The Global Emergence of Gay and Lesbian Politics by Barry D. Adam; Jan Willem Duyvendak; André Krouwel

Since the Stonewall rebellion in 1969, gay and lesbian movements have grown from small outposts in a few major cities to a worldwide mobilization. This book brings together stories of the emergence and growth of movements in more than a dozen nations on five continents, with a comparative look useful to both activists and scholars of social movements. Lesbian and gay groups have existed for more than a century, often against enormous odds; in the mid-twentieth century they were suppressed or swept away by fascism, Stalinism and McCarthyism, then refounded by a few pioneers after the war. The book addresses the mature movements of the European Union, North America and Australia and the newer movements of Latin America, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and Africa, examining the social and political conditions that shape each.