Michael Lynch (1944 – July 9, 1991) was an American-born Canadian professor, journalist, and activist, [1] most noted as a pioneer of gay studies in Canadian academia and as an important builder of many significant LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS organizations in Toronto. [1]
Born and raised in Harnett County, North Carolina, [2] he studied at Goddard College and the University of Iowa. [1] He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the poetry of Wallace Stevens. [1] He moved to Toronto in 1971 with his then-wife Gail Jones, [1] and from 1971 to 1990 he taught in the Department of English at the University of Toronto at both the main and Erindale College campuses. [3]
After coming out as a gay man in 1973, [1] Lynch was a writer and a contributing editor for The Body Politic. [4] In 1974, he taught the first gay studies course offered at a Canadian university, through the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Education. [3] He was a founding member of the Toronto chapter of Gay Alliance Toward Equality and the Gay Academic Union. [5] In 1980, he convened the first academic conference on the topic of Walt Whitman's 1880 visit to London, Ontario. [2] He helped found the Toronto Centre for Lesbian and Gay Studies, [3] which continues to offer an annual academic grant in his name.
Lynch was a committed AIDS activist from the dawn of the AIDS crisis in 1981 until his death in 1991, [6] including as a founding member of AIDS Action Now!, [7] the AIDS Committee of Toronto [7] and the AIDS Memorial in Toronto's Barbara Hall Park. [8]
In 1989 he published the poetry collection These Waves of Dying Friends. [9]
At the time of his death, he had an unfinished gay studies manuscript, The Age of Adhesiveness: From Friendship to Homosexuality, in development. [1] The book was an expansion of an earlier academic paper, for which he won Crompton-Noll Award from the Lesbian and Gay Caucus of the Modern Languages Association in 1981. [1] He also served as the editor of the Lesbian and Gay Caucus's Gay Studies Newsletter. [1]
In honour of his role as a significant contributor to LGBT culture and history in Canada, a portrait of Lynch by Gerald Hannon is held by The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives' National Portrait Collection. [6]
A biography of Lynch, AIDS Activist: Michael Lynch and the Politics of Community, was published by Ann Silversides in 2003. [10]
Michael Lynch (1944 – July 9, 1991) was an American-born Canadian professor, journalist, and activist, [1] most noted as a pioneer of gay studies in Canadian academia and as an important builder of many significant LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS organizations in Toronto. [1]
Born and raised in Harnett County, North Carolina, [2] he studied at Goddard College and the University of Iowa. [1] He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the poetry of Wallace Stevens. [1] He moved to Toronto in 1971 with his then-wife Gail Jones, [1] and from 1971 to 1990 he taught in the Department of English at the University of Toronto at both the main and Erindale College campuses. [3]
After coming out as a gay man in 1973, [1] Lynch was a writer and a contributing editor for The Body Politic. [4] In 1974, he taught the first gay studies course offered at a Canadian university, through the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Education. [3] He was a founding member of the Toronto chapter of Gay Alliance Toward Equality and the Gay Academic Union. [5] In 1980, he convened the first academic conference on the topic of Walt Whitman's 1880 visit to London, Ontario. [2] He helped found the Toronto Centre for Lesbian and Gay Studies, [3] which continues to offer an annual academic grant in his name.
Lynch was a committed AIDS activist from the dawn of the AIDS crisis in 1981 until his death in 1991, [6] including as a founding member of AIDS Action Now!, [7] the AIDS Committee of Toronto [7] and the AIDS Memorial in Toronto's Barbara Hall Park. [8]
In 1989 he published the poetry collection These Waves of Dying Friends. [9]
At the time of his death, he had an unfinished gay studies manuscript, The Age of Adhesiveness: From Friendship to Homosexuality, in development. [1] The book was an expansion of an earlier academic paper, for which he won Crompton-Noll Award from the Lesbian and Gay Caucus of the Modern Languages Association in 1981. [1] He also served as the editor of the Lesbian and Gay Caucus's Gay Studies Newsletter. [1]
In honour of his role as a significant contributor to LGBT culture and history in Canada, a portrait of Lynch by Gerald Hannon is held by The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives' National Portrait Collection. [6]
A biography of Lynch, AIDS Activist: Michael Lynch and the Politics of Community, was published by Ann Silversides in 2003. [10]