First published 2025
Jeremy Atherton Lin examines the collision between personal desire and political reality in 1990s America. In 1996, Lin meets a British boyfriend just as Congress prepares the Defense of Marriage Act, which will deny same-sex couples immigration rights. Facing separation, the couple moves illegally into a sanctuary city. Lin weaves their story of rented apartments and hidden love into a broader history of queer couples who defied laws to stay together. He traces how gay lovers have smuggled foreign partners across borders and fought for privacy rights in their homes. The book combines memoir with historical research, moving between intimate moments and civil rights battles. Lin shows how undocumented migration intersects with marriage equality struggles. His approach blends personal narrative with archival investigation, creating both a love story and a record of resistance. The result offers readers a view of how individual relationships become part of larger social movements.
Genres: history, 20th-century, american, biography-memoir, lgbt, gay
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, poignant, political, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, love-story, resistance-narrative
Setting: United States, Britain, Sanctuary City
Period: 1990s, 1996
416 pages · Paperback · Little, Brown Paperbacks
Content warnings: homophobia