Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community by Andrea Weiss; Greta Schiller

Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community

Andrea Weiss; Greta Schiller

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The researcher and director of the documentary Before Stonewall (Booklist 82:420 N 1 85) have put the film’s essence into this concise, personable essay. Relying heavily upon the testimony of gay male and lesbian elders bolstered by old photos, handbills, and headlines, they argue that gay subculture began to form around 1900, thanks to urbanization and the then “new concept of a homosexual person.” At first, this subculture was part of the larger demimonde of prostitutes and other illicit traders that mushroomed during Prohibition. World War II aided the growth of homosexual consciousness and community as it threw persons of the same sex together on both the battle and home fronts. The politically repressive, conformist 1950s put the lid on the burgeoning gay community for the nonce, but the examples of the black civil-rights movement and renascent feminism eventually led to the gay liberation movement that took as its herald the June 27, 1969, riot against a police raid of a Greenwich Village bar, the Stonewall Inn. Excellent popular history well concluded by a discussion guide for classroom use of the film, a suggested reading list, and full film credits. RO. 306.7’66 Gay liberation movements-U.S.-History-20th century / Gays-U.S.-History-20th century [CIP] 88-9111

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