… As retold multiple times in The Fire in Moonlight: Stories from the Radical Faeries, a new anthology edited by Mark Thompson, the Radical Faeries officially began in 1979, with the ‘spiritual conference for radical fairies’ convened by three main organizers: …
More… Filled with wisdom, humor, and the kind of contentment that only comes when an author has found his or her rightful place in the world, The Choosing is one of those books that leaves you feeling oddly serene, as if you’ve been gently counseled at length by someone of the Cloth. …
MoreTHIS FASCINATING, deeply personal memoir recounts the author’s experience of transitioning from a female to a male identity, and learning through the process that gender is a much more fluid and varied idea than might appear at first glance. …
More… Schanke (whose previous subjects include Mercedes de Acosta and Eva Le Gallienne) has used Cal’s plays, journals, and letters, plus the interviews he conducted with Cal’s friends, and put them together in unobtrusive, readable prose-and got it right. This book is not just about gay theatre and gay liberation, but also about gay childhood in the small-town South and gay adulthood in cities at a time when liberation turned to horror. …
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BIOGRAPHER Judith Chazin-Bennahum, former ballet dancer and distinguished professor emerita of theatre and dance at the University of New Mexico, has taken on the task of recovering from obscurity the extraordinary life of René Blum (1878-1942). Youngest brother of Leon Blum, the first Jewish prime minister of France (1936-37), René devoted his life to the arts and ballet, and to the Ballets Russes above all.
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“CALLING SOMEONE ‘arty’ or ‘artistic’ has often been a euphemism for homosexuality, and political debates about homosexuality have often played out as arguments about images.” So begins Christopher Reed’s inquiry into why these relationships between art and homosexuality have persisted and flourished in the modern era.
MoreIF YOU’RE LIKE ME and are occasionally presented with lists of the most influential gays and lesbians in popular music, you may have found yourself wondering: what about Bob? Best known as the lead singer of Hüsker Dü in the 80’s and Sugar in the 90’s, Bob Mould is a founding but often forgotten father of American punk rock.
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… Lomas dives deeply into interpretations of the Narcissus myth, examining the story’s inherent identity politics and its importance in helping early sexologists and psychologists articulate their theories about the origins and nature of homosexuality. …
MoreEARLY in Gore Vidal’s novel The City and the Pillar is a scene that gay men who have read the book remember vividly. Two close friends, Bob and Jim, have gone camping. Bob graduated from high school the day before; Jim is a year behind him. As night falls, the two boys, both athletes, remove their shirts and wrestle. Their contact suddenly turns sexual, and Vidal, in ‘poetic’ language, implies that both reach orgasm. Afterwards, embarrassed, they repudiate the ‘kid stuff” that just happened, but through the rest of the novel Jim, who is gay, will search for Bob, who is not. Much of Recruiting Young Love, Mark Jordan’s seventh book on religion and homosexuality, is encapsulated in this scene.
More… Mixner’s stories from Turkey Hollow will be of interest to those who wish to learn more about his illustrious political career. Harvey Milk, Bill Clinton, Paul Newman, and numerous other political figures and celebrities pepper Mixner’s reminiscences. …
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