Table of Contents

Part One: Rewriting History 1. Capitalism and Gay Identity 2. Dreams Deferred: The Birth and Betrayal of America's First Gay Liberation Movement 3. The Homosexual Menace: The Politics of Sexuality in Cold War America 4. Gay Politics, Gay Community: San Francisco's Experience 5. Gay History: A New Field of Study Part Two: Remaking the University 6. The Universities and the Gay Experience 7. The Issue of Sexual Preference on College Campuses: Retrospect and Prospect 8. Not a Simple Matter: Gay History and Gay Historians 9. The Campus Environment for Gay and Lesbian Life 10. Inaugurating the First Lesbian and Gay Studies Department: San Francisco City College 11. Gay and Lesbian Studies: New Kid on the Block? 12. Graduation Day Part Three: Living Politics 13. Making and Unmaking Minorities: The Tension between Gay History and Politics 14. The Supreme Court and the Sodomy Statutes: Where Do We Go From Here? 15. Saturday Nights 16. Women Against Pormography: Feminist Frontier or Social Purity Crusade? 17. The Names Project Quilt: A People's Memorial 18. You Can't Build a Movement on Anger 19. A Generation of Progress 20. After Stonewall

About the Author

John D'Emilio

Reviews

"Positioning himself firmly on the radical side, D'Emilio advocates nothing less than a total reevaluation of our society's sexual paradigm. Although a single voice is heard in these essays, D'Emilio's call for gays and lesbians to move beyond minority status to one of freedom and choice, `to embark on new journeys of sexual definition,' may well be the rallying cry for renewed activism in the struggle for social justice." -- LibraryJournal

"Positioning himself firmly on the radical side, D'Emilio advocates nothing less than a total reevaluation of our society's sexual paradigm. Although a single voice is heard in these essays, D'Emilio's call for gays and lesbians to move beyond minority status to one of freedom and choice, `to embark on new journeys of sexual definition,' may well be the rallying cry for renewed activism in the struggle for social justice." -- LibraryJournal

Gay historian, author, and activist D'Emilio has collected here 20 of his insightful personal and historical essays on the rise of gay scholarship in the United States. Topics range from the birth of a gay identity in post-World War II America to the crucial role that feminism played in turning the heretofore personal issues of gender and sex into social and political ones. He also scores a few more points in the continuing debate over homosexual behavior vs. gay identity. Positioning himself firmly on the radical side, D'Emilio advocates nothing less than a total reevaluation of our society's sexual paradigm. Although a single voice is heard in these essays, D'Emilio's call for gays and lesbians to move beyond minority status to one of freedom and choice, ``to embark on new journeys of sexual definition,'' may well be the rallying cry for renewed activism in the struggle for social justice. Highly recommended for academic libraries or larger public collections with informed lay readers.-- Jeffery Ingram, Newport P.L., Ore.