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In How to Win a Culture War, sociologist Lisa M. Stulberg explores how LGBTQ+ artists, athletes, and entertainment leaders have helped reshape American culture through visibility, advocacy, and storytelling. Using examples from television, film, music, sports, and politics—including the cultural impact of late-2025 breakout series Heated Rivalry—Stulberg shows how today’s progress was built on decades of creative risk-taking and activism.

Drawing on 14 years of interviews with 170 culture workers, including Eric McCormack, Lea DeLaria, and Greg Louganis, the book reveals six key strategies used to advance LGBTQ+ social change—from becoming visible to “staying queer.” Rich with behind-the-scenes insight, How to Win a Culture War offers a timely playbook for changing hearts, minds, and culture in the face of ongoing political backlash.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and there will be time for a signing after the event. 

Lisa M. Stulberg is associate professor of sociology of education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Sociology at NYU. Her research focuses on the politics of race and education, affirmative action in higher education, school choice policy and politics, and LGBTQ+ social change. She is the author of a forthcoming book on the connection between pop culture and LGBTQ+ social change, entitled How to Win a Culture War: LGBTQ+ Social Change Through Pop Culture, to be published by the University of Chicago Press in October of 2026. She is also the author of Race, Schools, and Hope: African Americans and School Choice after Brown (Teachers College Press, 2008) and LGBTQ Social Movements (Polity, 2018). 

Brian Sims is a civil rights attorney and LGBTQ+ advocate who spent a decade in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to the state’s General Assembly. Before his time in state office, he was co-captain of the Bloomsburg University football team, becoming the first openly gay college football captain on record. He currently serves as a Lecturer in Culture, Advocacy and Leadership at Vanderbilt University New York City. He also has lectured at more than 150 colleges and universities and has spoken at more than 25 Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies and has served in a number of non-profit leadership positions.

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