A review by ladybird4prez
When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History by Hugh Ryan

informative reflective

Well-researched, informative, and engaging, When Brooklyn Was Queer provides a look into decades of long-forgotten and erased history of often overlooked, vibrant queer communities. It was fascinating to learn about the oscillating LGBTQ+ acceptance as impacted by wars, economic opportunities, gentrification, suburbanization, moral policing, eugenics, and our understanding of gender, sex, and sexual orientation as separate but related concepts. Through it all, queer love or “the resourcefulness of queer desire,” as Hugh Ryan puts it, persisted, despite large barriers, heavy setbacks, and attacks on the community.

Ryan does a great job of exploring the rich queer history of Brooklyn. Still, it’s frustrating to think about just how much history was lost because queer people’s experiences weren’t properly recorded, preserved, or valued. I love what he said in the epilogue though, that he looks forward “to having a future where we already have a past.”