4. Longstaff v. INS

Richard Longstaff immigrated to the United States from England in 1965 and soon settled in Dallas as a small business owner in the predominantly queer neighborhood of Oak Lawn. But when he applied to become a naturalized US citizen in 1976, INS officials rejected him because he was gay. Longstaff appealed the INS decision, but could he convince a federal judge that the country’s immigration policies were discriminatory against queer immigrants?

Queering the Lone Star State is funded in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support is provided by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Willis Library’s Special Collections Division, and the departments of history and media arts at the University of North Texas. You can find more episodes, a selection of our sources, and a teaching guide at our website, https://www.queeringthelonestarstate.com/. The series is produced and edited by Sarah Lyngholm. Clare Robnett and Rodrigo Triana are our research assistants. Morgan Reese designed our website. Our theme music was composed by Nicolas Neidhardt.

Audio of Karen Wisely's interview with Richard Longstaff provided courtesy of the University of North Texas Oral History Program.

Audio from Supreme Court oral arguments in Boutilier v. INS provided by Oyez.

Additional music for this episode was composed by Jon Hansson.