Carter, David.  Stonewall: the riots that sparked the gay revolution.  St. Martin’s, 2004.  336p bibl index ISBN 0-312-20025-0, $24.95. Reviewed in 2005mar CHOICE.
42-4204  HQ76  2004-40226 CIP 

This excellent study of the Stonewall riots explores the gay liberation movement from its origins to the explosions that unfolded in Greenwich Village in June 1969. Carter provides apt commentary on that pocket of Manhattan, which long possessed a reputation for offering a haven for bohemians and homosexuals; nevertheless, the Village’s gay sectors confronted a hostile police department and long-standing repressive social and legal constraints. Those constraints, Carter indicates, dated back to the repressive nature of the Puritans, but also strengthened throughout the early postwar era, as when President Eisenhower allowed homosexual government employees to be dismissed on grounds of “sexual perversion.” Gays and lesbians began battling back, establishing organizations such as the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, and challenging homophobic pronouncements by state legislatures, the mass media, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Carter’s greatest contribution involves his careful depiction of the respective gay scenes in New York City and San Francisco, the mounting frustrations induced by police harassment and societal pressures, and the eventual eruptions on both coasts. The Stonewall riots attracted the most attention because of their duration, intensity, and location in the nation’s cultural center. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and faculty. — R. C. Cottrell, California State University, Chico 

Fetner, Tina.  How the religious Right shaped lesbian and gay activism.  Minnesota, 2008.  156p bibl index afp  (Social movements, protest, and contention, 31); ISBN 9780816649181  pbk, $22.50. Reviewed in 2009jun CHOICE.
46-5916  HQ76  2008-9096 CIP 
 
Fetner, a McMaster University sociologist, offers a clearly written account of how activist organizations on opposite sides of the homosexual issue shaped each other. Starting with Anita Bryant’s 1977 movement to repeal Miami’s anti-discrimination statute, Fetner shows how each ramping up of activism on one side led to a mobilization on the other. While the lesbian and gay movement has remained miniscule compared to enormous religious Right organizations, each side has tried to match the form and tactics of the opposing organizations. Both sides have made their case to their own followers that they are a threatened minority, while making the case to the public that the other side is a threat to cherished national values. The two sides are not quite balanced, however. The greater size and influence of the religious Right means that it usually sets the agenda, to which lesbian and gay organizations react. Ironically, Fetner suggests, the religious Right’s great efforts opposing homosexual practice may have brought the whole question to the attention of the public, who are now more tolerant of lesbians and gays than they were a generation ago. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. — B. Weston, Centre College 

The Gay Peoples Union Collection, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2009oct CHOICE.
47-1153

http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/GPU/ 

[Visited Jul’09] One of the diverse online body of primary resources covering the LGBT activist history of Milwaukee created as part of the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, this detailed site covers the period 1970 to 1984. It centers on the internal records and publications of one of the first gay activist organizations to form in the city of Milwaukee in the 1970s (and one still extant today.) Features of the collection include a complete run of the newspaper GPU News from 1971 to 1981, a “Gay Liberation Organization Manifesto” from 1970, and general files of the organization. Images are clear and crisp, and links are provided to the Wisconsin GLBT History Project (labeled as the Milwaukee LGBT Local History Project Inc.) and a list of other recommended primary collections on Milwaukee’s gay and lesbian past. The absence of links to other comparable archival resources on the LGBT history of adjacent states, such as Chicago’s Gerber/Hart Library of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender information resource and archives or the Quatrefoil Library in St. Paul, whose mission is to “collect, maintain, document and circulate gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer materials and information in a safe and accessible space,” is the only major flaw in an otherwise excellently presented resource. Libraries supporting courses or certificate programs in LGBT studies or undergraduate and graduate study in library science and history will find this Web site valuable. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — R. B. M. Ridinger, Northern Illinois University 

Mezey, Susan Gluck.  Gay families and the courts: the quest for equal rights.  Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.  279p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780742562189, $70.00; ISBN 9780742562196  pbk, $27.95. Reviewed in 2010jun CHOICE.
47-5938  KF4754  2009-18024 CIP 

Providing a much-needed contribution to the literature on gay-rights litigation in the US, Mezey (Loyola Univ.) focuses her gaze on courts’ roles in adjudicating the rights claims of gay families–cases involving gay children or gay parents. In chapters covering parenting, same-sex marriage, homophobic harassment and bans on gay clubs in schools, and exclusion from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Mezey, the author of Queers in Court (CH, Sep’07, 45-0543), pores through decisions and briefs to determine the effect of three variables that dominate the scholarship evaluating the success of litigation: the type of legal claim (i.e., political and civil rights such as freedom of expression or social rights such as marriage), the type of court (i.e, federal or state), and the court’s understanding of its role (i.e., policy maker or a policy follower). Together with Gary Mucciaroni’s important Same Sex, Different Politics (2008), Gay Families and the Courts belies any grand narrative about the role of courts as either champions or adversaries of gay rights. In sharing her nuanced findings about the role of courts, Mezey also provides succinct and accessible overviews of the legal issues and the case law. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — P. Currah, Brooklyn College 

Minton, Henry L.  Departing from deviance: a history of homosexual rights and emancipatory science in America.  Chicago, 2002.  344p index afp ISBN 0-226-53043-4, $65.00; ISBN 0-226-53044-2  pbk, $20.00. Reviewed in 2002oct CHOICE.
40-1240  HQ76  2001-27802 CIP 

From the early-20th-century work of pioneering sexologists like Havelock Ellis, Magnus Hirschfeld, and Richard von Krafft-Ebing, homosexuality has fascinated the medical profession. With the notable exception of Hirschfeld, most researchers subscribed to an illness model and treated homosexuality as a medical disorder. Minton traces the work of a different sort of pioneer, lesbians and gay men who worked side by side with medical researchers to alter, slowly and with some degree of collusion with the medical model, perceptions of the lives and experiences of homosexuals. Unlike most histories of gay liberation, this one focuses on activists who chose medical research rather than politics to further the cause of homosexual rights. Some, like Alfred C. Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker, became household names. More frequently, however, these gay activists were literally hidden from view as their pathbreaking work was appropriated or subsumed by others whose gender and, most important, sexual orientation, gave them access to research money and publication outlets. Covering the period from when the illness model of homosexuality held sway to 1973, the year that the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders, this book offers insights into a significant, though often ignored, aspect of the struggle for gay and lesbian liberation. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — E. Broidy, University of California, Los Angeles 

Nussbaum, Martha C.  From disgust to humanity: sexual orientation and constitutional law.  Oxford, 2010.  217p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780195305319, $21.95. Reviewed in 2010oct CHOICE.
48-1149  KF4754  2009-42461 CIP 
 
Nussbaum (law and philosophy, Univ. of Chicago) sees the status of lesbian and gay citizens as being transformed in, if not by, the law. Disgust, she says, has often been the attitude of US culture toward homosexuality. She believes the US has been evolving toward a sense of the humanity of its citizens, at least in law and at least with regard to lesbians and gay men. This is most dramatically evident in the treatment of sodomy laws and the evolution from Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) to Lawrence v. Texas (2003). The Colorado antidiscrimination case, Romer v. Evans (1996), receives expansive treatment as does equal marriage. The trip, Nussbaum says, is not complete. Disgust is all around us, but the book presents fresh arguments worth considering, such as a comparison of how some Americans view violence in NASCAR culture and the view of violence in gay culture. The author holds that there is reason for optimism and sees the prospect of enlightened public policy based on some recent constitutional interpretations. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above. — J. Brigham, University of Massachusetts Amherst 

Pinello, Daniel R.  America’s struggle for same-sex marriage.  Cambridge, 2006.  213p bibl index ISBN 0-521-84856-3, $55.00; ISBN 9780521613033  pbk, $19.99; ISBN 9780521848565, $55.00; ISBN 0521613035  pbk, $19.99. Reviewed in 2007jun CHOICE.
44-5944  HQ1034  2005-34448 CIP 

Pinello (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY) succinctly depicts how the battle for same-sex marriage has evolved from a legal one into a social movement. The text utilizes major court cases in Massachusetts, Oregon, California, New Mexico, and New York; 85 in-depth interviews, including 50 of married same-sex couples; and the social context in which these challenges occurred. Goodridge, a landmark case in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that marriage exclusively for opposite sex partners violated equal protection rights, spurred the effort. Pinello clearly shows how the fight for equal marriage follows that of previous civil rights struggles–the quest for respect, unrecognized “heterosexual privilege,” the interaction of mass action with legal interventions, political backlash–and discusses nuances and conservative viewpoints such as fear of social change, legal precedence, the desire for consensus building, bigotry, and blind acceptance of tradition. The book argues that civil unions are insufficient; they provide second-class status and deny federal benefits and protections. The cases are somewhat hard to follow; each state should have had the same format. Nevertheless, this readable book artfully weaves personal narratives with complex legal material. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Collections on discrimination and gay/lesbian and gender studies, all levels. — S. D. Borchert, emerita, Lake Erie College 

Pinello, Daniel R.  Gay rights and American law.  Cambridge, 2003.  349p bibl indexes ISBN 0-521-81274-7, $70.00; ISBN 0-521-01214-7  pbk, $23.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2004jan CHOICE.
41-3104  KF4754  2002-41555 CIP 
 
This pathbreaking work presents a thorough analysis of a comprehensive dataset of the 393 state and federal appellate court decisions “essential” to gay and lesbian rights during the last two decades of the 20th century and the judges who cast votes in them. While the core of the work examines the quantitative analysis of forces shaping the judges’ votes, Pinello incorporates details of selected cases to remind readers that the lives of real Americans were affected by the actions of the judiciary. He crisply highlights the overall impact of the attitudinal, institutional, contextual, and legal factors that the statistical analyses bring to light. The results point to the importance of judges’ ideology and backgrounds in shaping their decisions in an emerging area of the law but also emphasize the role of precedent in shaping results in later cases. Most surprising is the relative success of gay and lesbian plaintiffs in state courts. Pinello emphasizes the trend toward an expansion of legal protections for sexual minorities, momentum likely to be enhanced by the landmark 2003 Lawrence decision. Counteracting this expansion of rights, however, is the continued appointment of judges–conservative in ideology and relatively nondiverse in background–in federal courts. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — J. Barth, Hendrix College 

Richman, Kimberly D.  ^Courting change: queer parents, judges, and the transformation of American family law.  New York University, 2009.  267p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780814775950, $39.00. Reviewed in 2009dec CHOICE.
47-2280  KF540  2008-25479 CIP 
 
Richman (Univ. of San Francisco, sociology and legal studies) has penned a truly innovative and comprehensive book that incorporates every documented judicial decision in gay and lesbian adoption and custody cases over the last 50 years, and includes interviews with parents, lawyers, and judges. She crafts an interesting narrative that addresses the emotional, political, legal, and gender issues surrounding the question of who qualifies as a parent. Her research is painstaking. Richman argues that judges and litigants have the ability to negotiate and forge new legal identities, rights, and rationales over time. Her work is situated within the classic constitutive account of law. Richman works from the perspective that popular culture contributes to political discourse and public debate shapes issues and contributes to the legal recognition of (or discrimination against) LGBT parents as suitable to adopt children. Richman’s book is a valuable addition to fields she works within; she reminds readers that much of the literature on the subject of gay and lesbian custody rights lacks the alternative perspective that she presents. This book is innovative, inclusive, and valuable for undergraduates, graduates, and laypeople interested in a complete conversation on custody and adoption issues for gay and lesbian couples. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — A. R. S. Lorenz, Ramapo College 

Rimmerman, Craig A.  From identity to politics: the lesbian and gay movements in the United States.  Temple University, 2002.  239p bibl index afp ISBN 1-56639-904-1, $69.50; ISBN 1-56639-905-X  pbk, $19.95. Reviewed in 2002sep CHOICE.
40-0589  HQ76  2001-27644 CIP 

This book offers three distinct yet interconnected themes. First, it serves as a fine outline and introduction to discrete phases in the history of US lesbian and gay political history. Second, it introduces concepts critical to the study of the evolution of any political movement and attaches them specifically to the lesbian and gay movements. Finally, it challenges readers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of the phases and raises questions about why some approaches worked while other did not. Rimmerman (political science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges) works chronologically, beginning with the assimilationist strategies of the early homophile groups, moving on to the efforts of more militant and open national groups, and then analyzing the radical, grassroots efforts exemplified first by the short-lived Gay Liberation Front and then by the activism of ACT-UP and the Lesbian Avengers. He devotes an entire chapter to opposition from the Christian Right. In his final chapter, Rimmerman returns to central questions about the limits of lesbian and gay rights with a liberal democratic tradition and the possibility of an identity-based movement, forging coalitions with other progressive groups to work for social change. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries. — E. Broidy, University of California, Los Angeles 

Rimmerman, Craig A.  The lesbian and gay movements: assimilation or liberation?.  Westview, 2008.  201p bibl index ISBN 0813340543  pbk, $28.00; ISBN 9780813340548  pbk, $28.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2008sep CHOICE.
46-0605  HQ76  2007-34346 CIP 

Rimmerman (political science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges) does an excellent job of examining LGBT issues by focusing on three major concerns: HIV/AIDS, military policy, and same-sex marriage. He discusses each issue in light of the two prevailing strategies in the movement–assimilation and liberation–and lays a historical foundation focusing on the political pressures resulting in the current policies. The book breaks down important legal battles to make them easily accessible. Rimmerman provides discussion questions for each chapter, making it easy to engage students with an in-class exchange or writing assignment. This book may be a useful resource for professors interested in introducing social movement issues into their politics course. It can be read in its entirety, or chapters can be used individually when highlighting a particular issue. Students may find this a useful resource to obtain a concise, thorough background on major LGBT issues and modern US political history in general. A great addition to the reading list of most US politics collections. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General and undergraduate libraries. — T. S. Ching, Seattle University 

Serwatka, Thomas S.  Queer questions, clear answers: the contemporary debates on sexual orientation.  Praeger, 2010.  265p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780313386121, $44.95. Reviewed in 2010oct CHOICE.
48-1183  HQ23  2010-2196 CIP

Serwatka (vice president and chief of staff, Univ. of North Florida) is a gay man in a committed relationship. He covers most topics in the current debates about sexual orientation: the several definitions of homo/bisexuality, the origins of sexual orientation, various sacred scriptures, reparative therapy and ex-gay identity, the downfall of society, stereotypes, the gay civil rights movement, and the treatment of LGBT children in schools. His descriptions of each subject are clear, accurate, and fair. The author objectively covers both pro- and antigay research. Then he refutes the antigay perspective if there is definitive evidence against it. If such evidence is absent, for him, the question is open: either the antigay or pro-gay argument, or something in between, may be true. This is a well-researched, superlatively written summary of the current state of knowledge about sexual orientation. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. — R. W. Smith, emeritus, California State University, Northridge 

Smith, Miriam.  Political institutions and lesbian and gay rights in the United States and Canada.  Routledge, 2008.  230p bibl index afp  (Routledge studies in North American politics, 1); ISBN 9780415988711, $95.00. Reviewed in 2009apr CHOICE.
46-4669  HQ76  2007-51460 CIP 

It is neither political cultural nor public opinion (including differing levels of religiosity) that explains the significant differences in legal protections for LGBT individuals in Canada and its neighbor to the south. Instead, in her very strong work, Smith (York Univ., Canada) argues that Canada’s relative progressiveness in three gay-related policy areas–the decriminalization of sodomy, the promotion of antidiscrimination legislation that protects on the basis of sexual orientation, and legal recognition of same-sex partnerships–can be explained by the fact that policy decisions constrain later policy debates and the fact that institutional rules also dramatically shape the outcomes of such debates. Smith’s arguments are explicitly grounded in the work on American political development and specifically the historical institutionalist approach within that theoretical school. She compelling argues that four key institutional differences between the US and Canada (i.e., the organization of political parties, the structure of federalism, the role of the courts, and the impact of jurisprudence related to race) are potent variables in the explanation of these comparative policy outcomes. As such, this work is a contribution to the fields of LGBT studies, Canadian politics, and comparative politics more generally. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, upper-division undergraduate students, graduate students, and research faculty. — J. Barth, Hendrix College 

White, Todd C.  Pre-gay L.A: a social history of the movement for homosexual rights.  Illinois, 2009.  358p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780252034411, $75.00; ISBN 9780252076411  pbk, $25.00. Reviewed in 2009oct CHOICE.
47-1065  HQ76  2008-41146 CIP

Social movements do not suddenly come into public prominence; their gestation periods often involve complex, if sometimes obscure, developments. The history of gay movements in the US thus did not begin with the 1969 Stonewall rebellion in New York City, nor did homosexual activists confine their efforts to the East Coast. Anthropologist White, now at James Madison University, provides an excellent social history of the homosexual rights movement in Los Angeles from 1948 through 1970. He describes in extensive detail how the movement began with the formation of the Mattachine Society, how local leaders developed ONE, Inc. in the early 1950s, including the publication of a national magazine, and how the movement for homosexual rights in Southern California expanded its goals from protesting prosecutions of homosexual activities to establishing the first local gay pride parade. White skillfully weaves informative studies of key leaders such as Harry Hay with illuminating analyses of the movement’s overall developments. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — J. T. McGuire, Tompkins Cortland Community College 

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