Before Stonewall

In the words of editor Vern L. Bullough: “Although there was no single leader in the gay and lesbian community who achieved the fame and reputation of Martin Luther King, there were a large number of activists who put their careers and reputations on the line. It was a motley crew of radicals and reformers, drawn together by the cause in spite of personality and philosophical differences. Their stories are told in the following pages.”

Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context illuminates the lives of the courageous individuals involved in the early struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights in the United States. Authored by those who knew them (often activists themselves), the concise biographies in this volume examine the lives of pre-1969 barrier breakers like Harry Hay, Henry Gerber, Alfred Kinsey, Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon, Jim Kepner, Jack Nichols, Christine Jorgensen, Jose Sarria, Barbara Grier, Frank Kameny, and 40 more.

To anyone with an interest in the history of the gay/lesbian rights movements in the United States, these names will be familiar, but did you know that in addition to their groundbreaking activism:

• Prescott Townsend was a Boston Brahman
• Dorr Legg was a Log Cabin Republican
• Harry Hay was at one time a member of the Communist party
• Jim Kepner was a boy preacher
• Troy Perry was removed from the ministry of his church for homosexuality--and then founded the gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Church
• Reed Erickson--a transsexual millionaire who gave millions to the cause--kept a pet leopard called Henry
• Barbara Gittings set up a kissing booth at the American Library Association convention and urged attendees to kiss a gay or lesbian!

Twenty-four entries (including one on the editor, who helped form the ACLU guidelines regarding gay and lesbian rights) provide biographical portraits of individuals important to the homosexual rights struggle in the era just before its modern incarnation. Among the people profiled are Alfred Kinsey, Harry Hay, Barbara Grier, Stephen Donaldson, Allen Ginsberg, Christine Jorgenson. As might be evident from the preceding list, the definition of "activist" is more expansive than usual. Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR

Library Journal

The 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City, which thrust the struggle for civil rights for homosexuals into the consciousness of North Americans, was so seminal an event that it is easy to forget that it did not occur in a vacuum. Editor Bullough (ed., Encyclopedia of Birth Control; coauthor, Sexual Attitudes) redresses this with a collection of 49 short biographies of activists, written by such authors as Felice Picano, James T. Sears, Wayne R. Dines, and Charley Shively. Included are not just gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals but such figures as Alfred Kinsey, Evelyn Hooker, and Bullough himself, who, although not themselves gay, worked to reduce the stigma attached to homosexuality. Most of the names, with such exceptions as Kinsey, Allen Ginsberg, Christine Jorgensen, and perhaps Franklin Kameny, are undeservedly obscure. A few of the biographies are uneven or awkwardly brief, but overall they admirably convey the passion and commitment of these men and women. This inspiring chronicle of risk takers and trendsetters (the book's original title) merits a place in all history, gay and lesbian studies, and human sexuality collections.-Richard J. Violette, Special Libs., Victoria, BC Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.