LGBTQ+ scholarship in political science has not only become legitimate over the past fifty years, it is also a burgeoning area of cutting-edge research across all political science subfields. LGBTQ+ politics are now part of current political discourse and conflict across the world and at the international level. In 1973, Kenneth Sherrill presented the first paper on a queer political issue at an American Political Science Association (APSA) annual meeting. Inspired by the Stonewall protests in the United States and the humanistic scholars and activists who recently had founded the Gay Academic Union, Sherrill made a first attempt at opening APSA up to queer political science—and queer political scientists. In his paper, titled “Leaders in the Gay Activist Movement: The Problem of Finding the Followers,” he argued, in part, that it was time for political science to “start paying serious attention to the gay movement.” 

Despite this landmark achievement, it took nearly two decades—and the HIV/AIDS crisis—for APSA to formally recognize the need for both queer antidiscrimination policies and dedicated disciplinary space for LGBTQ+ political studies. Fifty years later, LGBTQ+ scholarship does thrive in certain corners of the discipline but is still peripheral in a few others. Although LGBTQ+ scholarship is broadly recognized as legitimate inquiry in political science, opportunities still abound for those seeking to integrate LGBTQ+ issues into longstanding research paradigms as well as for those charting new scholarly paths. There is a strong need for queer and non-queer political scientists to have a forum to present their research. 

In this special issue celebrating LGBTQ+ political science’s first fifty years and its futures, we invite scholars to respond broadly to questions such as these: 

• To what queer issue(s) should political science pay serious attention today?
• How do we link queer issues to current debates in the study of politics?
• How do we ensure better representation of queer political scientists in our profession’s most prominent research journals?

In this special issue, we invite paper submissions that make important theoretical or empirical contributions to LGBTQ+ political science. In keeping with the spirit of queerness—its roots and its futures—we encourage innovative thinking and methodological pluralism in their most quintessential forms. In addition, in keeping with the spirit of scholarly disclosures about the limits of a particular study, we encourage scholars to include in their conclusion spaces to discuss how their work informs and might open future LGBTQ+ research agendas. 

Contributions must be submitted to PS via Editorial Manager on or before March 31, 2024.

Accepted manuscripts will be published on FirstView as they are completed, but will be published together in a special issue. 

To submit: Submit manuscripts through the online system at: www.editorialmanager.com/ps. You can find submission guidelines at https://apsanet.org/pssubmissions. 

Length: manuscripts must be fewer than 4,000 words, including notes and references. 

Style, format, references: manuscripts must be submitted in Word, should include in-text citations that correspond with endnotes and references conforming to the style manual (Chicago manual of style, 17th edition). An online appendix can be uploaded for supplementary and supporting material. 

Please send questions or concerns to ps@apsanet.org.