Steel Closets: Voic of Gay, Lbian, and Transgenr Steelworkers – NOTCHES

Contents:

• MIDWTERN STEELWORKERS SAY IT WAS EASIER TO BE GAY IN THE 1970S THAN TODAY, AUTHOR ANNE BALAY CLAIMS
• STEEL CLOSETS: VOIC OF GAY, LBIAN, AND TRANSGENR STEELWORKERS
• STEEL-WORKER GAY
• GAY STEEL WORKERS OF AMERI

MIDWTERN STEELWORKERS SAY IT WAS EASIER TO BE GAY IN THE 1970S THAN TODAY, AUTHOR ANNE BALAY CLAIMS

The USW stands behd our Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Queer/Qutng, Asexual/Non-Bary, Pansexual, pl (LGBTQ+) members. In her new book, Steel Closets: Voic of Gay, Lbian and Transgenr Steelworkers, thor and scholar Anne Balay tak a no-holds-barred look at the liv of ral Midwterners who found themselv forced to live the closet. Although social acceptance of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) issu is on the upswg ternatnally, Balay was surprised to fd that the oppose was, fact, te among Midwtern l workers.

"In the '70s, was easier to be gay the ls than is now, " Balay said.

"[Back then], gay and lbian people were jt sort of isolated were jt sort of 'that person over there who has this, you know, awkward personaly tra, ' but uld be ignored. " She then add, "When gay people got a polil clout and started to be a social threat to tradnal ways of life, then people the ls started to e down harr. Even as substantial legal and social victori are beg celebrated wh the gay rights movement, much of workg-class Ameri still exists outsi the current narrativ of gay liberatn.

STEEL CLOSETS: VOIC OF GAY, LBIAN, AND TRANSGENR STEELWORKERS

In Steel Closets, Anne Balay draws on oral history terviews wh forty gay, lbian, and transgenr steelworkers, mostly livg northwtern Indiana, to give voice to this prevly silent and visible populatn. The voic and stori ptured by Balay--by turns alarmg, heroic, funny, and vastatg--challenge ntemporary unrstandgs of what means to be queer and shed light on the credible homophobia and vlence faced by many: nearly all of Balay's narrators rema closeted at work, and many have experienced harassment, vlence, or rape.

Through the powerful voic of queer steelworkers themselv, Steel Closets provis rich sight to an unrstudied part of the LGBT populatn, ntributg to a growg body of scholarship that aims to reveal and analyze a broar range of gay life Ameri. Read: In this gut blog post, Balay shar a nversatn she had wh unn steelworkers that highlights some of the work yet to be done to ensure a safe and open work environment for gay, lbian, and transgenr steelworkers. Steel Closets: Voic of Gay, Lbian, and Transgenr Steelworkers on JSTOR.

STEEL-WORKER GAY

My goal for Steel Closets was to document what life and work meant to one group of the workers, as they experienced the gay rights movement and rapid dtrializatn simultaneoly. Though I vised several archiv, cludg Rivers of Steel Homtead, PA, none mentned gay steelworkers at all. I would equent lol gay bars, and steelworker bars, and get faiar wh the culture.

I talked to many gay-intified men who had equent sex wh them, but I uldn’t fd a way to talk to straight men who did. And I had received ias about what gay and lbian people were, and how we acted. I me to unrstand that if scholars look for what we thk of as gay people, we’ll miss many of the queer pleasur and possibili that exist.

Also, I imaged that blue-llar workers would be racist and homophobic. People outsi of the LGBTQ+ muny do not often realize that an employer n fire someone jt for beg gay and lovg who they love. People wouldn’t even donate blood bee they didn’t want gog to gay men.

GAY STEEL WORKERS OF AMERI

To them, was “the gay plague.

Up until then, gay men and gay women were very segregated; we had separate bars, separate everythg.

In "Steel Closets, " Anne Balay draws on oral history terviews wh forty gay, lbian, and transgenr steelworkers, mostly livg northwtern Indiana, to give voice to this prevly silent and visible populatn. Through the powerful voic of queer steelworkers themselv, "Steel Closets" provis rich sight to an unrstudied part of the LGBT populatn, ntributg to a growg body of scholarship that aims to reveal and analyze a broar range of gay life Ameri.

She didn't actually ask her subjects how they intified and simply nclud they mt be gay if they rpond to her ll for gay steelworkers. Dcrib people g stereotyp of what mak them "look gay, " fers thgs her subjects didn't say, and mak bizarre illogil statements like the fact that everyone is mascule the l means there is only one genr.

The thor exclus bisexual men and women, practic bisexual erasure/biphobia, go by homophobic stereotyp, and mak way too many assumptns and bad stereotyp about the people who she supposedly studi.

The steel l workers are gay men who works at the Ajax Steel Mill. Anne Balay published her first book, Steel Closets, featurg the stori of forty gay, lbian, and trans steelworkers, 2014.

Four years later, after a personal reer setback, she persevered and published her send book, Semi Queer, focg on the world of gay, trans, and black tck drivers. There’s a lot that looks faiar Print Joe Bin’s Cabet, but there is also a newns potent throughout, om stallg the natn’s first openly gay Secretary to tablishg the brand-new Office for Energy Jobs wh the Department of Energy.