Childhood experiences—the firing of his gay, high school drama teacher, his mother’s ethnographic research on Tex-Mex conjunto music and curandera folk healers—inspired Scott’s awareness of diversity, representation, and inclusivity.
Politicized by the pop music of gay singer Jimmy Sommerville and the LGBTQ film studies of Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet, as a young adult he participated with direct action and volunteer work around AIDS, LGBTQ, arts, and related issues. Over the years, he has been a cofounding member of Queer Nation Chicago, Friends And Queers @ Annenberg (University of Southern California), and GLB Union (School of the Art Institute of Chicago). As an academic, he has served since 2011 on the Steering Committee for the Women’s Leadership interdisciplinary major at Clemson (including teaching the senior capstone class) and multiple inclusivity committees. At Clemson, he co-founded and directed Southern Margins, an international short film festival for marginalized and Southern voices. The 2021 launch of Lavender Place, Clemson’s first LGBTQ Living Learning Community, incorporated his service on its steering committee and earlier feasibility research into LGBTQ housing at Clemson.
His inclusivity and related trainings include LGBTQ Ally, Green Zone (veterans), Good Talk (diversity dialogue), Critical Thinking Institute, and Ethics in the Classroom. He is committed to continually diversifying his teaching and research. For several years years, he silently underwrote the Executive Director position for Feed & Seed SC, a nonprofit focused on minority and independent farmers.
Socio-economic class is another important dimension of diversity for Scott. Growing up, he lived in the suburbs, trailer parks, and a roadside tent. Personal and family experiences with mental illness and rare disease have more informed his interest in disability and neurodiversity. This commitment spurs his larger engagement with accessibility, which Scott approaches through continued engagement in and resistance to separating popular, professional, and scholarly modes of communication.