The Right Side of History: 100 Years of LGBTQ Activism

by Adrian Brooks, Jonathan Katz (Foreword by)

Overview

Before, During, and After Stonewall: 100 Years of Heroes and History

The Right Side of History tells the 100-year history of queer activism in a series of revealing close-ups, first-person accounts, and intimate snapshots of LGBT pioneers and radicals. This diverse cast stretches from the Edwardian period to today, including first-person accounts of the key protest that is at the heart of the 2015 movie Stonewall.

The book shows how LGBT folk have always been in the forefront of progressive social evolution in the United States. It references heroes like Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bayard Rustin, Harvey Milk, and Edie Windsor. Equally, the book honors names that aren’t in history books, from participants in the Names Project, a national phenomenon memorializing 94,000 AIDS victims, to underground artists and writers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781627781237
Publisher:	Cleis Press
Publication date:	06/09/2015
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	185,313
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Adrian Brooks is an American writer and activist who's been the vanguard of progressive political, spiritual, and social movements since the 1960s. An international traveler, poet, performer, playwright, painter, and designer, he is also a novelist and nonfiction writer. Born in Philadelphia, Brooks was raised Quaker. After graduating Episcopal Academy in 1966 as an early hippie and anti-war protester, he attended the international Friends World Institute — a radical Quaker school intent on its students becoming nonviolent "agents of social change." In 1968 he volunteered for Martin Luther King in Washington, D.C. Following Dr. King's assassination, Brooks did field work in Mexico and East Africa before attending Woodstock in 1969, then went to India with the Friends World Institute. In the early 70s, he was active in New York's then radical SOHO Movement, then moved West where he became a prominent as one of the first gay liberation poets and as the scriptwriter and star performer of the legendary San Francisco "Angels of Light," an offshoot of the Cockettes. Brooks remains devoted to good works and activism to this day. He supports orphans and assists education in rural India and contributes to the Huffington Post as well as Lambda Literary. He lives in San Francisco.

Jonathan N. Katz is an independent scholar and historian of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual American history. He is also a visual artist.

His historical work has focused on same-sex attraction and changes in the social construction of sexuality and intimate relationships over time. His works stress that the categories with which we name, describe, define, and understand human sexuality are historically and culturally specific, along with the social organization of sexual activity, desire, relationships, and sexual identities. In his work, language is studied as one important tool that human beings use to construct different, historically specific sexualities and sex/gender systems. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Foreword Jonathan Katz xiii

Introduction Adrian Brooks xv

Part I Before Stonewall

Chapter 1 The Divine Discontent of Isadora Duncan Adrian Brooks 3

Chapter 2 Henry Gerber's Bridge to the World Hayden L. Mora 10

Chapter 3 The 1934 Longshoremen's Strike Adrian Brooks 16

Chapter 4 The Cradle Will Rock Eric A. Gordon 23

Chapter 5 Bayard Rustin: Offensive Lineman for Freedom Patricia Nell Warren 30

Chapter 6 The Kinsey Reports Anahi Russo Garrido 37

Chapter 7 Criminals and Subversives; The Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis Victoria A. Brownworth 45

Chapter 8 The Beats: Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac Neeti Cherkovski 55

Chapter 9 Frank Kameny: Advocate for Freedom John D'Emilio 62

Chapter 10 Josephine Baker's Dream without Fire or War: An Interview with Jean-Claude Baker Adrian Brocks 68

Chapter 11 April 4, 1968 Adrian Brooks 79

Chapter 12 Ground Zero Miss Major Griffin-Gracy 87

Part II After Stonewall

Chapter 13 The Revolutionary Joy of Gary Alinder Paul Gabriel 97

Chapter 14 Lesbian Nation: Jill Johnston and the Revolution of Women Victoria A. Brownworth 105

Chapter 15 The Angels of Light: Paris Sites Under the Bourgeois Sea Adrian Brooks 113

Chapter 16 Anita Bryant's Anti-Gay Crusade Jeanne Córdova 121

Chapter 17 "The Mayor of Castro Street" Adrian Brooks 127

Chapter 18 Interview with Charlotte Bunch: Human Rights and Gender Equality Anahi Russo Garrido 134

Chapter 19 The Enemy Is Me: Becoming a Man inside a Feminist World Max Wolf Vaierio 143

Chapter 20 My Battle with the University of California Merle Woo 150

Chapter 21 The Quilt Julie Rhoad 156

Chapter 22 The Red Camaro Matt Ebert 165

Chapter 23 Between the Sexes Tiger Howard Devore 171

Chapter 24 A Hero in Search of a Myth: The Navajo Journey of Jack C. Jackson, Jr. Max Wolf Valeria 179

Chapter 25 Interview with Judy Shepard: Remembering Matthew Shepard Adrian Brooks 185

Chapter 26 Interview: Barney Frank Brenda Knight Adrian Brooks 195

Chapter 27 Black, Gay, and Muslim Sultan Shakir 204

Chapter 28 Bullying James Gilliam 210

Chapter 29 A Conversation with Evan Wolfson: Freedom to Marry Leader Angela Dallara 217

Chapter 30 Diana Nyad Rita Mae Brown 224

Afterword: Our Lives, Our Words: Newspapers, Bookstores, and Gay Liberation Victoria A. Brownworth 229

Acknowledgements 232

About the Contributors 235

About the Author 243

Editorial Reviews

"Written in straightforward and often bold language, The Right Side of History brings fresh concepts to a polarizing topic. Same-sex marriage has been approved, and demands for LBGTQI social reform have increased worldwide, but general understanding has lagged. This compilation will help. For those in the LBGTQI community, Brooks furnishes heritage, heroes, and a genuine hope for a better future." —VOYA Magazine, October 2015

"The Right Side of History is not an original work of historical scholarship. The essays, when they aren’t first-person pieces or interviews, rely on secondary sources for most of their historical claims. However, as I was reading it I thought of myself as a twelve-year-old, and how I likely would have benefited enormously from having a copy of The Right Side pressed into my hands as a birthday or Christmas gift. I was the sort of child who voraciously read young peoples’ biographical sketches of inspiring women of history (some of whom I now know were decidedly queer). This collection would have helped me see possibilities for myself in a similar way as those women-of-history collections did — helped me find language and historical context for longings I was just beginning to form. I suggest you consider this book for the queer, questioning, and just plain historically interested teenagers in your life; it’s never too early to start peering through the windows of the past and considering how and where you might fit yourself." – thefeministlibrarian.com

"The Right Side of History's fundamental premise: Queer activism is an act of patriotism, and radical Queer activists are, and have always been, central to the struggle for a more perfect union. To read this book is to join our Queer ancestors as they dance, riot, write, organize, sew, sashay, and howl their way through American history."
–Katie Gilmartin, author of Blackmail, My Love

From the Publisher

Brooks, gay liberation poet, script writer, and social activist, divides the thirty chapters of this collection of interviews and essays (some written by Brooks) into two parts—before and after the historic 1969 New York Stonewall (Bar) riots between police and the gay community. Before Stonewall, the topics include dancer Isadora Duncan daring people to regard nudity in new ways; Henry Gerber founding the first same-sex advocacy group in the United States; the Kinsey Reports challenging puritanical mores; and the civil rights movement bringing to light all kinds of social and gender injustices. Stonewall became the “line in the sand” for the gay rights revolution. Interviews with politician Barney Frank, who advises young activists to work change through the democratic system, and Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was murdered, add emotional, personal accounts. From the sorrow stitched into the Aids Quilt to the bawdy humor of the Angels of Light, this book brings forth the unapologetic and raw voices of athletes, artists, and anonymous people. Written in straightforward and often bold language, The Right Side Of History brings fresh concepts to a polarizing topic. Same-sex marriage has been approved, and demands for LBGTQI social reform have increased worldwide, but general understanding has lagged. This compilation will help. For those in the LBGTQI community, Brooks furnishes heritage, heroes, and a genuine hope for a better future. Reviewer: Barbara Johnston; Ages 15 to Adult.

VOYA, October 2015 (Vol. 38, No. 4) - Barbara Johnston