Originally from Mexico, Mezo González came to U of T for a one-year master's in history; that final paper grew into his PhD thesis, completed in 2022. His PhD was supervised by Professor Elspeth H. Brown, with committee members Luis van Isschot and Kevin Coleman, and funded by the C.P. Stacey-Connaught Graduate Fellowship, an Ontario Graduate Scholarship and support from the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, where he also earned a collaborative graduate specialization certificate — and met his partner.
The book covers gay liberation print media from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, drawing on The ArQuives in Toronto and archives in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Mexico City. Toronto's The Body Politic, published from 1971 to 1987, was one of the longest-running periodicals he studied.
Mezo González, now an assistant professor at Mount Royal University, returned to U of T in March for a conversation about the book. His next project, tentatively titled Evil Seduction: A Queer History of the Devil in Mexican Popular Culture, is already underway.
Reported from Alum Juan Carlos Mezo González’s debut book on the role of print media in gay liberation began at U of T, by Coby Zucker (U of T Alumni News, June 17, 2026).
More from the original reporting: alumni.utoronto.ca/news/alum-juan-carlos-mezo-gonzalezs-debut-book-role-print-media-gay-liberation-began-u-t