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American labor historian From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anne Balay is an American labor historian. A former professor at Indiana University Northwest, she is best known for her oral history collections of LGBT workers: Steel Closets (2014) and Semi Queer (2018).
After graduating from Wilbur Cross High School,[1] she obtained her A.B. (1986), A.M. (1988), and PhD (1994) from the University of Chicago.[2] After getting her degrees, she worked as a car mechanic from 1996 to 2001.[1][3] She was a lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago from 2001 to 2007 and an assistant professor at Indiana University Northwest from 2007 to 2014.[1] In 2013, she was denied tenure at IU Northwest, and she later filed an Office for Civil Rights complaint that this action was on the basis that she was a lesbian.[4]
In 2014, she published Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers, a collection of oral histories from LGBT steelworkers;[5] the oral histories had been obtained over a course of five years.[6] The book was one of two winners of the National Women's Studies Association's 2014 Sara A. Whaley Prize.[7] In 2015, she was one of the two winners of the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award at the 27th Lambda Literary Awards.[8] The same year, Balay became a visiting assistant professor at Haverford College,[1] working there until 2019.[3]
In 2018, she published another book, Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers, a collection of oral histories of LGBT and Black truck drivers;[9] Balay had spent some time working as a truck driver after failing to obtain tenure at IU Northwest.[2] In 2019, the book was a non-winning finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Studies at the 31st Lambda Literary Awards.[10]
In August 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that Balay was one of the first sixteen people appointed to its Women of Trucking Advisory Board.[11] Balay was the only higher education organizer for Service Employees International Union Local 1 until she was laid off on January 31, 2023.[12]
Balay has two children.[3]
Year | Title | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Steel Closets | Sara A. Whaley Prize | Won | [7] |
2015 | N/A | Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award | [8] | |
2019 | Semi Queer | Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Studies | Nominated | [10] |
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