Louis Crompton

Who is Louis Crompton?

Louis Crompton, son of Master Mariner Clarence and Mabel Crompton, was a Canadian-born scholar, professor, author, and pioneer in the instruction of queer studies.

Crompton received an M.A. in mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1948 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago in 1954. After teaching mathematics at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, he joined the English department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1955, retiring in 1989. During his career, he gained an international reputation as a scholar of the works of George Bernard Shaw.

In 1970, Crompton taught a gay studies class at UNL, the second such course offered in the United States, an action that raised LGBT awareness in academia, Nebraska, and the nation. The course provoked one Nebraska state legislator into introducing a bill that would ban any teaching on homosexuality in any Nebraska public college; the bill was not passed into law. However, Crompton decided not to offer the course again, but continued to pursue the subject through research and publication.