First published 2012
Political columnist and Supreme Court lawyer Linda Hirshman traces the modern gay rights movement from its origins to major victories in the early 2000s. In 1969, when protests erupted at the Stonewall bar in Greenwich Village, religious institutions condemned homosexuality, psychiatrists classified same-sex attraction as mental illness, and forty-nine states criminalized gay sex. Hirshman examines how a determined minority transformed American society over four decades. She positions gay rights as the third major social justice movement alongside civil rights and women's rights. Drawing from extensive interviews and archival research, Hirshman profiles key figures from Communist cross-dresser Harry Hay in 1948 to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010. The book shows how activists overcame opposition from religious, medical, and political establishments to achieve landmark victories including New York's marriage equality law and the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Hirshman demonstrates how this movement altered gender roles, family definitions, and American culture for all citizens.
Genres: history, biography-memoir, activism, american-history
Vibes: informative, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-narrative, social-change
Setting: Greenwich Village, New York
Period: 1969, 2010s
443 pages · Hardcover · Harper