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chamomiledaydreams's review against another edition
3.0
Although I'm using Gay L.A. as a textbook, it reads very much like a novel! Before I finished, I often looked forward to reading more and learned a lot along the way. There are definitely some subjects the authors touch upon briefly that I will be looking into later! It's also very neat that the book is centered on Los Angeles, something I haven't seen in many other LGBTQ+ histories. However, I have some reservations about how trans issues are treated. . . There is no section focusing on trans folks until the Epilogue, and the way they're discussed feels very outdated to me.
invisibleninjacat's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
3.5
This book was a good history of gays and lesbians in LA. It was not a very good history of queer people who are not gay or lesbian. Trans people have two chapters largely to themselves, and are incorporated very little into the rest of the narrative. They are also referred to awkwardly as "transgenders" and often misgendered, unless they've had bottom surgery. Bisexual people are mentioned maybe half a dozen times in over 350 pages, which I'd say qualifies pretty well as bisexual erasure. The epilogue also suggests a level of success and safely for gay and lesbian people that has not quite actually been achieved. However, if you can deal with those issues, the history of LA's gay and lesbian experiences, gathering places, fights for rights, and growing political power was extensively researched. The end notes are very detailed, though I would have appreciated a few more where slang was quoted and not defined.
pturnbull's review
5.0
An excellent and very readable history of gay people in the Los Angeles area. The book begins with a description of the native populations of southern California, who shocked the colonizing Spaniards with their same-sex relationships and transgender behaviors. And then the story goes on, decade by decade in the twentieth century, describing how society has winked at, suppressed, harassed, hated, accommodated, murdered, and accepted gay men and women. The history of gay LA is heavily influenced by Hollywood, with its money, influence, and glamour. Sometimes it forced those in the industry more deeply into the closet (Rock Hudson); other times it meant having huge stars on your side and communicating a gay-positive message (Elizabeth Taylor).
I lived through some of this history, though not in LA, and I remember well the late seventies, years of Gay Liberation and lesbian separatism, and the suspicion between the two groups. I initially selected this book to read because I knew that my friend from the University of Wisconsin, Mark Kostopoulos, a founder of ACTUP/LA, would appear in its pages. As the book continued and Faderman foreshadowed the devastation wrought by AIDS, I began to dread the encounter. But when I finally found him, I discovered something true to the Mark I remembered—his warm relationships with women, including me—and that he chose a woman to succeed him as ACTUP/LA facilitator (320).
Even if you don’t know any of the book’s characters personally, you will be familiar with many of the individuals referenced in it, including famous Hollywood names and California politicians. Faderman conscientiously provides a diverse history of a multicultural, trend-setting city. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Hollywood, LGBT history, or southern California.
I lived through some of this history, though not in LA, and I remember well the late seventies, years of Gay Liberation and lesbian separatism, and the suspicion between the two groups. I initially selected this book to read because I knew that my friend from the University of Wisconsin, Mark Kostopoulos, a founder of ACTUP/LA, would appear in its pages. As the book continued and Faderman foreshadowed the devastation wrought by AIDS, I began to dread the encounter. But when I finally found him, I discovered something true to the Mark I remembered—his warm relationships with women, including me—and that he chose a woman to succeed him as ACTUP/LA facilitator (320).
Even if you don’t know any of the book’s characters personally, you will be familiar with many of the individuals referenced in it, including famous Hollywood names and California politicians. Faderman conscientiously provides a diverse history of a multicultural, trend-setting city. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Hollywood, LGBT history, or southern California.
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