Living History

It’s been a pretty good year for gays, all things considered: A third state legalized same-sex marriage; celebrities continued to flee the closet; and one poll even found most Americans would support a gay presidential candidate. While there’s still a long way to go for equal rights — California has the nasty Prop 8 on Tuesday’s ballot, which would repeal gay marriage there, and Florida and Arizona also have initiatives which could ban same-sex nups — it’s a world of improvement from the past. In Gay America: Struggle for Equality (out now) author Linas Alsenas explores the remarkable journey the queer community has made from the late 19th century — when people first began to identify as “homosexual” — to today.

This is the first gay history tome written for young adults, but the book can be enlightening for those of us who haven’t seen the inside of a high school in quite a while. Highlighting well-known milestones like the 1969 Stonewall riots, America also notes obscure but important steps like the 1924 formation of the Society of Human Rights by Chicago postal worker Henry Gerber, the “first American to attempt to organize homosexuals in a political way.”

Written in a conversational style, the book comes to life with news clippings, campaign posters and photos of remarkable moments, like the first same-sex couple to wed in San Francisco in 2004. It’s a shame this rich history isn’t included in high school textbooks across the country; that would be another step in the right direction.


Gay America: Struggle for Equality is available now from Amulet Books.