Men Talk June/July 2009
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Pre-Gay L. A., new book by C. Todd White, There is a new book giving the history of the early civil rights movement of homosexual Americans, concerned with ONE, the first major organization and publication: Pre-Gay L.A., by C. Todd White, published by the University of Illinois Press. (See also: tangentgroup.org) Serious people interested in knowing the history of this civil rights movement have heard of only one organization in that effort, Mattachine. And if they are liberal, “pc” people they may know that there was a female group, to balance the “credit,” the DOB, Daughters of Bilitis. What few people seem to know, and that includes many “gay” historians, is that there were three early organizations and that the most important and influential one was in fact ONE. A question to ask academics and those who speak on the issue of homosexual history should explain is why ONE is the organization and publication that has been ignored. Todd White has some of the answers, and perhaps he is the first author to have access to the material to write this history. The major reason, which is only partially covered in this good book, is the personalities of the people that founded ONE Magazine and ONE, Inc and kept it going, since parts of the work of the organization still exist. |
What's Inside |