A Pioneer’s Other Discoveries
The Obelisk and the Englishman: The Pioneering Discoveries of Egyptologist William Bankes by Dorothy U. Seyler Prometheus Books. 304 pages, $26. BY THE TIME I finished this book I…More
Blog Posts
The Woman Who Was ‘Orlando’
As with most larger-than-life personalities, Vita lived her life to suit herself and, in the bargain, became something of a lesbian icon. Her affair with Violet Keppel, which is described by her son, Nigel Nicolson, in Portrait of a Marriage (1973), had a significant impact on her life. Violet too was larger than life—witty, flirtatious, fun-loving—a woman who entertained luxuriously and knew all of high society.
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Oliver Sacks’ Swan-Song Revelation
The most startling revelation in On the Moveis that Oliver Sacks was gay. … Nothing about this burly, bearded man, who appeared shy and reserved, hinted at his sexuality.
MoreHonoring GLBT Notables Who Died in 2015
AS IS OUR CUSTOM, we remember noteworthy individuals from the GLBT community who have died over the past year. All dates are in 2015 unless otherwise indicated. Activists…More
The Case for Optimism
DAN SAVAGE has been a fixture of LGBT culture and politics for over two decades—as journalist, author, media pundit, and founder of the sex advice column “Savage Love,” which is…More
How ‘Sex’ Undid John Money
John Money (1921-2006) is the subject of the two books under review here: Terry Goldie’s The Man Who Invented Gender: Engaging the Ideas of John Money and Fuckology: Critical Essays on John Money’s Diagnostic Concepts.
MoreThe Lure of the Gay Gene
THE FOLLOWING WORDS were published anonymously ten years ago in a pamphlet titled “The Gay Gene Will Not Protect You,” by a group of queer activists in New York…More
In With the Worldly Set
DAVID PLANTE is an Anglo-American writer who is perhaps best known for a trilogy of autobiographical novels—The Family, The Wood, and The Country—that were joined together in a 1983…More
A Portrait in Melancholy
Cassandra Langer’s biography of Romaine Brooks ultimately builds on, rather than displaces, the 1974 biography of Brooks by Meryle Secrest, Between Me and Life, to which it rather frequently makes reference.
MoreGOP Leaders Flock to ‘Kill the Gays’ Preacher
THERE USED TO BE a time when sane politicians ran away from endorsements from the insane. They would avoid embarrassing situations where they were photographed with loose cannons or…More