would require partnerships with straight allies, but because these allies were motivated largely by sympathy for AIDS there was limited progress on the broader gay rights agenda. The timing of gay activism and the necessity for straight alliances shows that Charlotte’s experience as a mid-size Southern city differed from larger metropolitan areas and progressive university/capital cities that have been the focus of previous historiography.

Over the course of the last 60 years, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) rights movement in the United States has become a beacon of light around the world where LGBT persons continue to face intolerance, discrimination, persecution, and death. As this qualitative phenomenological study was being written, LGBT Americans taking advantage of their legal rights to marry, still face employment discrimination, housing discrimination, adoption discrimination, immigration discrimination, and discrimination in public accommodations including a Presidential Executive Order, state, and local legislation forcing transgender people to use the restroom that reflects their assigned gender at birth. In fact, in almost three dozen states an LGBT person could exercise their legal right to get married and still legally get fired from their job, legally get kicked out of their apartment by their landlord, and get denied an adoption simply because they are LGBT without other legal protections. Each of these issues has an effect on employee recruitment, retention, and performance and an effect in terms of creating an organizational culture where all employees can thrive without fear of retaliation, retribution, or being unaffirmed in the workplace. Affirmative corporate activism in the form of company supported LGBT employee resource groups/business resource groups, LGBT serving volunteer efforts, philanthropy, and public policy advocacy efforts combined have helped to make corporate America a critical ally in the movement for LGBT legal equality. This qualitative phenomenological study examines how LGBT employee resource group/business group leaders and executive champions influence corporate activism on LGBT issues. The rise of elected conservative leadership in the United States and around the world challenges the espoused values of corporate leaders on LGBT issues. This conservative revolution challenging the gains of the LGBT movement also creates an opportunity for corporate America to develop standards, practices, and policies. Although LGBT people outside of corporate America are likely to remain far more vulnerable to an increasingly more hostile government, corporate America has a unique opportunity to develop best practices and strategies to keep employees safe, make their customers feel welcome, while testing and learning scalable corporate social responsibility solutions.

This project is an archival case study of the multimedia artist and writer David Wojnarowicz. I discuss Wojnarowicz's legacy as a queer activist and public intellectual to explore the potential of his posthumous rhetorical agency. I define "posthumous rhetorical agency" as a process enacted by the living to facilitate the participation of the deceased in public life. I emphasize that developing a theory of posthumous rhetorical agency can fuel the "momentum of the archival turn" while also deepening a "commitment to the queer turn" in rhetorical studies (Morris and Rawson; Crichton). I establish that Wojnarowicz's archive possesses the ability to reach into the future with remarkable velocity to contribute to his posthumous agency because he drew on extant queer kinship networks and engaged multiple mediums as a visual artist, writer, musician, performance artist, and filmmaker. I extend Avery Gordon's position that haunting differs from trauma because haunting produces a "something-to-be-done" quality, which leads to an engagement with the present and a desire "to reveal and learn from subjugated knowledge." I argue that Wojnarowicz's legacy has a "something-to-be-done" quality about it. His legacy stands as an indictment of a nation lulled into apathetic indifference and cowed into fear of social difference: at a national level when the AIDS epidemic began, politicians and corporations were inexcusably slow to respond because the disease was assumed to infect only gay men and other "high risk" populations. Thus, in understanding Wojnarowicz's suffering - as an individual and, to take this line of argument further, as part of a collective of people with AIDS who died due to the US government's neglect of a public health crisis from which the "general public" was assumed to be safe - one can conceive of his posthumous legacy as a positive and needful presence that calls attention to the value of integrating a partially erased or forgotten history more fully into the nation's history. I conclude that a viable theory of posthumous rhetorical agency must attend to issues of how to responsibly and justly represent the work of those who have been systematically excluded, censored, or erased from the historical record.

For decades LGBTQ rights have been approached purely by a legal strategy, in particular advocating for the legalization of same-sex marriage. However, discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ community continues to be a major issue in Latin America because of cultural values such as Catholicism and machismo that uphold a standard of and, in turn, have control over people’s sexuality. Using a human rights approach towards the politics of sexuality, LGBTI activists in Costa Rican and Nicaragua have been successful in transforming public opinion about sexuality and more importantly, sexual diversity. As a result of their egalitarian framework and efforts to educate people about sexual diversity, they have made great advancements toward achieving acceptance and equality for LGBTI people. This study focuses on how Costa Rican and Nicaraguan LGBTI activists have worked around traditional cultural values such as Catholicism and machismo that prevent people from accepting and tolerating LGBTI people. The examples of LGBTI activists in these two countries have important implications for other LGBTI activists and the strategies they use to try to achieve full equality (social and legal) for people whose sexual identity differs from the conventional.

Between 1990 and 2010, lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LOBT) people in Serbia moved from a legal prohibition of homosexuality and widespread hostility, to a legislative and institutional framework of increasing recognition and protection. Social attitudes, too, 3re shifting towards greater acceptance. A vibrant social movement of LGBT activists has been vitally important in these shifts. This thesis explores and analyses a series of semi-structured interviews with these activists, campaigning materials, and primary and secondary literature to present a contextualised account of the history and practice of this under-researched movement. Beginning by developing a model of a theoretical toolbox, the thesis identifies the continuing relevance of a range of social movement theories and concepts, arguing that these must be utilised pragmatically to ensure a full understanding of the complex processes at work in a social movement. It particularly identifies the importance of contextually situated grievances, resources and opportunities to the development of LOBT activism in Serbia. A background of nationalism, warfare, ethnic fragmentation, authoritarianism, shifting international and domestic resources and opportunities have influenced the strategies and tactics, participation, leadership, motivations for taking part, and patterns of cooperation, all of which are explored. At the same time the thesis stresses the importance of actors making choices and acting creatively to influence, as well as work within, this context. To this end, the movement is theorised as representing a model of 'activist citizenship' based on rights, participation and belonging, utilising identity strategically whilst seeking a wider citizenship based on common humanity and linking struggles between oppressed groups. In doing so, this interdisciplinary research fills an important gap in existing sociological literature on the former Yugoslavia and makes a contribution to social movement theory and citizenship studies, as well as contributing to political sciences work on the former Yugoslavia and social movement studies.

During the last five years mediated activism dedicated to LGBT+ issues in Belarus has flourished despite restrictive context: several new online initiatives, including a media project, have been launched. The current study investigates how one of the most politically underprivileged and marginalized groups – LGBT+ activists – make use of online social media to advocate for positive social and political modification in the Belarusian society. By collecting interviews with activists as a primary source of lived experiences, applying thematical analysis on the data from 13 interviews, and then contributing with netnography-informed content analysis as an instrument to analyse 34 posts written in February of 2018 on the personal Facebook pages of the same activists, the current research examines patterns of experiences surrounding participation in mediated LGBT+ activism. The power dynamics and the influence of the repressive context on the practices of mediated activism are analysed through feminist critical discourse analysis with specific focus on heteronormativity as a key-concept of imposing power on marginalized identities. Four global themes emerged in the result of the analysis: 1) heteronormativity and state control; 2) identity as “doing”; 3) the “other” activism, and 4) social change as individual transformation. Topics of heteronormativity, homophobia, hate-crime and violence turned out to be most present in the posts produced by the activists. It was found that in the restrictive spaces mediated activism and social media, instead of serving as tools for mass outreach and mobilization, endanger activists engaged in LGBT+ issues. Burnout, risk of poverty, emotional and physical assaults, and exposure to social sanctions are happening to activists because of their presence online, and there are extremely limited tools to combat these consequences of publicity. In Belarusian context, the shrinking space for civil society and limited political opportunities outweigh the potential of online social media, lower their impact and determine prospects of social change in such a way, when viral organizing or structural transformations become extremely limited.

The title "Enacting Activism" suggests the idea of activism applied to different fields, at the same time that it highlights the power of social movements in respect to influencing change. Situated at the intersection of new social movement theory and queer studies, this thesis examines the impact of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activism in Portugal since 1995.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Kinesiology
Katie M. Heinrich
Engagement in regular physical activity is essential to prevent chronic diseases, yet few individuals are active enough to receive health benefits. Social factors such as relationship status, social support, and social capital are important for engagement in physical activity, although research investigating this area has not accounted for sexual orientation, including gay and bisexual men. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the associations between relationship status, social support, and social capital by sexual orientation for men by using national-level epidemiologic data from the National Institutes of Health. Chapter one reviewed the literature examining the relationship among social variables, physical activity and sexual orientation to identify the gaps in sexual orientation/physical activity research. Chapter two used logistic regression to identify the prevalence of meeting physical activity recommendations for single and coupled gay and straight men by determining the association between relationship status and physical activity by sexual orientation. Coupled gay men were 1.61 (95% CI: 1.01-2.56) times more likely to meet physical activity recommendations compared to coupled straight men. Chapter three used linear and logistic regression to test the relationships between social support and physical activity by sexual orientation. Social support was not related to increases in physical activity for gay (AOR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.49-1.97) or bisexual (AOR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.28-1.51) men as it was for straight men (AOR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.44-1.90). Chapter four used multiple group structural equation modeling to test the association between social capital and physical activity by sexual orientation. Social capital was related to more light/moderate-intensity physical activity for gay (β = .14, p <.05) and straight men (β = .06, p <.001), and social capital was related to more vigorous-intensity physical activity for straight men only (β = .06, p <.001). Lastly, chapter 5 introduces a conceptual model of how sexual orientation is related to social variables, and ultimately, physical activity. These results provide insight into the complex associations among a social determinant of health and physical activity while highlighting the need for future descriptive and intervention studies.

The power of Being plays a crucial role in our work as librarians and an even more critical role as community leaders—every time we choose to "be," we make a choice that has ripple effects. Whether you choose to be afraid, be visible, or be a leader, our actions shape our community. Drawing on personal experiences, Brandon West tells his Story of Being, which led to him becoming a Queer activist librarian, and founder of the leading nonprofit organization working to educate, empower and raise visibility for the over 2.9 Million LGBTQIA+ individuals who call rural America home.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.