2006 POINT SCHOLARS

Catherine Batza

University of Illinois at Chicago

American History

At thirteen years old, Katie Batza became the first out student in the history of her conservative Catholic high school in Atlanta, Georgia.

While enduring taunts, threats and occasional violence, she escaped into her academic work. At fifteen, Katie joined other area youth and local social workers to start the first queer youth organization in Atlanta-YouthPride. She joined the board of directors and organized outreach and education programs. Although her high school years were difficult, they led Katie to her two passions: education and activism. After graduating from high school, she continued to pursue both her love of history and activism within the GLBTQ community. After high school she attended Johns Hopkins University where she served as a leader in several GLBTQ student organizations, spent a summer interning for President Clinton’s top aide on GLBTQ issues at the White House, all while simultaneously earning her BA and MA in History. After having completed her master’s thesis on gay and lesbian political activism in the 1960s, Katie moved to Chicago to pursue her PhD in American History at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Currently, she is working on her dissertation entitled “Before AIDS: Gay and Lesbian Community Health in the 1970s,” which examines the connections between public health and gay liberation in the 1970s. She hopes that her research will shed new light on successful forms of GLBTQ community organizing and the political and medical value of community health clinics. Katie aspires to be a professor of American History who integrates current as well as historical events to challenge homophobia, bigotry and ignorance in society.

In Catherine's own words: "Education is the greatest enemy of social injustice, bigotry, and hate. As a community activist, historian, and future professor I strive to replace fear with hope, violence with communication, and ignorance with understanding. With the support of organizations like The Point Foundation, failure is not an option.”