Modern American Queer HistoryIn the twentieth century, countless Americans claimed gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender identities, forming a movement to secure social as well as political equality. This collection of essays considers the history as well as the historiography of the queer identities and struggles that developed in the United States in the midst of widespread upheaval and change. Whether the subject is an individual life story, a community study, or an aspect of public policy, these essays illuminate the ways in which individuals in various locales understood the nature of their desires and the possibilities of resisting dominant views of normality and deviance. Theoretically informed, but accessible, the essays shed light too on the difficulties of writing history when documentary evidence is sparse or coded, Taken together these essays suggest that while some individuals and social networks might never emerge from the shadows, the persistent exploration of the past for their traces is an integral part of the on-going struggle for queer rights. |
Contents
Romantic Friendship | 13 |
Jane Heap Margaret Anderson | 24 |
The Lives | 36 |
Evidence Narrative and Biography | 49 |
A Significant Other | 69 |
The Lesbian and the Scientific Basis | 103 |
Professionals in MidTwentiethCentury America | 117 |
Lesbian and Gay Novels in | 131 |
Rizzos Raiders Beaten Beats and Coffeehouse Culture in 1950s | 155 |
Black Feminist Organizations and the Emergence of Interstitial | 181 |
Early Lesbian and Gay Institution | 198 |
Images of Race Nation and Contagion | 253 |
World War II and the Current | 271 |
Where Are We Now Where Are We Going and Who Gets to Say? | 285 |
About the Contributors | 300 |
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