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Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution
Dual reviews and further history resources
2012-10-31

This article shared 5011 times since Wed Oct 31, 2012
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Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution, by Linda Hirshman, $27.99; hardcover; 444 pages; Harper. First of two reviews on this page. Review by Chris Riddiough

Reading Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution by Linda Hirshman is a lot like going to the fun house at a carnival. You see yourself in the mirrors but it doesn't really look like you.

From the title to the epilogue you can see the LGBT movement in this book, but it doesn't really look like the movement I've experienced over the last 40 years. The vignettes of gay life in the early part of the 20th century are fascinating to read. The descriptions of Harry Hay's efforts to form the Mattachine Society and how much he took from his Communist Party activism are quite striking. But where is the description of Henry Gerber's attempt in Chicago in the 1920s to start the first known U.S. gay rights organization—the Society for Human Rights? Hirshman's description of Harvey Milk's extraordinary role in the gay movement is stirring, but what of the elections of Kathy Kozachenko, the first openly LGBT elected official in the United States, and Elaine Noble, the first openly LGBT state legislator, both elected in 1974?

Perhaps these omissions and others like them would not be so egregious if Hirshman were writing only about the gay movement in New York and California, but a book that purports to tell the story of the 'Triumphant Gay Revolution' should not leave out these and many other key elements. In fact her focus throughout the book on New York and California is disturbing. While she gives a nod to the efforts in Washington, D.C. (after all one can hardly write a history of the LGBT movement without mentioning Frank Kameny) and to a few other non-coastal locations, her single-minded attention to the activities on either coast results in the omission of many key players and events over the last century.

That's not the only problem with this book, however. Her fawning portrayal of the gay men she interviews is disquieting. Combined with her apparent disregard for lesbians, it results in an unbalanced portrayal of life and activism in the LGBT community. She only briefly mentions Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, the founders of the Daughters of Bilitis. Barbara Gittings gets even less of a nod in the book and others from those early days (like Barbara Grier of the Ladder) are not even mentioned.

This disdain for lesbians and women more generally is well reflected in her comments on feminism. Her perspective on the feminist movement and the civil-rights movement (which she persists in calling the "racial civil-rights movement") reflects a complete lack of understanding of those movements and their relationship to the LGBT movement. She says, for example, that

"At the end of the day, both these modern movements got most of their traction from maximizing their similarity to dominant political and social hierarchies. By definition, people involved in the gay revolution could not replicate majority behavior."

Hirshman wants to distinguish (and perhaps elevate) the gay movement from the civil-rights and feminist movements. And there certainly are distinctions, but not the ones she makes. In many respects, gay men have been much better able to replicate the majority behavior, politically and socially, of their heterosexual counterparts than women have. And while, as Hirshman points out, morality in the United States is generally sexual morality, to suggest as she does that "few would have argued that skin color reflected character" is simply not true. Though not as explicit as the moral indignation of the right when it comes to the LGBT community, it is clear that even today in our "enlightened" 21st century, it is an offense to the morals of some simply to be Black.

Later she states, "The women of the feminist movement differed more dramatically from the politically and socially dominant males [than did those from the civil rights movement] if only by virtue of their tie to childbearing. They, too, however, had a path to integration by virtue of their value as sexual companions and mothers."

To suggest that integrating women into political and civil society is achieved by virtue of sex and childbearing is a complete misunderstanding of the aims of the women's movement. Rather, they have been part of the basis for women's "special status" (read: oppression) in our society. In addition, those roles, particularly that of sexual companion, offer no path to integration for lesbians. In fact it is the very idea of women's sexuality that most strongly links feminism to the LGBT movement.

Years ago, I had a conversation with someone from Integrity, the gay Episcopalian organization. He was forcefully in favor of ordaining gay priests but just as forcefully opposed to women priests. History has passed him by in both cases, but one can look back and see that those two positions, common to all too many gay men, were simply contradictory, just as is the position of feminists who believe that support for women's rights does not include support for LGBT rights.

Hirshman's willingness to sustain this perspective results in her leaving out of her analysis a significant segment of the LGBT movement—the 'L' part. Lesbian feminism is almost completely missing from Hirshman's discussion of the gay movement. Perhaps it is no accident that the subtitle of the book references the "gay" revolution for, indeed, it is focused on the efforts of gay men. A mention of RadicaLesbians, of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, of lesbian involvement in the AIDS crisis is not a substitute for a more thoroughgoing discussion of lesbian feminism. In the '70s and later, there was a vibrant lesbian feminist movement around the United States. It was not embodied in one large national organization nor in a few individuals but in many local organizations ranging from lesbian feminist separatists to lesbian socialist feminists to lesbian feminists in NOW.

But Hirshman seems more intent on denigrating the women's movement, stating, for example—"By 1969, the poisonous feminist slogan, 'The personal is the political,' characterized a strong movement of younger, Sixties-influenced women's liberationists."—rather than truly exploring the vital role that lesbian feminism has played in both the LGBT and women's movements.

In fact, that "poisonous" slogan pertains at least as much to the struggle for LGBT rights as that for women's rights. What could be more personal than the intimate relationships we have? At the same time, for lesbians and gay men those personal relationships underlie the political and social oppression we have faced. Her failure to understand the links between the women's movement and the LGBT movement underlies her devaluing of the role of lesbians in the movement. Certainly there were elements in the women's movement who would prefer to ignore or dismiss the involvement of lesbians (just as this was true in the gay movement), but neither movement would have become what it did without the efforts of lesbians. Most lesbian activists recognize that our liberation has to involve both women's rights and gay rights.

One final note related to this topic: Hirshman feels it necessary within the first few pages of the book, even before the introduction, to proclaim her heterosexuality. This need is, at best, irritating and could have been left to the acknowledgments (in which she does, in fact, acknowledge the support of her husband). It does suggest that the author is at least uncomfortable with the idea that she might be taken for a lesbian.

Yet another problem with the book is her characterization of what constitutes the movement and her failure to understand basic organizing principles. She says, for example, "Unlike the other major civil rights movements, the gay movement was still saddled with free riders, people passing as heterosexual while the out activists labored to make the world a better place."

This completely misunderstands what revolutions are about. Anyone who has been an activist in any movement knows that no movement has included in its ranks every member of the group it is fighting for. My goal when I became an activist for feminism and LGBT rights was not to just change things for myself and others in the movement, but to change things for women and all members of the LGBT community. I never expected that all women or all LGBT people would be involved. While I would have liked every woman to be active in the women's movement, I knew that there were often reasons that women, even supportive women, couldn't or wouldn't get involved. The same is true for the LGBT movement.

Hirshman emphasizes the role of lawyers and the legal system in the recent victories on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and marriage equality, but neglects the roles of grassroots activism and political activism. Over the last 40 years one of the critical strategies for LGBT activists has been coming out. Hirshman acknowledges this in other places but doesn't really discuss the small, everyday acts carried out by many local activists. In Chicago, for example, teams of gay men and lesbians from at least the 1970s on acted as a speakers' bureau, participating in high school and college class discussions, in police academy training programs and community group events, just talking about what it meant to be gay. Many others would go to different Chicago neighborhoods and circulate petitions for a bill for gay and lesbian rights, while others lobbied the mayor and members of the city council day-in and day-out. And this happened not just in Chicago, but in cities and towns across the country. All of this, not just the efforts of lawyers in New York and California, ultimately resulted in the dramatic attitude changes that we see today.

Forty years ago I would not have thought it possible that the president of the United States would support marriage equality for lesbians and gay men. Twenty years ago it would not have been conceivable that the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would support gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. These changes, which reflect changes in the views and attitudes of the majority of Americans, were not made possible by only by "the exquisitely careful planning of the long-sighted, obsessive gay legal establishment" nor by the ability of "lawyers to see through the easy appeal, so powerful in other realms, to the 'natural' or the traditional."

Years of grassroots activism, of coming out, of speaking openly about what it means to be gay, of lobbying elected officials, of electing openly gay men and lesbians to public office made it possible to get where we are today. Perhaps not 'Victory', but closer to victory than might have seemed possible a few short years ago.

Hirshman's description of the pre-Stonewall gay community, her discussion of ACT UP and the AIDS crisis and her description of the legal proceedings that have culminated in recent changes in on military and marriage issues were all interesting and thought-provoking. They might have each made a useful contribution to the compendium of works on LGBT history and politics. Unfortunately, this is not that book.

Chris Riddiough lives in Washington, D.C., where she teaches computer programming and statistics with her partner of 30 years, Judith Nedrow. From 1968 to 1983 she lived in Chicago, where she was a leader in the Chicago Women's Liberation Union, the Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Metropolitan Chicago. She moved to Washington in 1983 to work as lesbian rights director for the National Organization for Women. She has been involved in the LGBT community there as president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club and as an activist in other organizations and political campaigns.

A July 1974 edition of the Chicago Lesbian Liberation Newsletter shows the activism and coalitions happening with lesbians and gay men working together on civil-rights issues, and also women doing their own thing on lesbian-feminist issues. Courtesy M. Kuda Archives www.windycitymediagroup.com/pdf/1974LesbianLiberationNewsltr.pdf .

Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution, by Linda Hirshman, $27.99; hardcover; 444 pages; Harper. REVIEW BY TRACY BAIM

If I don't have anything nice to say about a book, I usually just avoid reviewing it. And while I actually do have some positive comments about this new non-fiction look at the gay movement, Victory by Linda Hirshman, most of my impressions are not good.

I am quite torn about going so negative on a project that is clearly needed. But what I would most like to say is if you want to get a better look back at our LGBT U.S. history, you probably should read a bunch of books, not just Victory.

As Hirshman makes clear several times in the book, she is a straight woman writing about the gay movement. The book has been getting a lot of press, and I can't help but think it is because she is straight, because there are so many great gay books that come out each year that are ignored by The New York Times and other media.

She hammers home the point of her being straight with a quease-inducing story at the start of the book about a longtime activist hugging her just hours after they first meet and saying "You can do this, Linda … Tell them our story." Um, ugh. So be it—it's often the case that outsiders get more attention when they write about a group.

Hirshman does a good job at bringing together tales of the movement's behind-the-scenes workings and its successes, including fighting back against AIDS, and legal battles, though most of these stories have been told elsewhere. Some are so condensed as to give credit to an incomplete list of activists and groups. The role of Barbara Gittings is almost ignored—especially the role she and her partner Kay Lahusen played in helping change the American Psychiatric Association diagnosis of homosexuals. (This is well documented in a March 2012 Gay and Lesbian Review article by Margaret Rubick.)

There are numerous examples of summarized or overlooked critical people and events. One of the most glaring is Henry Gerber, who founded the first known gay group in the United States, in Illinois in the 1920s. He is out of the narrative (even though Mattachine Society founder Harry Hay has said he knew of that group when he started his in 1950), and he is not even on the summary timeline in the back. There are too many omissions to name them all, but suffice to say that this book should more appropriately have been titled A Coastal Victory for Gay Rights, since the vast majority is about New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco. There are a few good exceptions, including Colorado's battle against Amendment 2, but not enough to justify this being seen as a book about the national gay movement.

Victory clearly is not meant to represent the entirety of gay U.S. history (no one book or even 20 could), but by leaving out key people and events in the history she relates, it tells a very incomplete story of the "gay revolution" in the title.

Hirshman also has a very rosy and simplified picture of where we are today, hence the words on the cover: "How a Despised Minority Pushed Back, Beat Death, Found Love, and Changed America for Everyone." Well, the LGBT community did in fact do most of those things, but many did not beat death or find equality, and the fight is far from over. There are still LGBTs killed by hate, committing suicide, refused employment and child custody, and denied access to federal benefits. Hirshman justifies her title in the epilogue, but it doesn't quite work. Yes, we can all use some good news and have the right to celebrate our victories, but the revolution is far from over. It feels as if she decided on a thesis and then set out to prove it, by leaving off parts that didn't fit her philosophy. But my quibble with the title is very minor compared to what's between the covers, which was an incomplete summary of the stories that brought us to 2012.

Perhaps the most frustrating is her insistence that single-issue politics was the means by which gay rights were achieved. This argument is so off-base as to be laughable. It wasn't true in her favorite coastal cities of New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles, and it was certainly not true in Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit or any cities in between. Yes, single-issue groups played an important role, but so did multi-issue groups and most importantly, multi-issue people. Gay rights have not been achieved in a single-issue vacuum and it is insulting to have the work of critical movement groups and leaders dismissed and ignored so cavalierly in Victory.

I also felt the book was sometimes condescending, and Hirshman's judgmental tone can get in the way—and is totally unnecessary to the story. For example, she chastises activist Jim Fouratt: "He claims to be a feminist and his political history supports him. Yet he has never read 'Sex and Caste.'" Neither have I, but I have been a feminist since I was 13 in 1976.

The book is lacking the true depth of our history, whether that is the role of people of color, lesbians, LGBT literature, cinema, newspapers, religion (though Troy Perry is there), sports, Marches on Washington, Philadelphia's early pickets, certain critical LGBT leaders and organizations, or any diversity at all. And it's not like there aren't numerous sources to find this information easily these days—online and in books and documentaries.

I may be either the best or worst person to review this book, since I have read most of the major books on LGBT history, and I have been working in gay media since 1984. That means I know too much to be satisfied with this book; but maybe for most readers, this skimming of important events and people, no matter the narrow scope or distorted conclusions, will be satisfying enough.

Let me end by saying something positive: I still think it is important when any LGBT books get published in the mainstream (this one by Harper), and get attention. So students of LGBT history can still find some interesting stories in here; just make sure to read beyond Victory if you want a more accurate and complete picture.

Resources: National and other regions

OutHistory.org: outhistory.org

— GLBTQ Website: http://www.glbtq.com/

— A Queer History of the United States, by Michael Bronski, Beacon Press (2012)

— About Time: Exploring the Gay Past, by Martin Duberman, Meridian (1991). Revised edition; first published in 1986. Revised edition also appeared in 1994.

— And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, by Randy Shilts, St. Martin's Press (1987). A 20th-anniversary edition was published in 2007 by St. Martin's Griffin and, in paperback, by Penguin.

— Becoming Visible: An Illustrated History of Lesbian and Gay Life in Twentieth-Century America, by Molly McGarry and Fred Wasserman, Penguin Studio Books (1998)

— Behind the Mask of the Mattachine: The Hal Call Chronicles and the Early Movement for Homosexual Emancipation, by James T. Sears, Harrington Park Press (2006).

— Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community, by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Penguin (1994). First published by Routledge (1993).

— The Boys of Boise: Furor, Vice, and Folly in an American City, by John Gerassi, foreword by Peter Boag, new preface by author, University of Washington Press (2001). First published by Macmillan (1966).

— Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography, by Christine Jorgensen, introduction by Susan Stryker, Cleis Press (2000). First published by Paul S. Eriksson (1967).

— The Columbia Reader on Lesbians and Gay Men in Media, Society, and Politics, by Larry Gross and James D. Woods (editors), Columbia University Press (1999).

— Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two, by Allan Berube, Plume (1991). First published by Free Press (1990); 20th-anniversary edition published by University of North Carolina Press with new foreword by John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman (2010).

— Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. the Supreme Court, by Joyce Murdoch and Deb Price, Basic Books (2001).

— Creating a Place for Ourselves: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community Histories, edited by Brett Beemyn, Routledge (1997)

— Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement, by Marcia M. Gallo, Seal Press (paperback 2007, first published by Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006)

— Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, by Wayne R. Dynes (editor) and Warren Johannson and William A. Percy (associate editors), with the assistance of Stephen Donaldson, Garland Publishing (1990). Two volumes.

— Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, Vol. 1 on lesbians edited by Bonnie Zimmerman, Vol. 2 on gay men edited by George Haggerty, Garland Publishing (2000)

— Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A: A Documentary History, by Jonathan Ned Katz, Meridian Books (revised edition 1992, first published by Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 1976)

— Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area, by Susan Stryker and Jim Van Buskirk, Chronicle Books (1996)

— The Gay Crusaders, by Kay Tobin and Randy Wicker, Paperback Library (1972). Reprinted by Arno Press (1975); Kay Tobin was pen name of Kay Tobin Lahusen.

— Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians, by Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons, Basic Books (2006)

— The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America, by Charles Kaiser, Grove Press (paperback 2007, first published by Houghton Mifflin Co. 1997)

— Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Makings of the Gay Male World, 1890—1940, by George Chauncey, Basic Books (paperback 2003, first published 1994)

— Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance, by A.B. Christa Schwarz, Indiana University Press (2003).

— Great Events from History: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Events, 1848—2006 (2 volumes), editorial board includes Lillian Faderman and others, Salem Press (2007)

— Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, edited by Martin Bauml Duberman, Martha Vicinus and George Chauncey, Jr., Meridian Books (1990, first published by New American Library 1989)

— Homosexuality: A History, by Vern L. Bullough, New American Library (1979).

— Homosexuality: A History, by Colin Spencer, Fourth Estate (1995). Reissued in U.S. as Homosexuality in History, Harcourt Brace (1995).

— Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis, by Jennifer Brier, U of North Carolina (2011)

— Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland, compiled by The History Project, Beacon Press (paperback 1999, first published 1998)

— Jack Nichols, Gay Pioneer: "Have You Heard My Message?" by J. Louis Campbell III, Harrington Park Press (2007).

— James Baldwin, by Randall Kenan, Chelsea House Publishers (2005, first published 1994)

— The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, by David K. Johnson, University of Chicago Press (2004).

— The Lavender Screen: The Gay and Lesbian Films: Their Stars, Makers, Characters, and Critics, by Boze Hadleigh, Citadel Press (2001, first published by Carol Publishing Group 1993)

— Leading the Parade: Conversations with America's Most Influential Lesbians and Gay Men, by Paul D. Cain foreword by Jack Nichols, Scarecrow Press (paperback, 2007). First published 2002.

— The Lesbian Almanac, compiled by the National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History, Berkley Books (1996)

— Lesbian Culture, An Anthology: The Lives, Work, Ideas, Art and Visions of Lesbians Past and Present, edited by Julia Penelope and Susan J. Wolfe, Crossing Press (1993)

— Lesbian/Woman, by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Volcano Press (1991).

— Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement, Mark Thompson (editor), St. Martin's Press (1994).

— Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin, by John D'Emilio, University of Chicago Press (2004, first published by Free Press 2003)

— Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights, by Eric Marcus, Harper Perennial (2002). Revised paperback edition; first published as Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945—1990: An Oral History, HarperCollins (1992).

— The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, by Randy Shilts, St. Martin's Press (paperback 1988, first published 1982)

— Moving the Mountain: The Women's Movement in America Since 1960, by Flora Davis, University of Illinois Press (paperback 1999, first published by Simon & Schuster 1991)

— Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight Against AIDS, by Debbie Gould, U. of Chicago (2009)

— My Desire for History: Essays in Gay, Community, and Labor History, by Allen Berube, ed. with an intro by John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

— News and Sexuality: Media Portraits of Diversity, by Laura Castañeda and Shannon B. Campbell (editors), Sage Publications (2006).

— Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America, by Lillian Faderman, Penguin Books (paperback 1992, first published by Columbia University Press 1991)

— The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth Century History, by John Loughery, Henry Holt & Co. (paperback 1999, first published 1998)

— Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America, by Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, Simon & Schuster (paperback 2001, first published 1999)

— Out in All Directions: The Almanac of Gay and Lesbian America, edited by Lynn Witt, Sherry Thomas and Eric Marcus, Warner Books (paperback 1997, first published 1995)

— Out of the Closets: The Sociology of Homosexual Liberation, by Laud Humphreys, Prentice-Hall (1972).

— Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation, by Karla Jay and Allen Young, Douglas Book Corp. (1972). Lists just more than a dozen publications. A 20th-anniversary edition with foreword by John D'Emilio was published in 1992 by New York University Press.

— Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present, by Neil Miller, Alyson Publications (revised edition 2006, first published by Vintage Books 1995)

— Pre-Gay L.A., by C. Todd White, U. of Illinois Press (2009)

— Profiles in Gay & Lesbian Courage, by the Reverend Troy Perry and Thomas L.P. Swicegood, St. Martin's Press (1991, paperback 1992).

— Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of Power, by Michelangelo Signorile, University of Wisconsin Press (2003). Third edition; first published in 1993.

— Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals, by Keith Stern (2009, BanBella Books)

— Rough News, Daring Views: 1950s' Pioneer Gay Press Journalism, by Jim Kepner, Harrington Park Press (1998).

— Sappho Was a Right-On Woman, by Sidney Abbott, Barbara Love, editors (1985, Stein & Day)

— Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, by Justin Spring (2010, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

— Selling Out: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market, by Alexandra Chasin, Palgrave Macmillan (2001).

— Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940—1970, by John D'Emilio, University of Chicago Press (1998). Second edition; first published in 1983.

— Sex Variant Woman: The Life of Jeannette Howard Foster, by Joanne Passet, Da Capo Press (2008)

— Stonewall, by Martin Duberman, Dutton (1993). Republished in paperback, Plume (1994), and fictionalized as the motion picture Stonewall, Strand Releasing (1995).

— Straight News: Gays, Lesbians, and the News Media, by Edward Alwood, Columbia University Press (1996).

— Tales of the Lavender Menace: A Memoir of Liberation, by Karla Jay, Basic Books (1999)

— To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, adapted by Robert Nemiroff, Vintage Books (1995, first published by New American Library 1969)

— To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America—A History, by Lillian Faderman, Houghton Mifflin Co. (paperback 2000, first published 1999)

— Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, by Urvashi Vaid, Anchor Books (paperback 1996, first published 1995)

— We Can Always Call Them Bulgarians: The Emergence of Lesbians and Gay Men on the American Stage, by Kaier Curtin, Alyson Publications (1987)

— We're Here. We're Queer, by Owen Keehnen, Prairie Avenue Productions (2011)

— Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II, edited by Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, Routledge (2002)

— Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast, Indiana University Press (2001)

Chicago

Many of the above books have some Chicago references, but below are resources that are specific to Chicago.

— Are We There Yet? A Continuing History of Lavender Woman, a Chicago Lesbian Newspaper, 1971—1976, by Michal Brody, Aunt Lute Book Co. (1985)

— Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall, by St. Sukie de la Croix, Foreword by John D'Emilio, 2012, UW Press

— Chicago Gay History Project: www.ChicagoGayHistory.org

— Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame: www.GLHallofFame.org

—Chicago Women's Liberation Union (1969—1977) history project: www.cwluherstory.com

— Hearing Us Out: Voices from the Gay and Lesbian Community, by Roger Sutton, photographs by Lisa Ebright, Little, Brown & Co. (1994)

— Out & Proud in Chicago, a 2010 film by WTTW

— Queerborn & Perversion, a 2010 film by Ron Pajak

Chicago books written or co-written by Tracy Baim

— Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America, edited and co-written by Tracy Baim, coming in November, 2012.

— Out & Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community, Edited by Tracy Baim, Agate/Surrey Books (2008)

— Obama and the Gays: A Political Marriage, by Tracy Baim, Prairie Avenue Productions (2010)

— Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow, by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen, Prairie Avenue Productions (2011)

— Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria, by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen, Prairie Avenue Productions (2011)

— Gay Games VII: Where the World Meets, Windy City Media Group (2007)

Many more books and resources are listed here: www.chicagogayhistory.com/resources.html .


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BOOKS Owen Keehnen takes readers to an 'oasis of pleasure' in 'Man's Country' 2023-11-27
- In the book Man's Country: More Than a Bathhouse, Chicago historian Owen Keehnen takes a literary microscope to the venue that the late local icon Chuck Renslow opened in 1973. Over decades, until it was demolished ...


Gay News

Photographer Irene Young launches book with stellar concerts 2023-11-20
- "Something About the Women" was appropriately the closing song for two sold-out, stellar concerts at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage November 19, in celebration of the new book of the same name by Irene Young, the legendary ...


Gay News

Rustin film puts a gay pioneer into the spotlight 2023-11-16
- The story of activist Bayard Rustin is one that should be told in classrooms everywhere. Instead, because Rustin was an openly same-gender-loving man, his legacy has gone relatively unnoticed outside of LGBTQ+-focused history books. Netflix hopes ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: The times Streisand failed to make a splash 2023-11-13
- "Fame is a hollow trophy. No matter who you are, you can only eat one pastrami sandwich at a time."—Wise words from Barbra Streisand. You all know that Barbra Streisand's book is out. And I ...


Gay News

Charles Busch dishes on life as a storyteller 2023-11-09
- Performer/writer Charles Busch, who recently penned his autobiography, Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy, said that collecting his most precious and salient memories in a book felt "inevitable." "Storytelling is such an essential ...


Gay News

LGBT HISTORY PROJECT: Exploring 70 years of lesbian publications, from 1940s zines to modern glossy magazines 2023-11-02
- Since the '40s, lesbians have created a vibrant history of publications. From the exploration of daily lesbian life to literary and feminist pursuits, to the modern age of glossy magazines, for over 70 years, lesbians have ...


 


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