Marlon M. Bailey

Marlon M. Bailey is a Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, affiliated with the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Department of African & African American Studies. He is also a Faculty Affiliate in the Performing Arts Department and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Equity. A Black queer theorist and critical/performance ethnographer, his work focuses on LGBTQ+ cultural formations, sexual health, and HIV/AIDS prevention.

• Ph.D. in African American Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, UC Berkeley (2005)
• M.A. in African American Studies, UC Berkeley
• M.F.A. in Theatre Performance (Acting), West Virginia University
• B.A. in Theatre/Speech Education, Olivet College

Dr. Bailey’s research explores the intersections of queer theory, Black studies, performance ethnography, and public health. His work critically examines how marginalized communities navigate race, gender, and sexuality through cultural practices, particularly within ballroom culture and HIV/AIDS interventions. He is currently working on a book manuscript titled Black Gay Sex, which investigates the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on Black gay men’s sexuality.

His notable scientific achievements include the Alan Bray Memorial Book Prize (2014) for Butch Queens Up in Pumps, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Book Award in LGBT Studies (2014), and a GLMA Achievement Award (2021) for co-authoring the NASEM report Understanding the Well-Being of LGBTQ+ Populations.

Dr. Bailey has held visiting roles such as the Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor at Carleton College and Visiting Professor at the University of California, San Francisco. He co-edits the New Sexual Worlds Book Series with the University of California Press and is a member of the Black Sexual Economies Collective, contributing to the 2019 volume Black Sexual Economies: Race and Sex in the Culture of Capital. He also engages in solo performance art, including Exploring Black Gay Sex, Love, and Life, presented internationally.