The current issue of Inside Higher Ed has a good overview of the current brouhaha over whether the American Political Science Association’s 2012 meeting should be moved out of its designated site, New Orleans, due to Louisiana’s anti-gay and lesbian policies. APSA President Dianne Pinderhughes, speaking for the APSA Council, recently reaffirmed the Association’s intention to meet in New Orleans, pointing to local conditions and policies rather than state-level ones, the role that holding meetings in New Orleans can play in restoring the city, and APSA’s self-imposed prohibition against taking stands on policy issues. This reaffirmation has distressed many gay and lesbian activists, who are concerned not only about the hostile atmosphere for them in Louisiana but also about potential health risks of being in a place where the health care benefits that are available to family members would not be available to them or their partners. Talk of a boycott of the meeting is in the air.
For the Inside Higher Ed coverage, click here.