In this vibrant new history, Phil Tiemeyer details the history of men working as flight attendants.
Beginning with the founding of the profession in the late 1920s and continuing into the post-September 11 era, Plane Queer examines the history of men who joined workplaces customarily identified as female-oriented.
It examines the various hardships these men faced at work, paying particular attention to the conflation of gender-based, sexuality-based, and AIDS-based discrimination. Tiemeyer also examines how this heavily gay-identified group of workers created an important place for gay men to come out, garner acceptance from their fellow workers, fight homophobia and AIDS phobia, and advocate for LGBT civil rights. All the while, male flight attendants facilitated key breakthroughs in gender-based civil rights law, including an important expansion of the ways that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act would protect workers from sex discrimination. Throughout their history, men working as flight attendants helped evolve an industry often identified with American adventuring, technological innovation, and economic power into a queer space.
Book signing to follow.
Content Warning: Viewer discretion is advised. This program includes themes and subject matter that some audience members may find sensitive or distressing, including homophobia, transphobia, the HIV/AIDS crisis, sexism, workplace harassment, and discrimination.
Event Details
Date: Saturday, October 3, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
This program is FREE for Museum Members and included in the cost of General Admission.
About the Author
Phil Tiemeyer is an Associate Professor of History at Kansas State University. His work focuses on how gender and sexuality has interacted with other forces, such as global economic development, decolonization, technological innovation, the legal system, the labor movement, and the United States’ growing global influence after World War II.
