ABOUT THIS BOOK

Something happened in the 1990s, something dramatic and irreversible. A group of people long considered a moral menace and an issue previously deemed unmentionable in public discourse were transformed into a matter of human rights, discussed in every institution of American society. Marriage, the military, parenting, media and the arts, hate violence, electoral politics, public school curricula, human genetics, religion: Name the issue, and the the role of gays and lesbians was a subject of debate. During the 1990s, the world seemed finally to turn and take notice of the gay people in its midst. In The World Turned, distinguished historian and leading gay-rights activist John D’Emilio shows how gay issues moved from the margins to the center of national consciousness during the critical decade of the 1990s.

In this collection of essays, D’Emilio brings his historian’s eye to bear on these profound changes in American society, culture, and politics. He explores the career of Bayard Rustin, a civil rights leader and pacifist who was openly gay a generation before almost everyone else; the legacy of radical gay and lesbian liberation; the influence of AIDS activist and writer Larry Kramer; the scapegoating of gays and lesbians by the Christian Right; the gay-gene controversy and the debate over whether people are "born gay"; and the explosion of attention focused on queer families. He illuminates the historical roots of contemporary debates over identity politics and explains why the gay community has become, over the last decade, such a visible part of American life.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

John D’Emilio is Professor of History and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the author of Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940–1970 and Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (with Estelle B. Freedman). He was the first director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Policy Institute.

REVIEWS

“John D’Emilio is the best sort of troublemaker, one who provokes us to see the world with fresh eyes. In this age of arcane academic jargon, D’Emilio writes with clarity and grace. As a historian who dares to walk where others fear to tread, D’Emilio brings an acute sense of time and changing social context to his accounts of sexuality, gender, race, class, politics, the economy, and their links. His careful empirical research provides solid ground for his considered interpretations. These essays are smart, sane, thoughtful, and a joy to read.”—Jonathan Ned Katz, author of Love Stories: Sex between Men before Homosexuality

“This insightful and absorbing collection confirms John D’Emilio’s stature as the gay and lesbian movement's premier chronicler and analyst. D’Emilio is a rare scholar and activist whose writing is clear and direct. Each essay tells vivid stories, shares wisdom earned through participation and observation—all in an engaging and inclusive voice. This is one of the most interesting collections on contemporary gay and lesbian history yet to be published.”—Urvashi Vaid, columnist for The Advocate and long-time activist

TABLE OF CONTENTS







PART I: Interpretations
       1. Homophobia and the Course of Postwar American Radical-
           ism: The Career of Bayard Rustin 3
       2. Placing Gay in the Sixties 23
       3. Still Radical After All These Years: Remembering Out of the
           Closets 45
       4. A Meaning for Al Those Words: Sex, Politics, History, and
           Larry Kramer 64

       5. Cycles of Change, Questions of Strategy: The Gay and Les-
           bian Movement After 5o Years 78
       6. Organizational Tales: Interpreting the NGLTF Story 99


PART II: Interventions
       7. Why Is This Year Different From Any Other? I23
       8. The Clinton Election: Historical Perspectives at a Moment
           of Change 136
       9. Stonewall: Myth and Meaning 146
       10. Born Gay? 154
       11. What Does Gay Liberation Have to Do with the War in
           Bosnia? 65
       12. Laying Claim to Family 174





PART III: Reflections
        13. Visions of Leadership: Remembering Ken Dawson 193
        14. My Changing Sex Life 99
        15. Then and Now: The Shifting Context of Gay Historical
            Writing 210
        16. A Biographer and His Subject: Wrestling with Bayard
            Rustin 231


            Notes 249

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