The Sexual Economy of Revolution
The “physique” periodicals of the 1950s and ’60s were not just a byproduct of the Homophile movement. They were a catalyst for it.
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At Home with Quentin Crisp
DOES ANYONE DOUBT that most autobiographers distort reality, embellishing the truth about themselves, altering the facts relating to third parties, and presenting things in their own best interest? This makes Quentin Crisp’s case exceptional. He achieved something that was almost beyond the humanly possible …
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Edward Gorey’s Gothic Nonsense
Gorey, who died in 2000 at the age of 75, was the author and illustrator of a hundred-odd darkly droll little picture books with titles like The Fatal Lozenge, The Deranged Cousins, and The Blue Aspic. Although he grew up in Depression-era Chicago and lived most of his life in Manhattan, first-time readers often assume he was a denizen of gas-lit London.
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In the Beginning Was Little Richard
Rocking the Closet takes us back to pre-liberation days in the same way that Guy Davidson’s Categorically Famous (reviewed in the November-December issue) reprised the careers of Susan Sontag, Gore Vidal, and James Baldwin to show how celebrities in the ’60s danced around the subject of their homosexuality while paradoxically opening the closet door.
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Honoring Those Who Left Us in 2019
AS WE DO every year at this time, we remember some of the LGBT activists, writers, performers, educators, and artists who made a difference and who passed away over the past year. Their lifespans ranged from 24 to 87 years. Unless otherwise indicated, all dates are in 2019.
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Letters to the Editor
Readers’ share their thoughts regarding recent articles published in The G&LR.
MoreFace Surveillance Erases Nonbinary People
LAST MAY, San Francisco became the first city in the world to ban the use of face surveillance technology. Days later, Somerville, Massachusetts, became the first city on the East Coast to do the same. Now—thanks to a movement led by dozens of civil rights organizations nationwide …
MoreStart of a Decade: “Camp Leaders”
BY INVOKING the word “camp,” I’m taking advantage of the word’s famous ambiguity, which allows me to cover a number of disparate artists under its umbrella. They’re “leaders” in the sense that they represent a kind of camp that flourished in the era before gay liberation, when homosexuality could only be discussed indirectly, if at all, through sly references that the cognoscenti alone might recognize.
MoreHoliday Issue: The Perils of Place
THE ATMOSPHERE was triumphalist in New York City as we celebrated Stonewall’s 50th anniversary last June, and rightly so. Who can deny that it’s a different world for LGBT…More