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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Outing
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
A compilation of writings divided into 3 parts, before-Stonewall, Stonewall itself, and after Stonewall. It was very interesting to learn something of the history in the 1950s and 1960s, including the founding and work of the Mattachine Society, the Daughters of Bilitis and others. The part on Stonewall consists of first-hand accounts of LGBTQ people who were there, and it is a bit hard to come away with a clear picture of what happened, because each person has their own perspective on what happened based on where they were and what they saw. Also, after the Black Lives Matter
protests of 2020, it’s amazing to realize how brief this riot/protest was, and yet it set off a chain reaction of protest and struggle for gay rights. The last section was writings and interviews that focused on the years immediately after Stonewall and ending well before the onset of AIDS. One of my favorite pieces from this collection is Chirlane McCray’s I Am a Lesbian, written in the early 1970s when she was 24. Now she’s married to the mayor of NYC. I find it sad that when reporters ask her about this essay and her life now she won’t identify as bi (or pan) sexual, but her essay is riveting.
protests of 2020, it’s amazing to realize how brief this riot/protest was, and yet it set off a chain reaction of protest and struggle for gay rights. The last section was writings and interviews that focused on the years immediately after Stonewall and ending well before the onset of AIDS. One of my favorite pieces from this collection is Chirlane McCray’s I Am a Lesbian, written in the early 1970s when she was 24. Now she’s married to the mayor of NYC. I find it sad that when reporters ask her about this essay and her life now she won’t identify as bi (or pan) sexual, but her essay is riveting.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Hard to rate an anthology, but I enjoyed reading all the different perspectives. I thought NYPL did a good job showing all the stages and conscious-raising that led to and sustained the early LGBTQ+ liberation movement.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I really enjoyed reading this but it's a mixed bag. Partly because a great deal of it is esoteric and "of it's time" - but not in a bad way and not in the usually euphemistic way of meaning prejudiced, but actually just super detailed and relevant to the minutiae of queer politics at the very moment of Stonewall.
Which makes it a great resource for learning about that event specifically and its contexts and for learning about history, but less like a cohesive reading experience (which is to be expected).
My only actual complaint is that I would've loved more fiction excerpts. The book opens with an excerpt from Audre Lorde's Zami which I loved, but that was the only one. Some great pieces in here though and I thoroughly enjoyed many of them and the diversity of the voices that it draws from.
Which makes it a great resource for learning about that event specifically and its contexts and for learning about history, but less like a cohesive reading experience (which is to be expected).
My only actual complaint is that I would've loved more fiction excerpts. The book opens with an excerpt from Audre Lorde's Zami which I loved, but that was the only one. Some great pieces in here though and I thoroughly enjoyed many of them and the diversity of the voices that it draws from.
Really good, there were several chapters of poetry and spoken word that was lass than interesting, but the accounts from people about their view of the riots was very interesting.