Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights

Eric Marcus

Mar 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

“Rich and often moving . . . at times shocking, but often enlightening and inspiring: oral history at its most potent and rewarding.” — Kirkus Reviews

A completely revised and updated edition of the classic volume of oral history interviews with high-profile leaders and little-known participants in the gay rights movement that cumulatively provides a powerful documentary look at the struggle for gay rights in America.

From the Boy Scouts and the U.S. military to marriage and adoption, the gay civil rights movement has exploded on the national stage. Eric Marcus takes us back in time to the earliest days of that struggle in a newly revised and thoroughly updated edition of Making History, originally published in 1992. Using the heartfelt stories of more than sixty people, he carries us through a compelling five-decade battle that has changed the fabric of American society.

The rich tapestry that emerges from Making Gay History includes the inspiring voices of teenagers and grandparents, journalists and housewives, from the little-known Dr. Evelyn Hooker and Morty Manford to former vice president Al Gore, Ellen DeGeneres, and Abigail Van Buren. Together, these many stories bear witness to a time of astonishing change, as queer people have struggled against prejudice and fought for equal rights under the law.

Ratings and reviews

These stories add a layer of humanity that many folks only know by name, if at all. They were human beings, and while some are less wonderful than others, some are not exactly the kind of people who are held up as paragons; which is why what they did, during what we're in many cases extremely dangerous times, is extraordinarily.

About the author

Eric Marcus is the author of several books and coauthor of Breaking the Surface, the number one New York Times bestselling autobiography of Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis.