Lillian Faderman, six-time Lambda Literary Award-winning historian of gay and lesbian history and literature, vividly brings to life the fight for LGBT rights in the United States with The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle. This mammoth undertaking runs more than 800 pages, but it is highly readable, superbly researched and filled with fascinating stories.
While many believe the history of LGBT rights in the United States began with the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, Faderman (My Mother's Wars) begins her chronology with Henry Gerber forming the Society for Human Rights in Chicago in 1924. That short-lived organization inspired Harry Hay to create the Mattachine Society for gay men in 1950, and Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon to create its lesbian counterpart, the Daughters of Bilitis, in 1955. Although both organizations were fraught with infighting, power struggles and legal troubles (they were formed at the height of the McCarthy witch-hunt era), they helped members find self-esteem during very repressive times.
Post-Stonewall, Faderman delves into the prickly relationship between lesbians and the homophobic early leadership of the National Organization for Women (NOW); the rise and fall of Anita Bryant and her Save Our Children campaign; the election and assassination of Harvey Milk; and the AIDS pandemic and the creation of ACT-UP, with its savvy media committee. Faderman enlivens the courtroom gains and losses in the new millennium with first-hand testimonies of the backstage drama. This is an essential guide to the gay and lesbian movement, brought to life by a meticulous historian who is also a natural storyteller. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant