On Wednesday, June 7, 1995 at the The Graduate Center, CUNY, a surprise party was held for Martin Duberman to celebrate his 65th birthday, and to announce that a fellowship had been established in his honor. The guests included some 70 of the 140 donors who had contributed to the Martin Duberman Endowed Fellowship in Lesbian and Gay Studies. Esther “Katz, Chair of the CLAGS Board of Directors served as emcee. CUNY’s Chancellor Ann Reynolds gave the welcoming address, followed by Jonathan Ned Katz, author of The Invention of Homosexuality, who spoke of Duberman’s dual roles as historian and playwright. Charlotte Bunch, the Director of The Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutger’s University, focused on Duberman’s career as an activist. Graduate School President Frances Degen Horowitz then announced that t he fel lowship fund had already reached $53,000 and remained open to additional donations. Martin Duberman closed the program by thanking all those responsible for the event and said that although he needed time to ponder the matter further, he hoped to reserve the fellowship awards to those working on non-western subject matter- since outside the U.S. & Western Europe, there is even less support for research on the gay and lesbian experience than in the western world. Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the fund should make their check out to Duberman Fellowship and mail it to the CLAGS office.
