The Committee on Gender and Sexuality Studies seeks to support innovative scholarship at the intersections of sexuality, race, class, and gender with an emphasis on interdisciplinary, indigenous, and transnational approaches. American Studies Association members are encouraged to propose panels and programs that highlight scholarship and cultural work in these areas. The Committee on Gender and Sexuality Studies advocates for women, queer, and transgender people in the profession and organization, promotes coalition building between members and committees of the ASA, supports new directions in critical theory and conversations about pedagogy, and administers the Gloria E. Anzaldúa Award for Independent Scholars, Contingent or Community College Faculty.

The Committee on Gender and Sexuality Studies is a standing committee of the ASA, and is composed of seven members of the association named by the Executive Committee with the approval of the Council, following an open call to the membership for self-nominations and suggestions. Each of these seven members serves three-year, non-renewable, staggered terms, and one of these members must be an international member of the association. The chair of the Committee on Gender and Sexuality Studies is named from the committee’s membership by the Executive Committee with the approval of the Council and serves a single term not to exceed three years.