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Diffraction

Diffraction is the interference or bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a secondary source of the propagating wave. Italian scientist Francesco Maria Grimaldi coined the word diffraction and was the first to record accurate observations of the phenomenon in 1660.

In classical physics, the diffraction phenomenon is described by the Huygens–Fresnel principle that treats each point in a propagating wavefront as a collection of individual spherical wavelets. The characteristic bending pattern is most pronounced when a wave from a coherent source (such as a laser) encounters a slit/aperture that is comparable in size to its wavelength, as shown in the inserted image. This is due to the addition, or interference, of different points on the wavefront (or, equivalently, each wavelet) that travel by paths of different lengths to the registering surface. If there are multiple, closely spaced openings (e.g., a diffraction grating), a complex pattern of varying intensity can result.

These effects also occur when a light wave travels through a medium with a varying refractive index, or when a sound wave travels through a medium with varying acoustic impedance – all waves diffract, including gravitational waves, water waves, and other electromagnetic waves such as X-rays and radio waves. Furthermore, quantum mechanics also demonstrates that matter possesses wave-like properties and, therefore, undergoes diffraction (which is measurable at subatomic to molecular levels).

The amount of diffraction depends on the size of the gap. Diffraction is greatest when the size of the gap is similar to the wavelength of the wave. In this case, when the waves pass through the gap they become semi-circular.

History

Da Vinci might have observed diffraction in a broadening of the shadow. The effects of diffraction of light were first carefully observed and characterized by Francesco Maria Grimaldi, who also coined the term diffraction, from the Latin diffringere, 'to break into pieces', referring to light breaking up into different directions. The results of Grimaldi's observations were published posthumously in 1665. Isaac Newton studied these effects and attributed them to inflexion of light rays. James Gregory (1638–1675) observed the diffraction patterns caused by a bird feather, which was effectively the first diffraction grating to be discovered. Thomas Young performed a celebrated experiment in 1803 demonstrating interference from two closely spaced slits. Explaining his results by interference of the waves emanating from the two different slits, he deduced that light must propagate as waves. Augustin-Jean Fresnel did more definitive studies and calculations of diffraction, made public in 1816 and 1818, and thereby gave great support to the wave theory of light that had been advanced by Christiaan Huygens and reinvigorated by Young, against Newton's corpuscular theory of light.

Mechanism

In classical physics diffraction arises because of how waves propagate; this is described by the Huygens–Fresnel principle and the principle of superposition of waves. The propagation of a wave can be visualized by considering every particle of the transmitted medium on a wavefront as a point source for a secondary spherical wave. The wave displacement at any subsequent point is the sum of these secondary waves. When waves are added together, their sum is determined by the relative phases as well as the amplitudes of the individual waves so that the summed amplitude of the waves can have any value between zero and the sum of the individual amplitudes. Hence, diffraction patterns usually have a series of maxima and minima.

In the modern quantum mechanical understanding of light propagation through a slit (or slits) every photon is described by its wavefunction that determines the probability distribution for the photon: the light and dark bands are the areas where the photons are more or less likely to be detected. The wavefunction is determined by the physical surroundings such as slit geometry, screen distance, and initial conditions when the photon is created. The wave nature of individual photons (as opposed to wave properties only arising from the interactions between multitudes of photons) was implied by a low-intensity double-slit experiment first performed by G. I. Taylor in 1909. The quantum approach has some striking similarities to the Huygens-Fresnel principle; based on that principle, as light travels through slits and boundaries, secondary point light sources are created near or along these obstacles, and the resulting diffraction pattern is going to be the intensity profile based on the collective interference of all these light sources that have different optical paths. In the quantum formalism, that is similar to considering the limited regions around the slits and boundaries from which photons are more likely to originate, and calculating the probability distribution (that is proportional to the resulting intensity of classical formalism).

There are various analytical models which allow the diffracted field to be calculated, including the Kirchhoff diffraction equation (derived from the wave equation), the Fraunhofer diffraction approximation of the Kirchhoff equation (applicable to the far field), the Fresnel diffraction approximation (applicable to the near field) and the Feynman path integral formulation. Most configurations cannot be solved analytically, but can yield numerical solutions through finite element and boundary element methods.

It is possible to obtain a qualitative understanding of many diffraction phenomena by considering how the relative phases of the individual secondary wave sources vary, and, in particular, the conditions in which the phase difference equals half a cycle in which case waves will cancel one another out.

The simplest descriptions of diffraction are those in which the situation can be reduced to a two-dimensional problem. For water waves, this is already the case; water waves propagate only on the surface of the water. For light, we can often neglect one direction if the diffracting object extends in that direction over a distance far greater than the wavelength. In the case of light shining through small circular holes, we will have to take into account the full three-dimensional nature of the problem.

Examples
The effects of diffraction are often seen in everyday life. The most striking examples of diffraction are those that involve light; for example, the closely spaced tracks on a CD or DVD act as a diffraction grating to form the familiar rainbow pattern seen when looking at a disc.

This principle can be extended to engineer a grating with a structure such that it will produce any diffraction pattern desired; the hologram on a credit card is an example.

Diffraction in the atmosphere by small particles can cause a corona - a bright disc and rings around a bright light source like the sun or the moon. At the opposite point one may also observe glory - bright rings around the shadow of the observer. In contrast to the corona, glory requires the particles to be transparent spheres (like fog droplets), since the backscattering of the light that forms the glory involves refraction and internal reflection within the droplet.

A shadow of a solid object, using light from a compact source, shows small fringes near its edges.

Diffraction spikes are diffraction patterns caused due to non-circular aperture in camera or support struts in telescope; In normal vision, diffraction through eyelashes may produce such spikes.

The speckle pattern which is observed when laser light falls on an optically rough surface is also a diffraction phenomenon. When deli meat appears to be iridescent, that is diffraction off the meat fibers. All these effects are a consequence of the fact that light propagates as a wave.

Diffraction can occur with any kind of wave. Ocean waves diffract around jetties and other obstacles. Sound waves can diffract around objects, which is why one can still hear someone calling even when hiding behind a tree. Diffraction can also be a concern in some technical applications; it sets a fundamental limit to the resolution of a camera, telescope, or microscope.

Other examples of diffraction are considered below.

Single-slit diffraction

A long slit of infinitesimal width which is illuminated by light diffracts the light into a series of circular waves and the wavefront which emerges from the slit is a cylindrical wave of uniform intensity, in accordance with the Huygens–Fresnel principle.

An illuminated slit that is wider than a wavelength produces interference effects in the space downstream of the slit. Assuming that the slit behaves as though it has a large number of point sources spaced evenly across the width of the slit interference effects can be calculated. The analysis of this system is simplified if we consider light of a single wavelength. If the incident light is coherent, these sources all have the same phase. Light incident at a given point in the space downstream of the slit is made up of contributions from each of these point sources and if the relative phases of these contributions vary by $$2\pi$$ or more, we may expect to find minima and maxima in the diffracted light. Such phase differences are caused by differences in the path lengths over which contributing rays reach the point from the slit.

We can find the angle at which a first minimum is obtained in the diffracted light by the following reasoning. The light from a source located at the top edge of the slit interferes destructively with a source located at the middle of the slit, when the path difference between them is equal to $\lambda/2$. Similarly, the source just below the top of the slit will interfere destructively with the source located just below the middle of the slit at the same angle. We can continue this reasoning along the entire height of the slit to conclude that the condition for destructive interference for the entire slit is the same as the condition for destructive interference between two narrow slits a distance apart that is half the width of the slit. The path difference is approximately $$\frac{d \sin(\theta)}{2}$$ so that the minimum intensity occurs at an angle $$\theta_\text{min}$$ given by $$d\,\sin\theta_\text{min} = \lambda,$$ where $$d$$ is the width of the slit, $$\theta_\text{min}$$ is the angle of incidence at which the minimum intensity occurs, and $$\lambda$$ is the wavelength of the light.

A similar argument can be used to show that if we imagine the slit to be divided into four, six, eight parts, etc., minima are obtained at angles $$\theta_{n}$$ given by $$d\,\sin\theta_{n} = n \lambda,$$ where $$n$$ is an integer other than zero.

There is no such simple argument to enable us to find the maxima of the diffraction pattern. The intensity profile can be calculated using the Fraunhofer diffraction equation as $$I(\theta) = I_0 \, \operatorname{sinc}^2 \left( \frac{d \pi}{\lambda} \sin\theta \right),$$ where $$I(\theta)$$ is the intensity at a given angle, $$I_0$$ is the intensity at the central maximum ($\theta = 0$), which is also a normalization factor of the intensity profile that can be determined by an integration from $\theta = -\frac{\pi}{2}$ to $\theta = \frac{\pi}{2}$  and conservation of energy, and $\operatorname{sinc} x = \frac{\sin x}{x}$, which is the unnormalized sinc function.

This analysis applies only to the far field (Fraunhofer diffraction), that is, at a distance much larger than the width of the slit.

From the intensity profile above, if $d \ll \lambda$, the intensity will have little dependency on $\theta$, hence the wavefront emerging from the slit would resemble a cylindrical wave with azimuthal symmetry; If $d \gg \lambda$, only $$\theta \approx 0$$ would have appreciable intensity, hence the wavefront emerging from the slit would resemble that of geometrical optics.

When the incident angle $$\theta_\text{i}$$ of the light onto the slit is non-zero (which causes a change in the path length), the intensity profile in the Fraunhofer regime (i.e. far field) becomes: $$I(\theta) = I_0 \, \operatorname{sinc}^2 \left[ \frac{d \pi}{\lambda} (\sin\theta \pm \sin\theta_\text{i})\right]$$ The choice of plus/minus sign depends on the definition of the incident angle $\theta_\text{i}$.

Diffraction grating

A diffraction grating is an optical component with a regular pattern. The form of the light diffracted by a grating depends on the structure of the elements and the number of elements present, but all gratings have intensity maxima at angles θm which are given by the grating equation $$ d \left( \sin{\theta_m} \pm \sin{\theta_i} \right) = m \lambda,$$ where $$\theta_{i}$$ is the angle at which the light is incident, $$d$$ is the separation of grating elements, and $$m$$ is an integer which can be positive or negative.

The light diffracted by a grating is found by summing the light diffracted from each of the elements, and is essentially a convolution of diffraction and interference patterns.

The figure shows the light diffracted by 2-element and 5-element gratings where the grating spacings are the same; it can be seen that the maxima are in the same position, but the detailed structures of the intensities are different.

Circular aperture

The far-field diffraction of a plane wave incident on a circular aperture is often referred to as the Airy disk. The variation in intensity with angle is given by $$I(\theta) = I_0 \left ( \frac{2 J_1(ka \sin \theta)}{ka \sin \theta} \right )^2 ,$$ where $$a$$ is the radius of the circular aperture, $$k$$ is equal to $$2\pi/\lambda$$ and $$J_1$$ is a Bessel function. The smaller the aperture, the larger the spot size at a given distance, and the greater the divergence of the diffracted beams.

General aperture
The wave that emerges from a point source has amplitude $$\psi$$ at location $$\mathbf r$$ that is given by the solution of the frequency domain wave equation for a point source (the Helmholtz equation), $$\nabla^2 \psi + k^2 \psi = \delta(\mathbf r),$$ where $$ \delta(\mathbf r)$$ is the 3-dimensional delta function. The delta function has only radial dependence, so the Laplace operator (a.k.a. scalar Laplacian) in the spherical coordinate system simplifies to $$\nabla ^2\psi = \frac{1}{r} \frac {\partial ^2}{\partial r^2} (r \psi) .$$

(See del in cylindrical and spherical coordinates.) By direct substitution, the solution to this equation can be readily shown to be the scalar Green's function, which in the spherical coordinate system (and using the physics time convention $$e^{-i \omega t}$$) is $$\psi(r) = \frac{e^{ikr}}{4 \pi r}.$$

This solution assumes that the delta function source is located at the origin. If the source is located at an arbitrary source point, denoted by the vector $$\mathbf r'$$ and the field point is located at the point $$\mathbf r$$, then we may represent the scalar Green's function (for arbitrary source location) as $$\psi(\mathbf r | \mathbf r') = \frac{e^{ik | \mathbf r - \mathbf r' | }}{4 \pi | \mathbf r - \mathbf r' |}.$$

Therefore, if an electric field $$E_\mathrm{inc}(x, y)$$ is incident on the aperture, the field produced by this aperture distribution is given by the surface integral $$\Psi(r)\propto \iint\limits_\mathrm{aperture} \!\! E_\mathrm{inc}(x',y') ~ \frac{e^{ik | \mathbf r - \mathbf r'|}}{4 \pi | \mathbf r - \mathbf r' |} \,dx'\, dy',$$

where the source point in the aperture is given by the vector $$\mathbf{r}' = x' \mathbf{\hat{x}} + y' \mathbf{\hat{y}}.$$

In the far field, wherein the parallel rays approximation can be employed, the Green's function, $$\psi(\mathbf r | \mathbf r') = \frac{e^{ik | \mathbf r - \mathbf r' |} }{4 \pi | \mathbf r - \mathbf r' |},$$ simplifies to $$ \psi(\mathbf{r} | \mathbf{r}') = \frac{e^{ik r}}{4 \pi r} e^{-ik ( \mathbf{r}' \cdot \mathbf{\hat{r}})}$$ as can be seen in the adjacent figure.

The expression for the far-zone (Fraunhofer region) field becomes $$\Psi(r)\propto \frac{e^{ik r}}{4 \pi r} \iint\limits_\mathrm{aperture} \!\! E_\mathrm{inc}(x',y') e^{-ik ( \mathbf{r}' \cdot \mathbf{\hat{r}} ) } \, dx' \,dy'.$$

Now, since $$\mathbf{r}' = x' \mathbf{\hat{x}} + y' \mathbf{\hat{y}}$$ and $$\mathbf{\hat{r}} = \sin \theta \cos \phi \mathbf{\hat{x}} + \sin \theta ~ \sin \phi ~ \mathbf{\hat{y}} +  \cos \theta \mathbf{\hat{z}},$$ the expression for the Fraunhofer region field from a planar aperture now becomes $$\Psi(r) \propto \frac{e^{ik r}}{4 \pi r} \iint\limits_\mathrm{aperture} \!\! E_\mathrm{inc}(x',y') e^{-ik \sin \theta (\cos \phi x' + \sin \phi y')} \, dx' \, dy'.$$

Letting $$k_x = k \sin \theta \cos \phi $$ and $$k_y = k \sin \theta \sin \phi \,,$$ the Fraunhofer region field of the planar aperture assumes the form of a Fourier transform $$\Psi(r)\propto \frac{e^{ik r}}{4 \pi r} \iint\limits_\mathrm{aperture} \!\! E_\mathrm{inc}(x',y') e^{-i (k_x x' + k_y y') } \, dx' \, dy' ,$$

In the far-field / Fraunhofer region, this becomes the spatial Fourier transform of the aperture distribution. Huygens' principle when applied to an aperture simply says that the far-field diffraction pattern is the spatial Fourier transform of the aperture shape, and this is a direct by-product of using the parallel-rays approximation, which is identical to doing a plane wave decomposition of the aperture plane fields (see Fourier optics).

Propagation of a laser beam
The way in which the beam profile of a laser beam changes as it propagates is determined by diffraction. When the entire emitted beam has a planar, spatially coherent wave front, it approximates Gaussian beam profile and has the lowest divergence for a given diameter. The smaller the output beam, the quicker it diverges. It is possible to reduce the divergence of a laser beam by first expanding it with one convex lens, and then collimating it with a second convex lens whose focal point is coincident with that of the first lens. The resulting beam has a larger diameter, and hence a lower divergence. Divergence of a laser beam may be reduced below the diffraction of a Gaussian beam or even reversed to convergence if the refractive index of the propagation media increases with the light intensity. This may result in a self-focusing effect.

When the wave front of the emitted beam has perturbations, only the transverse coherence length (where the wave front perturbation is less than 1/4 of the wavelength) should be considered as a Gaussian beam diameter when determining the divergence of the laser beam. If the transverse coherence length in the vertical direction is higher than in horizontal, the laser beam divergence will be lower in the vertical direction than in the horizontal.

Diffraction-limited imaging

The ability of an imaging system to resolve detail is ultimately limited by diffraction. This is because a plane wave incident on a circular lens or mirror is diffracted as described above. The light is not focused to a point but forms an Airy disk having a central spot in the focal plane whose radius (as measured to the first null) is $$ \Delta x = 1.22 \lambda N ,$$ where $$\lambda$$ is the wavelength of the light and $$N$$ is the f-number (focal length $$f$$ divided by aperture diameter $$D$$) of the imaging optics; this is strictly accurate for $$N \gg 1$$ (paraxial case). In object space, the corresponding angular resolution is $$ \theta \approx  \sin \theta = 1.22 \frac{\lambda}{D},$$ where $$D$$ is the diameter of the entrance pupil of the imaging lens (e.g., of a telescope's main mirror).

Two point sources will each produce an Airy pattern – see the photo of a binary star. As the point sources move closer together, the patterns will start to overlap, and ultimately they will merge to form a single pattern, in which case the two point sources cannot be resolved in the image. The Rayleigh criterion specifies that two point sources are considered "resolved" if the separation of the two images is at least the radius of the Airy disk, i.e. if the first minimum of one coincides with the maximum of the other.

Thus, the larger the aperture of the lens compared to the wavelength, the finer the resolution of an imaging system. This is one reason astronomical telescopes require large objectives, and why microscope objectives require a large numerical aperture (large aperture diameter compared to working distance) in order to obtain the highest possible resolution.

Speckle patterns
The speckle pattern seen when using a laser pointer is another diffraction phenomenon. It is a result of the superposition of many waves with different phases, which are produced when a laser beam illuminates a rough surface. They add together to give a resultant wave whose amplitude, and therefore intensity, varies randomly.

Babinet's principle
Babinet's principle is a useful theorem stating that the diffraction pattern from an opaque body is identical to that from a hole of the same size and shape, but with differing intensities. This means that the interference conditions of a single obstruction would be the same as that of a single slit.

"Knife edge"
The knife-edge effect or knife-edge diffraction is a truncation of a portion of the incident radiation that strikes a sharp well-defined obstacle, such as a mountain range or the wall of a building. The knife-edge effect is explained by the Huygens–Fresnel principle, which states that a well-defined obstruction to an electromagnetic wave acts as a secondary source, and creates a new wavefront. This new wavefront propagates into the geometric shadow area of the obstacle.

Knife-edge diffraction is an outgrowth of the "half-plane problem", originally solved by Arnold Sommerfeld using a plane wave spectrum formulation. A generalization of the half-plane problem is the "wedge problem", solvable as a boundary value problem in cylindrical coordinates. The solution in cylindrical coordinates was then extended to the optical regime by Joseph B. Keller, who introduced the notion of diffraction coefficients through his geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD). Pathak and Kouyoumjian extended the (singular) Keller coefficients via the uniform theory of diffraction (UTD).

Patterns
Several qualitative observations can be made of diffraction in general:
 * The angular spacing of the features in the diffraction pattern is inversely proportional to the dimensions of the object causing the diffraction. In other words: The smaller the diffracting object, the 'wider' the resulting diffraction pattern, and vice versa. (More precisely, this is true of the sines of the angles.)
 * The diffraction angles are invariant under scaling; that is, they depend only on the ratio of the wavelength to the size of the diffracting object.
 * When the diffracting object has a periodic structure, for example in a diffraction grating, the features generally become sharper. The third figure, for example, shows a comparison of a double-slit pattern with a pattern formed by five slits, both sets of slits having the same spacing, between the center of one slit and the next.

Matter wave diffraction
According to quantum theory every particle exhibits wave properties and can therefore diffract. Diffraction of electrons and neutrons is one of the powerful arguments in favor of quantum mechanics. The wavelength associated with a particle is the de Broglie wavelength $$\lambda=\frac{h}{p} \, ,$$ where $$h$$ is the Planck constant and $$p$$ is the momentum of the particle (mass × velocity for slow-moving particles). For example, a sodium atom traveling at about 300 m/s would have a de Broglie wavelength of about 50 picometres. Diffraction of matter waves has been observed for small particles, like electrons, neutrons, atoms, and even large molecules. The short wavelength of these matter waves makes them ideally suited to study the atomic crystal structure of solids, small molecules and proteins.

Bragg diffraction
Diffraction from a large three-dimensional periodic structure such as many thousands of atoms in a crystal is called Bragg diffraction. It is similar to what occurs when waves are scattered from a diffraction grating. Bragg diffraction is a consequence of interference between waves reflecting from many different crystal planes. The condition of constructive interference is given by Bragg's law: $$ m \lambda = 2 d \sin \theta ,$$ where $$\lambda$$ is the wavelength, $$d$$ is the distance between crystal planes, $$\theta$$ is the angle of the diffracted wave, and $$m$$ is an integer known as the order of the diffracted beam.

Bragg diffraction may be carried out using either electromagnetic radiation of very short wavelength like X-rays or matter waves like neutrons (and electrons) whose wavelength is on the order of (or much smaller than) the atomic spacing. The pattern produced gives information of the separations of crystallographic planes $$d$$, allowing one to deduce the crystal structure.

For completeness, Bragg diffraction is a limit for a large number of atoms with X-rays or neutrons, and is rarely valid for electron diffraction or with solid particles in the size range of less than 50 nanometers.

Coherence
The description of diffraction relies on the interference of waves emanating from the same source taking different paths to the same point on a screen. In this description, the difference in phase between waves that took different paths is only dependent on the effective path length. This does not take into account the fact that waves that arrive at the screen at the same time were emitted by the source at different times. The initial phase with which the source emits waves can change over time in an unpredictable way. This means that waves emitted by the source at times that are too far apart can no longer form a constant interference pattern since the relation between their phases is no longer time independent.

The length over which the phase in a beam of light is correlated is called the coherence length. In order for interference to occur, the path length difference must be smaller than the coherence length. This is sometimes referred to as spectral coherence, as it is related to the presence of different frequency components in the wave. In the case of light emitted by an atomic transition, the coherence length is related to the lifetime of the excited state from which the atom made its transition.

If waves are emitted from an extended source, this can lead to incoherence in the transversal direction. When looking at a cross section of a beam of light, the length over which the phase is correlated is called the transverse coherence length. In the case of Young's double-slit experiment, this would mean that if the transverse coherence length is smaller than the spacing between the two slits, the resulting pattern on a screen would look like two single-slit diffraction patterns.

In the case of particles like electrons, neutrons, and atoms, the coherence length is related to the spatial extent of the wave function that describes the particle.

Diffraction before destruction
A new way to image single biological particles has emerged since the 2010s, utilising the bright X-rays generated by X-ray free-electron lasers. These femtosecond-duration pulses will allow for the (potential) imaging of single biological macromolecules. Due to these short pulses, radiation damage can be outrun, and diffraction patterns of single biological macromolecules will be able to be obtained.

title: Diffraction


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Stephen Donaldson (activist)

Stephen Donaldson (July 27, 1946 – July 18, 1996), born Robert Anthony Martin Jr. and also known by the pseudonym Donny the Punk, was an American bisexual rights activist, and political activist. He is best known for his pioneering activism in LGBT rights and prison reform, and for his writing about punk rock and subculture.

He coined the term 'protective pairing'.

Childhood and adolescence (1946–1965)
The son of a career naval officer, Donaldson spent his early childhood in different seaport cities in the eastern United States and in Germany. Donaldson later described his father Robert, the son of Italian and German immigrants, as a man who "frowned on display of emotion" and his mother Lois as "an English, Scottish Texan, artistic, free-spirited, emotional, impulsive." After his parents' divorce in 1953, when he was seven years old, Donaldson's mother suffered from acute porphyria (a rare genetic disease), and his father gained custody of Robert and his two brothers. His father remarried several years later.

At age 12, Donaldson was expelled from Boy Scouts for engaging in sexual behavior with other boys (who, as recipients, were not punished). "The disgrace triggered a family crisis, resolved by sending the boy to live in Germany, where he could be watched over by his stepmother's relatives." He attended a boys boarding school and continued homosexual activity, hiding it from adults.

In April 1962, at the age of fifteen, Donny returned to the United States to live with his grandparents in West Long Branch, New Jersey. In high school he was the news editor of the school paper, an actor, and a student government officer. He achieved a perfect score on the SAT and graduated as valedictorian. He also became active in politics as a libertarian conservative, supporting Barry Goldwater for president" and "considered joining the Young Americans for Freedom but was so uptight that he first checked with J. Edgar Hoover by letter to inquire whether the YAF was "a communist organization, communist subverted, or in danger of becoming either". Hoover sent back a reply "praising his concern about communism and then opened an FBI file on the boy". (Years later, Donaldson received a copy of his FBI file through the Freedom of Information Act.)

Donaldson later wrote about his developing sexual identity: "At 18, however, I fell in love with a baseball teammate, and my casual sexual play with boys was transformed into a very serious matter which could dominate my whole life. I talked with a few trusted adults about it, and learned that if I loved another boy I had to be a 'homosexual'.... I could only find two books on the subject, which confirmed this label, and mentioned the Mattachine Society in New York as an organization of 'homosexuals.' So on a school expedition to the 'wicked city,' I slipped away, visited their office, and became a member (swearing I was 21, since Mattachine was deathly afraid of dealing with minors), thus giving my new identity official status."

In 1965, Donaldson went to Florida to spend the summer with his mother. "When Lois discovered young Robert was having an affair with a Cuban man, she decided to punish her son by outing him in letters to her ex-husband and to Columbia University, which Donaldson had planned to attend in the fall." Donaldson moved to New York, where, he later wrote, "The gays of New York welcomed me enthusiastically, offered hospitality, and 'brought me out' as a 'butch' homosexual (in contrast to the "queens"). Among the Mattachine Society members he met were Frank Kameny and Dick Leitsch.

Motivation
In August 1965, Donaldson "had a social worker call the dean's office to ask whether Columbia would register a known homosexual." After a delay of two weeks, the administration responded that he "would be allowed to register, on condition that he undergo psychotherapy and not attempt to seduce other students."

He entered Columbia University that fall and began using the pseudonym Stephen Donaldson so he could be open about his sexuality without embarrassing his father. They both were named Robert Martin, and his father taught mathematics at Rider College in New Jersey. The surname was based on the first name, "Donald", of the baseball teammate who was his first love. His first year of college was difficult: he met no other bisexual students or faculty and had to move from a shared suite to a single room when his suitemates "told the college dean David Truman that they felt uncomfortable living with a homosexual." Apparently ambivalent, they offered Donaldson "great apologies and said they realized they shouldn't feel" unwilling to live with him.

In the summer of 1966, Donaldson began a relationship with gay activist Frank Kameny, who had a great influence on him. Donaldson later wrote:

"Frank gave me a complete education both in homosexuality and in the homophile movement, instructing me also in how to respond to attacks from psychiatry, religion, the law, etc., etc. He largely shaped my gay ideology and continued to influence me even after I split with him ideologically in '68–'69."

In August, Kameny took Donaldson to Cherry Grove on Fire Island, where he "was thrilled to meet another gay Columbia student [James Millham] and to learn that Millham lived with his lover, a New York University student, in one of Columbia's dormitories."

Struggle with Columbia for charter
That fall, Donaldson suggested to Millham "that they form a Mattachine-like organization on campus, what he envisioned as 'the first chapter of a spreading confederation of student homophile groups.'" At first, Donaldson was unable to gain official recognition for the Student Homophile League (SHL) (now called the Columbia Queer Alliance), as Columbia required a membership list. Donaldson and Millham were the only gay students willing to provide their names. This prevented the group from receiving university funding or holding public events on campus until Donaldson realized that by "recruiting the most prominent student leaders to become pro forma members, he could satisfy the administration without compromising the anonymity of gay students, and Columbia officially chartered the country's first student gay rights group on April 19, 1967," and subsequently the first known LGBT student movement.

Publicity and controversy
On April 27, an article about the organization appeared in the student paper, the Columbia Spectator, which students "seemed to think ... was some sort of April Fool hoax." It soon became clear that it was not. The Spectator ran an editorial praising the chartering of the group and printed letters from students attacking and defending the decision. At this point, there was no apparent opposition from Columbia faculty or staff. The fledgling group was advised by the university chaplain, the Rev. John D. Cannon, who gave permission for them to hold meetings in his office and later let Donaldson hold office hours there.

Despite having "assured the administration that publicity would be kept to a minimum," Donaldson "launched an aggressive public information campaign about SHL and homosexuality", making sure it was covered on Columbia radio station WKCR, where he was a staff member. He also sent out "at least three press releases to several large newspapers, wire services, and magazines with national and international distribution." The group received little coverage until gay rights supporter Murray Schumach saw the Spectator piece and wrote an article, headlined "Columbia Charters Homosexual Group", which appeared on the front page of The New York Times on May 3, 1967:

"The chairman, who used the pseudonym Stephen Donaldson, said in a telephone interview last night that the organization had been formed because 'we wanted to get the academic community to support equal rights for homosexuals'....

In its declaration of principles, the leagues list 13 points, including ... that 'the homosexual is being unjustly, inhumanely and savagely discriminated against by large segments of American society'."

The article also quoted Dr. Harold E. Love, the chairman of Columbia's Committee on Student Organizations, who said there was no reason to deny the request once they had determined it was a "bona fide student organization." The article noted that "[f]unds were said to have been supplied for the organization by some Columbia alumni who were reported to have learned about it from advertisements in magazines for homosexuals" and that Donaldson said that the group "maintains liaison" with, but is not controlled by, outside homosexual groups. The alumnus supporter was Foster Gunnison Jr., a founding member of the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations, with whom Donaldson had strategized about getting the organization approved. Gunnison "sent the administration a letter of support and made a cash contribution".

Historian David Eisenbach argued in Gay Power: An American Revolution that "much of the SHL's influence grew out of the media attention it attracted.... Within a week [of the New York Times story], media outlets across the country had homed in, with coverage ranging from favorable to neutral to The Gainesville Sun's 'Student Group Seeks Rights for Deviants.'".

As a result of the publicity, there were "[s]harp [verbal] clashes" between Columbia officials and the SHL. Brett Beemyn wrote about the backlash:

"The university was inundated with outraged letters, and the pages of the student newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator, were filled with criticism of the decision. The dean of the college called the SHL 'quite unnecessary,' and the director of the counseling service expressed a concern that the group would promote 'deviant behavior' among students. The strong support of the league's advisor, the university chaplain, apparently prevented Columbia officials from revoking the group's charter, but 'it was forbidden to serve a social function for fear that this would lead to violations of New York State's sodomy laws.'"

A surprising source of opposition to Donaldson and the SHL was the Mattachine Society of New York (MSNY), whose president Dick Leitsch "resented the media attention that SHL had generated". With the unanimous support of the board, Leitsch contacted "Frank Hogan, the Manhattan District Attorney and a Member of the Columbia Board of Trustees to advise him on how to undermine SHL." In a letter to Hogan, Leitsch wrote:

"The man using the pseudonym Stephen Donaldson is known to me and to the Mattachine Society as an irresponsible, publicity-seeking member of an extremist political group. We have grave doubts as to his sincerity in his stated aim as helping homosexuals, and feel that he may be, instead, a bigoted extremist, interested upon wrecking the homophile movement."

Donaldson was defended by homophile leaders Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, and Forest Gunnison.

Subsequent chapters and organizations
The publicity also led students at other universities to contact Donaldson about starting chapters. In 1968, Donaldson certified SHL chapters at Cornell University, led by Jearld Moldenhauer and advised by radical priest Daniel Berrigan; New York University, headed by Rita Mae Brown; and Stanford University. In 1969, chapters were started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Stan Tillotson, San Francisco State University, and Rutgers University by African American Lionel Cuffie. The University of Massachusetts Amherst gained a chapter in 1970. Other early campus gay groups outside the SHL network included the Boston University Homophile Committee, Fight Repression of Erotic Expression (FREE) at the University of Minnesota, and Homosexuals Intransigent at the City College of New York.

Donaldson was "heavily involved throughout the rest of the 1960s not only as national leader of the Student Homophile League but also as an elected officer of the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO) and of its Eastern Regional subsidiary". By 1971, there were an estimated 150 gay student groups at colleges and universities "often with official sanction and with remarkable acceptance from fellow students".

Writing career
Donaldson began his writing career in college by working summers as a reporter for the Associated Press and The Virginian-Pilot and writing a regular column for the New York newsmagazine Gay Power and occasional reports for The Advocate.

He also worked summers as a legislative intern in the offices of U.S. Representatives Howard H. Callaway (Republican, Georgia) and Donald E. Lukens (Republican, Ohio). Frank Kameny arranged his first internship, which was in the summer of 1966.

In New York, Donaldson funded "his education by working as a hustler, first at the infamous intersection of Fifty-third Street and Third Avenue, then as a call boy through a house. He claimed to have serviced several famous clients, including Rock Hudson and Roy Cohn."

Other countercultural activity
While at Columbia, Donaldson "experimented with cannabis and LSD" and described himself as "ordained in the psychedelic church," going on to guide first-time LSD users. He wrote that he became a liberal in 1967 in response to the Kerner Report on racism towards blacks in the United States and went on to become a "full-fledged hippy-valued radical." He was arrested twice for participating in anti-war protests at Columbia, including a "liberation" of Columbia president Grayson Kirk's office, spending an uneventful night in jail in 1968.

Discomfort with gay liberation movement
In 1966, Donaldson fell in love with a woman, Judith "JD Rabbit" Jones (whom he later considered his "lifetime companion") and began to identify as bisexual. His "growing feeling of discomfort with biphobia in the homophile/gay liberation movement was a major factor" in his deciding to quit the movement and enlist in the Navy after graduating with highest honours from Columbia in 1970.

Military experience (1970–1972)
Donaldson had a longstanding desire to join the Navy, even buying a sailor's uniform during college, in which he cruised the city and pretended to be a serviceman on a visit to a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, and maintained a "lifelong identification with sailors and seafaring." After graduating from Columbia in 1970, he enlisted and served as a radioman at a NATO base in Italy with an unblemished record until "he wrote to a former shipmate, Terry Fountain, about his latest sexual adventures [with both women and men] at his current home port of Naples, Italy". After Fountain left the letter unattended on his desk, someone turned it over to the Naval Investigative Service, which allegedly coerced Fountain into signing a statement that he had sex with Donaldson, which Fountain later recanted. In 1971, "the Navy announced its intention to release [Donaldson] by General Discharge on grounds of suspected homosexual involvement." As Randy Shilts wrote in Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military:

"In the tens of thousands of hearings since World War II where comparable actions had been taken on the basis of comparable evidence, the matter ended there, with the sailor skulking away in disgrace. Petty Officer Martin, however, went public with what had happened to him and swore to fight for an honorable discharge. What was more, he enlisted some powerful support."

These supporters included six congressional representatives, including New York's Bella Abzug (who called his case a "witch-hunt") and Edward Koch; senators Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania and Sam Ervin of North Carolina; the president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Judd Marmor (who had been "influential in having homosexuality removed from the APA's official list of clinical disorders" ); Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr.; and the American Civil Liberties Union, which provided a staff attorney to represent him.

"Even the dean of Columbia College, Carl Hovde, sent the Navy a letter praising Martin as 'a man for whom I have great respect' and making the questionable claim that the young man 'never sought controversy.'"

Despite the support, he received a general discharge in 1972. Donaldson continued to fight, and, in 1977, his discharge was upgraded to "honorable" as part of "President Carter's sweeping amnesty program for Vietnam-era draft evaders, deserters, and service members", at which time:

"Martin told Gay Week 'what an honorable discharge means to me is that it is the nation's way of saying that it is proud of gay veterans and by extension that it is proud of millions of gay veterans and current service people. We've come a long way.'"

According to Eisenbach:

"Martin's groundbreaking public battle against the Navy kicked off a series of well-publicized challenges to military discharges that harnessed and directed the energy of the gay rights movement in the 1970s."

Bisexual activism (1972–1977)
Donaldson later summarized his military experience and the subsequent transition in his life:

"After nearly two years as a sailor, I got kicked out for 'homosexual involvement,' a charge I received shortly after becoming a Buddhist Quaker and thus a pacifist. Bitter at this second homophobic expulsion, which deprived me of the identity I loved more than any other—that of a sailor—and as a bisexual no longer feeling comfortable with the gay liberation movement, I found myself in June, 1972, attending the annual Friends (Quaker) General Conference (FGC) in Ithaca, New York; its theme for the year was 'Where Should Friends Be Pioneering Now?'

Contemplating that question, I organized an impromptu workshop on bisexuality and was astonished to find 130 Quakers, one of every ten General Conference attendees, overflowing into five meeting rooms and an auditorium for two days of lively discussion based more on experience than on abstract theories. Finally I was surrounded by bisexually-identified F/friends, formally considering the topic of bisexuality. Thus identity led me to activism."

Donaldson wrote about his experience at the conference later that summer:

"The lack of reliable information about bisexuality, homosexuality and sexuality in general was a concern of many of these Friends. Bisexual Friends spoke freely about their conditions and answered many questions. There was agreement that many Friends needed to become much more informed on these subjects and that this could best be accomplished through Monthly and Yearly meetings and at future general conferences."

This group adopted by consensus the "Ithaca Statement on Bisexuality".

"The Statement, which may have been 'the first public declaration of the bisexual movement' and 'was certainly the first statement on bisexuality issued by an American religious assembly,' appeared in the Quaker Friends Journal and The Advocate in 1972."

After a series of meetings, the Committee of Friends on Bisexuality was formed, with Donaldson (using the name Bob Martin) as its chair until he left the Quakers in 1977.

Donaldson was involved in the New York bisexual movement in the mid-1970s, for example appearing in 1974 on a New York Gay Activists Alliance panel with Kate Millett. Donaldson propounded the belief that ultimately bisexuality would be perceived as much more threatening to the prevailing sexual order than homosexuality, because it potentially subverted everyone's identity (the idea that everyone is potentially bisexual was widespread) and could not, unlike exclusive homosexuality, be confined to a segregated, stigmatized and therefore manageable ghetto.

He and bisexual activist Brenda Howard and gay activist L. Craig Schoonmaker are credited with popularizing the word "Pride" to describe LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June.

Demonstrations and incarcerations
After being discharged from the Navy in 1972, Donaldson moved to Washington, D.C., where he "worked as Pentagon correspondent for the Overseas Weekly, a privately owned newspaper distributed to American servicemen stationed in Europe". Donaldson considered himself a Quaker and took part in the Langley Hill Monthly Meeting, where he was part of a group influenced by "a series of pray-ins at the White House sponsored by the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV)" who felt a call to "hold a memorial meeting for worship at the White House to commemorate the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki [on its 28th anniversary] and for the victims of all wars and violence" on August 9, 1973. The protesters (referred to as the "White House Seven") were arrested for unlawful entry and released on bail except for Donaldson, who refused and spent the night in the D.C. jail before being released by a judge the next morning. On August 14 Donaldson was one of 66 demonstrators (including Daniel Berrigan) who took part in a CCNV-sponsored pray-in at the White House protesting the bombing of Cambodia, where he was again arrested. Donaldson again refused to post bail. In a 1974 account under the pseudonym Donald Tucker, he explained:

"I also was protesting against the bail system, under which the privileged, the white, the middle class escape the pre-trial confinements which go automatically to the poor and black. In good conscience I could not take advantage of the privileges available to me.

Even in jail, however, I could not escape those privileges. I was sent directly to cell block four, third floor — the privileged area where I could and did play chess with Gordon Liddy, where one-man rooms for 45 respectable prisoners were never locked."

Liddy wrote in his autobiography that he heard that Donaldson worked for The Washington Post, suspected him of being in prison "to try to steal a march[(?)]" on Woodward and Bernstein by getting a first hand story", and expressed the wish that he be transferred elsewhere.

However, Donaldson himself in "The Punk Who Wouldn't Shut Up", states that guard captain Clinton Cobb had him moved to the most dangerous cell-block in the prison and his subsequent rapes arranged as he believed him to be writing a piece on prison corruption for The Washington Post. On signing in, he had naively and honestly listed his profession as 'Journalist'.

That night, Donaldson was lured into a cell by a prisoner who claimed that he and his friends wanted to 'discuss pacifism' with him in their cells. He was then anally and orally raped dozens of times by an estimated 45 male inmates. He suffered additional abuse a second night before he escaped from his tormentors (two of whom were pimping him to the others for cigarettes) and collapsed, sobbing, at the cell block gate where guards retrieved him. After a midnight examination at D.C. General Hospital (during which he remained handcuffed) he was returned to the jail hospital, untreated either for physical injury or emotional trauma.

Donaldson later claimed that the guards told him he'd been deliberately set up by Captain Cobb. The following morning, Lucy Witt posted his bond and took him to a doctor.

Publicity and hearings
On August 24 the next day, Donaldson held a press conference, becoming the first male prison-rape survivor to publicly recount his experiences; this resulted in "massive and prolonged" publicity (under his legal name, Robert Martin). All three Washington newspapers carried lengthy stories; newspapers from Hartford to Miami picked it up from wire services, and all three network-affiliated TV stations carried filmed interviews.

One television station and one newspaper carried editorials. Under the headline "Nightmares at D.C. Jail," the Star-News wrote: "....It is particularly ironic that the victim of this latest nightmare chose to go to the jail rather than post collateral because he 'wanted to understand at an experience level what the prison system is all about.' He survived the lesson but only just. And being a man of uncommon understanding, he may also survive its after-effects."

On August 28 Donaldson met with attorney William Schaffer, who agreed to represent him in a possible civil suit against the D.C. Department of Corrections with the goal of pressuring officials to make major improvements to the jail system. Donaldson wrote the following year about this "time of agony":

"I was faced with an awful decision: to cooperate in the prosecution of the two young inmates who had led the rapes, to bring suit against the Corrections Department, or to drop out of the legal process.

The prospect of giving my assailants a still longer prison term went contrary to [my deep convictions]. Yet many who were working to change the penal system felt that the first prosecution of a prison rape case would set a significant precedent and have a real deterrent effect on such situations in the future.

Bill Schaffer was advising me that the civil suit would be considerably handicapped if I did not go through with prosecution of the inmates. He was confident of winning such a suit, but warned me that the government would probably defend itself outside the court by launching a smear campaign in the press against me and those close to me....

Torn between my rigid principles and my private pain, I spent weeks in hell trying to come to a decision."

After deliberations with the Langley Hill Meeting, Donaldson decided on October 20 not to file a civil suit and not to cooperate with the grand jury inquiry into a criminal suit against his attackers.

Trial outcomes
Donaldson and the rest of the White House Seven defended themselves against the August 9 charge of illegal entry; they were found guilty and sentenced on September 26 to "the choice of $25 or five days in jail or a one-year unsupervised probation conditional on a promise not to violate any local, state or federal law during that period". Donaldson rejected the probation outright. "I cannot promise to abide by all the laws of the United States", he said, "because if there is an unjust law that has to be broken to further divine purposes, I will break it".

At first Donaldson chose to go to jail rather than pay the fine, which he viewed as cooperating with the government. He changed his mind after finding out he would be returned to the same jail in Washington, D.C. He regretfully said: "My conscience tells me I should have gone (to jail), but I was shaking all over. It was obvious I just couldn't go through it again. I couldn't go back."

As for the August 14 charge which led to his traumatic imprisonment, Donaldson refused to plead (unlike most of those arrested, who pleaded no contest) and went to trial alone on September 28. Representing himself, Donaldson testified on legal, moral and religious issues (including an explanation of karma and of silent meditation). When the jury returned a not guilty verdict on October 1, there was much rejoicing in the small courtroom.

Effect on Donaldson
The injuries to Donaldson's rectum were so severe that they required surgery, and he had to spend a week in the Washington D.C. Veterans' Hospital. He later said: "The government sewed up the tears in my rectum which the government occasioned."

In a 1974 account in the Friends Journal, Donaldson asked:

"Why was I called to such suffering? What did it accomplish? How can God lead me into such evil?....The damage for which I call the Lord most to account is that which has undermined my capacity for trust in human beings, for tenderness, for love; that which has ruptured my integrity and my hopes for more open, honest relationships with my fellow human beings. These are losses which, a part of me wants to say, no God has a right to demand."

In 1982, Donaldson wrote about his lack of success in getting needed psychological counseling after the rapes:

"When I requested psychological counseling of some type at a meeting of a Quaker committee, I was referred to a lay counseling program that was no help at all; what I really needed was heavy-duty psychotherapy. After enrolling in a local college, I met with their counseling service, but they also failed to recommend a program of treatment. It seems astonishing today, but nobody ever raised the question of whether the trauma of gang-rape was being adequately treated. The result was no treatment at all. A great deal of my emotional reaction was immediately suppressed."

Donaldson wrote that he was aided in his sexual recovery by an understanding woman who helped him regain his confidence. After a year and a half, he returned to his prior level of sexual activity. In 1975, "the suppressed emotions began to rise to the level of consciousness, primarily in the form of anger, aggression, and a vigorous reassertion of [his] own masculinity," leading him to join a male consciousness raising group and then, in 1976, to pursue "individual Gestalt therapy (not being able to afford anything else) with a lay therapist."

From 1974-77 Donaldson did graduate work in religion at Columbia University, and served as Chairman of the Student Governing Board of the Earl Hall Center for Religion and Life. In May 1976 he was ordained as a novice monk in the orthodox (Theravada) Buddhist Order. During the late-1970s Donaldson worked intermittently as a developer of war simulation games for SPI in New York and immersed himself in New York's punk rock subculture, centered on the CBGB nightclub in downtown Manhattan. Several personal tragedies, including the 1976 suicide of his mother, contributed to bouts of psychological depression.

Acceptance of "punk" role (1976)
While traveling to Florida for his mother's funeral in late 1976, Donaldson was arrested after urinating in a motel parking lot, then was charged with possession after the police searched his hotel room and found cannabis. He was placed in a small cell block with four white and eight black prisoners, most of them Marines from a nearby base, who demanded sexual services. Donaldson later wrote:

"Not wishing to repeat the battering I got in the D.C. Jail, I capitulated....I considered myself lucky that the blocks were so small....The next day the four white marines came up to me and said, 'You're moving in with us!' and so I became the fifth occupant of the four-bunk cell....

I had become the Punk of these four lads, who in jail lingo became my Men....They provided me with protection and such things as stamps and snacks, in return wanting blowjobs (from three) and ass (in jail called 'pussy') from one."

Donaldson was pleasantly surprised that they treated him not with the contempt he expected but with genuine warmth and affection. Grateful for their kindness and protection, Donaldson decided to embrace his role as "punk" and do his best to keep his men happy.

After the black prisoners fought the white Marines over him, Donaldson was placed in solitary confinement, where he remained until his bail was posted. Donaldson was defended against the possession charge by the chief counsel of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The case was thrown out due to unconstitutional police behavior.

Adoption of jailhouse attitudes (1977)
In the spring of 1977, Donaldson became depressed enough to cut his wrist and arranged to get himself arrested for sale of LSD in Norfolk, Virginia, with the hope, he later wrote, "to find myself being wanted and needed, to find the warm security I had experienced with the marines in the county jail." Donaldson was placed in the city jail, where he was gang-raped nightly until the guards were alerted and he was put in solitary confinement for his protection (to which Donaldson vigorously objected, believing the loss of rights and privileges unfair). After being released into a cell with blacks (who had allegedly paid $5 to receive him), Donaldson was again raped and "paralyzed with terror, the emotions of D.C. Jail overwhelming [him]", he fought his assailant, for which he was returned to solitary. After being released into a white cell, he was greeted: "Why, it's Donny the Punk!", giving him his nickname.

Donaldson experienced another mental shift:

"Under the impact of rape, battery and robbery in this jail I came to abandon my Quaker belief in pacifism; my depression gradually changed to anger at the jail and the government in general. This was a turning point in my consciousness; I came to think of myself as an outlaw and began to adopt jailhouse attitudes. Eventually I accepted my identity as a punk and decided to make the best of it."

Donaldson was eventually claimed by a cellmate, Terry, who treated him with kindness. The two had a cell to themselves when a frightened newcomer was moved in and, with Terry's consent, Donaldson decided to emotionally manipulate the newcomer into becoming his own punk. Donaldson wrote:

"I had some misgivings about all this, but I told myself that I was really being good to him and meeting his emotional needs, had not used real violence or threatened him, etc. For the most part, the exhilaration of demonstrating my masculinity, of conquest, of sexual release swept those reservations aside. Somewhere deep in my soul, I suppose, there lurks a jailhouse rapist."

After several months, Donaldson's case was dropped by the prosecution after the arresting officer's suicide. Donaldson wrote:

"Unemployed, I used my time to explore the meanings of my new identity as a punk. I became heavily involved in the punk rock subculture, discovering in the aggressive defiance of the punk rockers an outlet for my own anger, and in their vulnerability, only partially obscured by their 'tough boy' image, a reflection of my own feelings. Trying to look and act strong, I first took to wearing a marine combat knife, then acquired a gun."

The darkness on the edge of society (1980–1984)
Donaldson continued to suffer from depression, insomnia, and panic attacks in the late 1970s, and attempted suicide in 1977, the year after the suicide of his mother Lois Vaugahn. In 1980, Donaldson "hit rock bottom" and committed a semi-deranged incident at a Veterans' Hospital in the Bronx. Having been denied treatment after a half-day wait and asked to come back the following day, Donaldson returned with a gun and fired it through a window. During the subsequent trial, Donaldson heavily criticized the United States Government's policies. The judge ultimately found him guilty.

Although nobody was hurt, Donaldson was convicted of assault with intent to commit murder and sentenced to ten years in federal prison. He was guilty of counts 1–6, "Unlawfully, willfully and knowingly within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States did seize, confine, inveigle, decoy, kidnap and abduct and hold for ransom and reward and otherwise a person and did commit assault with intent to commit murder, in that while at a Hospital".

In a 1982 essay written from jail, Donaldson described the event:

"At the beginning of 1980, circumstances arose which produced in me an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness, helplessness, of not being recognized as a human being but rather being treated in purely bureaucratic terms by a government agency to which I had turned in vain with an urgent need for help.

I felt that my masculinity was at stake, that I had to regain control of the situation or go under trying. As the Bruce Springsteen song goes, 'Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode....' These feelings are directly related to my D.C. experience, the subconscious emotions that are dredged up when I feel completely vulnerable. In this state I went out with a gun and violently confronted the government, though without injuring anyone. I knew I would be going back to jail for it, and this was probably a major factor as well in determining my action. It was in jail that I felt I knew the rules and could find security, a means of coping with my helplessness. The jail Punk in me was looking for a way home, even as the man in me was striking back, by force of arms assuming control of the situation, returning the government some of the rape it had given me.

Having accomplished my objective, I surrendered to the police and was led away once more to the darkness on the edge of society, to the 'darkness on the edge of town' that Springsteen sings about."

Less than a year into his term, Donaldson had been "raped once, assaulted once, and claimed by five different men" in jail and was fearing his upcoming transfer to his first maximum security prison, where he went on to spend over a year in protective custody, which he described as "a solitary retreat" in a letter to Bo Lozoff. Lozoff was leader of the Prison-Ashram Project, which encourages convicts to use their prisons as ashrams (religious retreats) for spiritual growth. In their correspondence, Donaldson expressed his desire to help other survivors but lamented that:

"Writing and working on the rape question and the enslavement of punks (and gays) poses a major dilemma for my own spiritual work...[because] everything I do in it reinforces my own identity as a punk, since I am speaking out of experience....

Perhaps one reason why I work to help other punks in transcending their punk identity, is that the destructive results of assuming that identity are all too manifest in my own life—where the identity has become so firmly attached as to be part of my own name, 'Donny the Punk'. Oh physician, how to heal thyself?"

Donaldson was released on parole in April 1984 and returned to New York City. During the 1980s-90s, Donaldson volunteered as a counselor to male victims of sexual assault, and spoke out publicly in a wide variety of forums on the issue of prisoner rape. In 1987-88 he visited India for religious study and was there initiated in the Veerashaiva tradition of Shaivite Hinduism. This trip constituted a parole violation, and resulted in another term in federal prison during 1990. In 1992 Donaldson visited Europe to meet punk rock musicians and fans and to lecture on the American punk scene. Throughout this period he advanced his career as an editor and writer. His short essays on such topics as punk rock, prison conditions, Buddhism and sexuality appeared in numerous magazines and underground publications.

Stop Prisoner Rape
Through Bo Lozoff, Donaldson met Tom Cahill, whose correspondence with Lozoff also appeared in We're All Doing Time. Cahill was "an Air Force veteran turned peace activist when [he] was jailed for civil disobedience in San Antonio, Texas in 1968. For the first twenty-four hours, [he] was beaten, gang-raped and otherwise tortured", allegedly as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) due to Cahill's anti-Vietnam War activity.

Around 1983, Cahill resurrected the defunct organization "People Organized to Stop Rape of Imprisoned Persons" (POSRIP), which had been founded in 1980 by Russell Smith. In 2004, Cahill recollected:

"When Donny and I connected in 1985, he agreed to be president and I became director. Even though at the time I lived under a leaky camper shell on the back of an old, beat-up pick-up truck on the streets of San Francisco, I was a little more stable than he was. So we used my post office box and telephone message service. With Donny in New York and me on the 'Left' Coast, we were voices in the wilderness trying to spotlight a serious, massive crime in progress."

Donaldson became president of Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc. (SPR), which he and Cahill incorporated in the mid-1990s from POSRIP. The organization (since 2008 known as Just Detention International) helps prisoners deal with the psychological and physical trauma of rape, and works to prevent rape from happening. Donaldson was perhaps the first activist against male rape in the United States to gain significant media attention. Writing on behalf of SPR, he appeared on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, as well as in other major media. He testified on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union in its case ACLU et al. v. Reno, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Activism and writing
As "Donny the Punk", Donaldson was already a respected writer and personality in the punk and anti-racist skinhead subcultures. He had published in punk zines such as Maximumrocknroll, Flipside and J.D.s. In the mid-1980s, Donny was the chief organizer of The Alternative Press & Radio Council (APRC), which brought together members of the punk community (such as fanzine editors and college radio DJs) from New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

This co-operative group met on Sundays before the weekly CBGB Sunday hardcore matinees and organized several benefit concerts. The group published a newsletter, and released a compilation LP on Mystic Records in 1986, which was entitled Mutiny On The Bowery. The compilation featured live recordings from the group's benefit concerts. Among other active members of the APRC were WFMU-FM DJ Pat Duncan, Maximumrocknroll columnist Mykel Board and Jersey Beat editor Jim Testa.

Donaldson was associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality (Garland Publishing, 1990). He was editor-in-chief of a concise edition of the encyclopedia, which remains unpublished.

Legacy and honors
Donaldson died of a bronchial infection in 1996 at the age of 49. He was HIV-positive at the time.

After Donaldson's death, the Columbia Queer Alliance renamed its student lounge in his honor. SPR continued to work for prisoners' rights. It contributed to gaining the passage of the first US law against rape in prison Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003. The issue of rape and prisoners' rights continues to receive national and state attention.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Stephen Donaldson (activist)


text:
Talk:Stephen Donaldson (activist)

Pride
The current article credits Donaldson, Brenda Howard, L. Craig Schoonmaker with popularizing the word "Pride" to describe LGBT Pride celebrations. But there is a problem with this claim. The word Pride was already used by the LGBT community in Los Angeles in the years before Stonewall. The first Pride parade (as opposed to a march) was also in Los Angeles. The narrative usually also claims that the trio invented Pride festivals too, but LA had Gay-Ins that are remarkably similar to 21st century Pride festivals as early as 1968, and also directly accompanying the world's 1st pride parade in 1970. Are the Donaldson-Howard-Schoonmaker claims just more of "things become real when they become popular with New Yorkers" or is there actually substance to this?Udibi (talk) 19:05, 12 July 2021 (UTC)

If you have good sources, maybe add something saying "Pride was already used by the LGBT community in Los Angeles in the years before Stonewall"? Do you have any solutions?

JD Rabbit
Does anyone have any information on JD Rabbit or Judith Jones who was Stephen Donaldson/Donny's longterm partner? Or do you have a cached copy of her obituary? http://www.friendsofthecasa.org/NewsArchive04.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.227.96.247 (talk) 08:39, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Personal knowledge provided by 43-year close friend, David B. Axelrod. Judith Dickstein, raised in Harrison, NY. Attended University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1959, graduated 1963. Bilingual, English/Spanish. Claimed to have secretly married (during academic study in Mexico City) Ricardo Valentín Rodríguez de la Vega, Mexican race driver killed in a crash, November 1, 1962. Double major, Spanish/English. Senior College paper: "Realism and Reality in the Writing of Alajandro Casona;" classmate/girlfriend of author Paul Thoreaux; Co-editor of Yahoo, campus humor magazine, with author/ boyfriend, David B. Axelrod; then married (Jones) and lived in Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. 1965-1967. Legal difficulties researching pornographic literature; legal difficulties distributing LSD; divorced and moved to a farm outside Wheeling, West Virginia; moved to apartment building she (and family) owned in NYC, sw corner of Avenue of Americas and Houston St., where she held forth as a prominant dominatrix. Built a "castle" on a mountain near Montpelier, she eventually owned in Vermont. Battled HIV from 1992 until her death in a single-car rollover/crash, November 20, 2004. In the month before her death, her doctor told her she was close to succumbing. Friends suspected the single car, fatal crash might have been her way of not dying of AIDS. David B. Axelrod — Preceding unsigned comment added by Axelrodthepoet (talk • contribs) 00:42, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

Check out the Internet Archive (Way Back machine) here: http://web.archive.org/web/20080708190700/http://www.friendsofthecasa.org/NewsArchive04.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.69.117.50 (talk) 00:28, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Untitled
Ho de hum...

Sammy, please read the NPOV pages. You do good work, but please try to develop a more objective tone. --MB

 * What are you talking about? The article seemed to be plenty objective to me. --TheCunctator
 * I think the article has changed substantially from when the NPOV tag was put on it, and it can be removed.--Larrybob 16:37, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

-- What do you think I have everyone else for? They are my editors.

J/k maybe ill go back and review it another day and have a fresh perspective.

Very interesting article, Sammy. --LMS

Perhaps a silly question: Was this the same "Donny the Punk" who wrote occasionally for Maximumrockandroll in the late 80s, or was that a different guy? -- RjLesch

That was the same guy, indeed. --Diftong 11:23, 2 Nov 2003 (UTC)

I removed the following line which appears to be graffiti.

He is not to be confused with Stephen Donaldson, the author of pro-prison rape novels.

It is likely that he was the one writing in Maximumrockand roll. Although most famous for his actiivity as a prisoner rights activist, he was also something of a celebrity in the punk rock movement, although quite on the old side to be involved.

I'm familiar with Stephen R Donaldson who wrote science fiction but I did not know that it was pro-prison rape. Some of Donny's writing did, in fact, cast the "protective pairing"(the relationship of a "man" and his punk, which would be entered into to avoid being raped. Donny's adoption of the punk nickname referred to both his prison status and his interest in the punk rock movement.

 * I don't think the science fiction writer Stephen R Donaldson is pro-rape. A (heterosexual non-prison) rape appeared in one of his novels (Lord Foul's Bane), but that doesn't make me conclude he was pro-rape. Espertus (talk) 06:48, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Have good info for Donny's bio, but have difficulty sourcing it
Hi. I wasn't exactly a friend of Donny myself, but I knew him and also several of his closest friend. He recruited me the Board of Stop Prisoner Rape in 1995. He was quite a charachter. I have some more published material but I can't source it propely. He wrote an op-ed piece for the NYT call "A million punks jockers and ______". I think it is on the spr website along wih his guide to how to be a good jailhouse punk.

In addition to everything else he was, he was an advocate for an open internet. He did an amicus brief for the case that ACLU brought about the internet pornography law. I realize that stuff I know from first hand knowledge that I can't source does not belong in the main wikipedia article. I'm going to do what I can. I've downloaded some articles that I can't properly cite. Perhaps someone who knows the punk rock side of his life might be able to identify them. If anyone is seriously interested I can post more first hand info on the talk page that you might be able to find published sources for.

Peter Reilly 15:14, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip -- I found a page at the SPR site with a lot of writing by and about Donny, and I'll put in a link to it. Would be good to find more info about the amicus brief. --Larrybob 16:24, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Here is cite for the case

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 96-511

JANET RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, et al., APPELLANTS v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION et al. on appeal from the united states district court for the eastern district of pennsylvania [June 26, 1997]

Peter Reilly 12:37, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

http://www.aclu.org/privacy/speech/15486lgl19960225.html

Donny's testimony in Reno V ACLU Peter Reilly 12:49, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Hello. I've never done this before on Wikipedia. I was a personal friend of 'Donny'. The article states he changed his name 'after highschool'. This is inaccurate. I met him at Columbia University in 1974, and he was still going by Robert (Bob) Martin. He served in the Navy as Martin (he was a Radioman). At that time he was a graduate student at Columbia, in Budhist Studies. I was in the Navy myself, at the time we met (Halloween gay dance at Columbia. He was wearing his favorite sailor's uniform). We were in contact for several years before we lost track. We regained contact when I saw him on 60 Minutes for SPR.

____________________

I know someone who is working on a biography of Donny. Leave a message on my talk page if you want me to put you in touch

Peter Reilly 18:49, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Removing quality standards template
As far as I can tell, this article is in keeping with Wikipedia's quality standards, so that template should be removed. Any objections? The only major problem I can see is a lack of content. 207.81.15.15 15:46, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Founder of SPR
It depends on how you look at it. The organization POSRIP(People Organized to Stop the Rape of Imprisoned Persons) was founded by Russell Smith. As far as I know POSRIP was never incorporated. SPR was incorporated and recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization by Donny with a little bit of help from his friends. Subsequent presidents of SPR - Don Collins and Tom Cahill had been active in POSRIP. As with everything else I know about this I haven't been able to figure out how to source it for the main article.

I am Russell Smith. I agree with Donny that in MOST state prison systems, the gay or even the smaller straight person will be in jeopardy of rape. This person has several options. First, there is the option of attaching oneself to a stronger or more dangerous prison for protection. There is the option of maiming or murdering an attacker rapist. I did so at least twice and received sympathy from each judge. What I do not consider to be an option is to go into administrative segregation. The victim would have to snitch to be so protective, which would mark him forever. Further, the victim would have to remain in the cell until release, however lon that may be. Also, some 50 years ago, a riot occurred in the New Mexico prison system. The prisoners literally tore the place to the ground, much more so than any known riot before. They broke into the Admministrative Segregation and opened each door and then tortured all of the protective prisoners to death, including the rape victim. Again, I am Russell Smith. My address is 3810 W. 9th St. Apt. 1, Los Angeles, CA 90019. You wanted the facts, well, these facts are why I separated myself from Just Detention International. I see no help in writing letters or snitching to prison officials or even in legislation. States can refuse to abide by PREA and some have done so. PREA is legislation that brings attention to the issue, but it is by no means an answer. That is my response to your question.

Peter Reilly 19:04, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Pete, good to see you here. Donny always said he wasn't the founder of SPR,
 * so I think we should stick with that position. Espertus (talk) 04:52, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

More references
I've added some sources and details to the article. I knew Donny and have a number of articles by and about him and plan to add more. Espertus (talk) 06:49, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

How to refer to Donny in the 1970s?
I added a section on Donny's military experience and switch awkwardly between referring to him as "Donaldson" and "Martin". All of the sources refer to him as "Martin" (since that was the name he went by and enlisted as). Any advice? Espertus (talk) 06:51, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Religion
I remember Donny being a very devoted Hindu convert when i knew him in the years before his death. I seem to remember people saying he held some post in a temple to a specific diety, and later that he had a Hindu funeral. Anyone got refs? He also contributed to Skinhead Times. RIP, Donny T L Miles (talk) 04:49, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

 * There are references to his Hinduism, which I plan to add, but I don't think it is true that he had a Hindu funeral. I helped make arrangements after his death and don't believe there was a funeral.  There was a memorial service on August 25, 1996, which I did not attend, which, according to my records, was Quaker and at the Metropolitan Community Church.  Namaste. Espertus (talk) 06:36, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Bisexuality
My additions to the article regarding Donaldson's bisexuality were erased, leaving the reader to presume that he was gay (since the current quote includes a reference to his "homosexuality" but not his bisexuality). The reason I was given was that the information was not constructive: pray tell, how and why is clarifying Donaldson's sexual identity not constructive? 80.178.18.208 (talk) 11:14, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Game Designer?
Is this the same Stephen Donaldson who was a prolific game designer for Simulations Publication, Inc. in the 1970's. If so, my mind is beyond totally blown. 76.254.50.71 (talk) 09:10, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

 * Ho Lee Fuk, it is apparently true, someone in the NYC punk scene said when he met Donaldson he mentioned being game designer. Donaldson's talent in this field was obvious, and his game "Cityfight" won the 1979 Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Twentieth Century Game. I'll try to add in to this article some of this part of this man's fascinating life. 76.254.50.71 (talk) 17:05, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Game Designer
Yes. I believe he has credits in the Mech War series. I remember seeing something about that when I visited him in 1995. It was also mentioned in one of his obits as I recall. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peter Reilly (talk • contribs) 02:24, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Stephen Donaldson (activist). Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20080512013008/http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/donaldson.pdf to http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/donaldson.pdf

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Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 08:53, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Stephen Donaldson (activist)


text:
Dolmen

A dolmen or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000–3000 BCE) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus (burial mound). Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance. In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton".

In Sumba (Indonesia), dolmens are still commonly built (about 100 dolmens each year) for collective graves according to lineage. The traditional village of Wainyapu has some 1,400 dolmens.

Celtic
The word dolmen entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his Origines gauloises (1796) using the spelling dolmin (the current spelling was introduced about a decade later and had become standard in French by about 1885). The Oxford English Dictionary does not mention dolmin in English and gives its first citation for dolmen from a book on Brittany in 1859, describing the word as "The French term, used by some English authors, for a cromlech ...". The name was supposedly derived from a Breton language term meaning 'stone table' but doubt has been cast on this, and the OED describes its origin as "Modern French". A book on Cornish antiquities from 1754 said that the current term in the Cornish language for a cromlech was tolmen ('hole of stone') and the OED says that "There is reason to think that this was the term inexactly reproduced by Latour d'Auvergne [sic] as dolmen, and misapplied by him and succeeding French archaeologists to the cromlech". Nonetheless it has now replaced cromlech as the usual English term in archaeology, when the more technical and descriptive alternatives are not used. The later Cornish term was quoit – an English-language word for an object with a hole through the middle preserving the original Cornish language term of tolmen – the name of another dolmen-like monument is in fact Mên-an-Tol 'stone with hole' (Standard Written Form: Men An Toll.)

In Irish Gaelic they are called dolmain.

Germanic
Dolmens are known by a variety of names in other languages, including Galician and anta, Долмени, Hünengrab/Hünenbett, Afrikaans and hunebed, trikuharri, Abkhaz: Adamra, Adyghe: Ispun

Danish and dysse, dös, 고인돌, and גַלעֵד. Granja is used in Portugal, Galicia, and some parts of Spain. The rarer forms anta and ganda also appear. In Catalan-speaking areas, they are known simply as dolmen, but also by a variety of folk names, including cova ('cave'), caixa ('crate' or 'coffin'), taula ('table'), arca ('chest'), cabana ('hut'), barraca ('hut'), llosa ('slab'), llosa de jaça ('pallet slab'), roca ('rock') or pedra ('stone'), usually combined with a second part such as de l'alarb ('of the Arab'), del/de moro/s ('of the Moor/s'), del lladre ('of the thief'), del dimoni ('of the devil'), d'en Rotllà/Rotllan/Rotlan/Roldan ('of Roland'),. In the Basque Country, they are attributed to the jentilak, a race of giants.

The etymology of the Hünenbett, Hünengrab and hunebed – with Hüne/hune meaning 'giant' – all evoke the image of giants buried (bett/bed/grab = 'bed/grave') there. Of other Celtic languages, Welsh cromlech was borrowed into English and quoit is commonly used in English in Cornwall.

Western Europe
It remains unclear when, why and by whom the earliest dolmens were made. The oldest known are found in Western Europe, dating from c. 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it. They are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artefacts, have been found in or close to the dolmens which could be scientifically dated using radiocarbon dating. However, it has been impossible to prove that these remains date from the time when the stones were originally set in place.

Middle East
Dolmens can be found in the Levant, some along the Jordan Rift Valley (Upper Galilee in Israel, the Golan Heights, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and southeast Turkey.

Dolmens in the Levant belong to a different, unrelated tradition to that of Europe, although they are often treated "as part of a trans-regional phenomenon that spanned the Taurus mountains to the Arabian peninsula." In the Levant, they are of Early Bronze rather than Late Neolithical age. They are mostly found along the Jordan Rift Valley's eastern escarpment, and in the hills of the Galilee, in clusters near Early Bronze I proto-urban settlements (3700–3000 BCE), additionally restricted by geology to areas allowing the quarrying of slabs of megalithic size. In the Levant, geological constraints led to a local burial tradition with a variety of tomb forms, dolmens being one of them.

Korea

Dolmens were built in Korea from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age, with about 40,000 to be found throughout the peninsula. In 2000, the dolmen groups of Jukrim-ri and Dosan-ri in Gochang, Hyosan-ri and Daesin-ri in Hwasun, and Bujeong-ri, Samgeori and Osang-ri in Ganghwa gained World Cultural Heritage status. (See Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites.)

They are mainly distributed along the West Sea coastal area and on large rivers from the Liaoning region of China (the Liaodong Peninsula) to Jeollanam-do. In North Korea, they are concentrated around the Taedong and Jaeryeong Rivers. In South Korea, they are found in dense concentrations in river basins, such as the Han and Nakdong Rivers, and in the west coast area (Boryeong in South Chungcheong Province, Buan in North Jeolla Province, and Jeollanam-do. They are mainly found on sedimentary plains, where they are grouped in rows parallel to the direction of the river or stream. Those found in hilly areas are grouped in the direction of the hill.

title: Dolmen


text:
Talk:Diaspora studies

Mess
This article is a mess...it's too vague and squishy. Also, the separate fields don't all belong on this page. --TheCunctator

Edits
C. -- looks like we were editing at the same time. Diaspora studies is a growing field, and I wanted to make sure it got a fair shake, even though I don't always agree with what its proponents say. Also, I replaced the German stuff, because it really is a case where the rules for diaspora vs. bunch of refugees may apply. I also took out the racial/nationalist stuff, because it could lead to oversimplification of motives...JHK

Race
Did you bother to look at the race and nationalism entries? I think you'll understand why I linked to them. It's generally a better idea to allow people to make connections than to hide them. But it's also better to put them into context than to simply list them, as well.

I have to say, I'm getting annoyed at the increasing propensity of certain people to simply delete content. That means you!

Yeah, we're overlapping. The Wikipedia backend problems are also making this more difficult. We need that ethnicity entry to be completed. It's on my todo list.

I'd assert that there isn't a line between diaspora studies and refugee studies; there's an overlap. Diaspora studies refer to ethnic populations; refugee studies refer to refugee populations; they overlap in ethnic refugees.

I'm going to merge our entries if that's all right, and move as much information as possible over to the diaspora entry as possible, so that diaspora studies will only refer to the academic field, as it should.

--TheCunctator

Reservations
makes sense, although I reserve the right to disagree after I see the result. I suppose you could say that almost all victims of Diaspora could be called refugees, but not all refugees are victims of Diaspora. By the way, I did look at the links, but think that they shouldn't be there without a better article on the main topic. By the way, I seldom delete huge chunks of anything, except when it's not NPOV'd or just wrong -- or when i'm restoring a version I think is better -- i've restored a couple of Paul Drye versions without a pang of guilt. thx for helping get this back on an even keel, and I'm sorry to be so cranky, this has just really been disillusioning.JHK

Edit, don't delete
You really need to stop deleting huge chunks of anything, even if (I might say especially if) it's not NPOV'd or if there's a better version; instead, you need to correct, contextualize, and contribute to fix what you see as wrong. If that's too much, then state your intentions in Talk first.

That said, I've moved over the discussion of diasporas to the diaspora entry. The diaspora studies entry should be about the academic field, not about the subject of the academic field. --TheCunctator

Propaganda
The material that JHK has been removing was being put all over any German/Prussian topic, in huge amounts, by one person intent on producing propaganda for his/her particular view. Most of it, from what I could see, was not fixable. JKH and Michael T. engaged this person in a very lengthy discussion about the problems with the material, but to no avail. Thus, JHK is, IMO, perfectly justified in his deletions. -- Stephen Gilbert

Wacko
Stephen: he also deleted large chunks of work which I did specific to these entries. It wasn't just the wacko. Get your facts straight. And I also think that just deleting wacko info will be detrimental to the health of Wikipedia in the long run (though my full position is more nuanced than this one sentence may imply). --TheCunctator
 * She did give quite detaled reasons as to why the entire page should be deleted, but I saw no counterpoints given. As for your one sentence position, I must say that about two weeks ago I would have largely agreed with it. However, since then I've been trying to deal with an influx of "wacko info". For example, check the revision histories of Yaohushua and Yaohushuahim. I tried to engage Yaohushua in a reasonable dialogue about his material before making any changes, but he ignored any points made and simply continued to fill his pages and alter the Religion article, placing his cult on the same level as Judaism. His material was incorrect, outright propaganda, and simply not fixable. Thus, I soundly deleted it. So, in short, I say that sometimes material simply has to go. -- Stephen Gilbert

Reasons
Cunctator -- since IMO there is still no reason to have a page on the Heimatvertriebene, I think it needs a re-route. Also, you asked for justifications for my approach, and I gave them in detail -- if you think those reasons are bogus, you should address them. Right now, it seems that your major objection is that I deleted something you wrote. Also, I am a she. Thanks!

Nonsense
Cunctator -- Yes, there is a page for bad jokes and other deleted nonsense, but from the looks of it, the material that that one author was contributing was so abundant and so patently biased and misinformed that it would have required a page of its own.

title: Talk:Diaspora studies