The Gay Metropolis

the gay metropolis

Charl Kaiser reunts the te history of the gay movement wh many never-before-told stori.

Contents:

THE GAY METROPOLIS

* the gay metropolis *

A New York Tim Notable Book of the Year and wner of a Lambda Lerary Award, The Gay Metropolis is a saga of stggle and triumph that was stantly regnized as one of the most thorative work of s kd. Now, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, Charl Kaiser brgs this -by- acunt of the rise and acceptance of gay life and inty sce 1940 to the twenty-first century.

In a new fal chapter for this edn, “The Twenty-First Century, ” he draws a le om Queer as Folk to Moonlight, each wh new ntext as their succs is amed by a reuntg of Jtice Anthony Kennedy’s fal landmark gay rights cisns, Uned Stat v.

READ MORE OM THE GAY METROPOLIS AND CHARL KAISER:

Stt speaks wh Charl Kaiser, thor of "The Gay Metropolis." (9:20) ("The Gay Metropolis" by Charl Kaiser - Houghton Miffl Co * the gay metropolis *

The article was the first lm, balanced, nuanced and human explanatn of what meant to be gay ever published The Tim, and Merle Miller was the first proment wrer ever to e out s pag.

THE GAY METROPOLIS : 1940-1996

Dan Savage has wrten the forward to the new edn, and Charl Kaiser has wrten the afterword, explag how Miller's piece affected him when he first read , and how dramatilly gay life has changed over the last four s. Kaiser’s lecture subjects clu the The Fascist Threat of Donald Tmp, The French Ristance, How World War II shaped morn Europe, How the ’60s Saved Ameri, and The Gay Revolutn Sce 1970.

At twelve Bigelow was already havg sex wh his classmat, but they didn’t thk their pastime had anythg to do wh beg “gay” or “homosexual, ” words that they had never heard spoken.

The nooks and shadows created by this shaft down the center of the avenue played a signifint role gay life New York before the war: they offered a multu of discreetly darkened meetg plac right the heart of the metropolis.

THE GAY METROPOLIS: THE LANDMARK HISTORY OF GAY LIFE AMERI SCE WORLD WAR II

The photographer was forty-two when Bigelow met him, and he kept himself f wh regular viss to the gym—a ctom that would bee almost universal among a certa class of gay men three s later.

At twelve Bigelow was already havg sex wh his classmat, but they didn't thk their pastime had anythg to do wh beg "gay" or "homosexual, " words that they had never heard spoken.

The photographer was forty-two when Bigelow met him, and he kept himself f wh regular viss to the gym--a ctom that would bee almost universal among a certa class of gay men three s later.

'THE GAY METROPOLIS'

Even si gay bars, placloth policemen would practice entrapment, actually displayg erectns the bathroom to trick ctomers to proposng them--a practice that ntued New York. The "rpectable" (and eply closeted) gay men whom Bigelow knew were hont about their homosexualy only among themselv; they were horrified by the brazen displays of the Tim Square crowd. to gay life Manhattan over the next uple of years nvced him that not everyone felt guilty about beg homosexual, although he himself remaed uncid about his ultimate orientatn.

The Natnal Associatn for the Advancement of Colored People was already well tablished, and some northern llege mp wnsed civil rights monstratns prottg the treatment of Ain Amerins, but gays remaed outsi any liberal's.

THE GAY METROPOLIS REVIEW: IF WE N SURVIVE AIDS, WE N SURVIVE TMP

“Updated and featurg a new troductn, Charl Kaiser’s landmark book The Gay Metropolis, featurg the addnal subtle ‘50 Years After Stonewall, ’ is even more sential readg than ever. A New York Tim Notable Book of the Year and wner of a Lambda Lerary Award, The Gay Metropolis is a saga of stggle and triumph that was stantly regnized as one of the most thorative works of s kd. In a new fal chapter for this edn, “The Twenty-First Century, ” he draws a le om Queer as Folk to Moonlight, each wh new ntext as their succs is amed by a reuntg of Jtice Anthony Kennedy’s fal landmark gay rights cisns, Uned Stat v.

THE GAY METROPOLIS, 1940-1996

“In the 1950s there were approximately three openly gay public figur Ameri: Jam Baldw, Allen Gsberg and sort of Gore Vidal — although he never scribed himself as gay, ” Kaiser says. In the early morng of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn Greenwich Village as part of systematic crackdown on the few tablishments terg to openly gay ctomers. The raid sparked a vlent backlash and monstratns that me to be lled the Stonewall rts, which marked the begng of the gay liberatn movement of the 1960s-’80s and the morn fight for LGBT rights the U.

Like every gay man or lbian my age, and everyone else on the wing ntuum of the sexual other, I was given an extraordary gift: I am alive at the bt time to be gay sce Aristotle.

“What has been most remarkable about the twenty-first century is how fast thgs have sped up, both cultural and polilly, for the gay movement — much faster than we thought would possibly happen. “Gay life New York Cy, as was the rt of the Uned Stat and ed the rt of the wtern world, was visible to everyone except those participatg … Generally speakg, if you were a gay person you did everythg your pacy to keep a secret om your iends, om your fay and om anyone else who wasn’t gay.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* THE GAY METROPOLIS

'The Gay Metropolis' : NPR .

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