ABSTRACT
Read the words they risked everything for!
This landmark volume collects more than a hundred years of the most important public rhetoric on gay and lesbian subjects. In the days when homosexuality was mentioned only in whispers, a few brave souls stood up to speak for the rights of sexual minorities. In Speaking for Our Lives: Historic Speeches and Rhetoric for Gay and Lesbian Rights (1892-2000), their stirring words have finally been gathered together, along with the political manifestoes, broadsheets, and performance pieces of the gay and lesbian liberation movement.
Speaking for Our Lives comprises speeches and manifestoes prompted by events ranging from demonstrations to funerals. Scholars and researchers will appreciate the brief commentary introducing each piece, which discusses the author, the occasion, and the political and social contexts in which it first appeared.
You’ll find the words of a broad variety of individuals and groups, including:
- the Victorian humanist and crusader Robert Ingersoll
- key groups such as the Mattachine Society, Homosexual Law Reform Society, Gay Activists Alliance, and International Gay Association
- activists and educators Robin Morgan, Joseph Bean, and Dr. Franklin Kameny,
- artists and journalists of the movement, such as John Eric Larsen, Joan Nestle, Barbara Grier, and Jim Kepner
- elected officials, including Bella Abzug, Ed Koch, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Gerry Studds, Tammy Baldwin, and Bill Clinton
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part Section I|23 pages
Pre-1950
part Section II|33 pages
The 1950S
part Section III|72 pages
The 1960s
part Section IV|186 pages
The 1970s
part Section V|275 pages
The 1980S
part Section VI|190 pages
The 1990s
part Section VII|53 pages
2000