Meet Susan Dicklitch-Nelson | Professor of Government and Founder of the F&M Global Barometers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susan Dicklitch-Nelson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I was the first woman and first lesbian to receive tenure in my department, almost 20 years ago. I came out to my department 2 years before earning tenure after a painful college–sponsored dinner that involved homophobic and racist comments. At that point, I decided that I could no longer hide in the closet, and went to my Provost and told him that I was gay (I couldn’t even bring myself to use the word lesbian). I was an Africanist by training but had a keen interest in human rights. It took an additional five years before I could muster up the courage to work on LGBTQ+ human rights. In fact, it was my wife who kept on pushing me to create some kind of scorecard that could be used to document how countries treated their LGBTQ+ people. It was risky, 1) because I reside in a very conservative community, and 2) there was not a lot of support for LGBTQ+ human rights at the time. Sometimes we need to be pushed outside of our comfort zone, and embrace risk. I could have been denied tenure, but for me, I didn’t want to be at an institution that would deny tenure because of my sexual orientation. But that exposure to risk prompted me to devote my professional and personal life to promoting and protecting global LGBTQ+ human rights. The continued targeting and scapegoating of LGBTQ+ people at home and world wide makes me aware of the additional risks associated with being on the frontline of fighting for justice and equality for all.  I learned “no risk, no reward” so to speak, and that it is worth it to take risks for your personal values and that good things can come out of that.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a tenured Professor of Government at Franklin & Marshall College, a small, liberal arts college in Lancaster, PA. I am also the founder of the F&M Global Barometers. The F&M Global Barometers (FMGB) provides activists, researchers, and policy-professionals an objective, double-blind coded and triple-verified database that measures the extent to which countries protect or persecute LGBTQI+ individuals.The FMGB include three products: F&M Global Barometer of Gay Rights (GBGR), the F&M Global Barometer of Transgender Rights (GBTR) and the newest addition, the F&M Global Barometer LGBTQI+ Perception Index (GBPI). To date, the GBGR and GBTR have collected ten years of data: 2011-2020 for 204 countries and regions. Working on LGBTQ+ human rights is not easy. It’s actually quite depressing. The majority of countries worldwide continue to persecute LGBTQ+ people. It is hard to read, day in and day out, the horrible conditions that LGBTQ+ people live in. They are discriminated against simply for who they are and who they love. But we can’t let this bring us down –we have to hope that providing knowledge to people of how LGBTQ+ people are actually treated will help change lived realities. I am most proud of sticking to the F&M Global Barometers, even when we couldn’t get any funding, even when it seemed like it was an impossible task, and even when it seemed like nobody actually cared. Lessons learned? Don’t give up. Never give up. It’s not about you — it’s about the people you are hoping to help. What do you need to know about me? I don’t give up. I can’t give up. Too many people are depending on it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

First stop, Central Market in Lancaster, PA. The oldest covered market in the United States. You can shop for Amish goods, fresh produce and diverse foods. You also have to check out the outlets in Lancaster as well as the Amish farms and if you are into theatre and music, Sight and Sound as well as the Fulton Theatre. Top it off with an early morning Hot air ballon ride.

Lancaster County, PA, in general, has a history of being a welcoming place. It was settled by refugees fleeing religious persecution in the 1600. It has also become a haven for recent resettled refugees from Bhutan, the DRC and other countries.

Second stop, the Northwest Rails-to-Trails. Lancaster, PA offers an incredibly safe bike trails that follow the mighty Susquehanna river.

Lancaster City, unlike Lancaster County (which is known for the Amish), is a diverse and vibrant community. In fact, some have called it the new Brooklyn. My favorites: Luca, The Belvedere, and of course, Tellus 360 for drinks, music and ambiance.

Thaddeus Stevens, a hero of civil rights, is buried in Lancaster City.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to 2 people: First, my wife, who pushed me to be comfortable with who I am and to have the courage to fight for others; and second, to my (late) father, who always fought for the underdog. As a displaced person during World War II, he understood what it meant to be treated as an outsider and he also understood the importance of human rights.

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