Steel Closets: Voic of Gay, Lbian, and Transgenr Steelworkers by Anne Balay | Goodreads

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.

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

"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.

STEEL-WORKER GAY

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. 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.

GAY STEEL WORKERS OF AMERI

Steel Closets: Voic of Gay, Lbian, and Transgenr Steelworkers on JSTOR. 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.