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A review by aimiller
The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook by Ashley Molesso, Chess Needham
informative
medium-paced
3.0
This was solidly okay in terms of broad queer history. There are bits and pieces that I think that are good--the AIDS section in particular I think does a very good job actually of showing the scope of the ongoing crisis, and not just putting it into the past. Some of the language feels a little patronizing--the frequent use of "rude" to describe structural homophobia and transphobia eventually made me wish for literally any other word--but that may be a very YMMV thing.
I think the book's greatest weakness ultimately is a weakness that most of these broad queer history books for younger folk have, which is this deep adherence to the US settler state's politics of inclusion. The book literally ranks marriage above domestic partnership and civil unions when there are lots of reasons and choices for folks not to choose marriage, which is a little yikes. I know we don't yet have an Against Equality trilogy for young people (if someone wants to tap me to write that, I'd love to!), and wanting this book to be that isn't it, but it's frustrating to see the limits of queer imagination in these types of books, and also how that colors our visions of the past. (PS, Oscar Wilde was married and loved his wife and I wish we talked about that more, though I don't blame these authors for participating in a very long discourse they stumbled into.)
I think the book's greatest weakness ultimately is a weakness that most of these broad queer history books for younger folk have, which is this deep adherence to the US settler state's politics of inclusion. The book literally ranks marriage above domestic partnership and civil unions when there are lots of reasons and choices for folks not to choose marriage, which is a little yikes. I know we don't yet have an Against Equality trilogy for young people (if someone wants to tap me to write that, I'd love to!), and wanting this book to be that isn't it, but it's frustrating to see the limits of queer imagination in these types of books, and also how that colors our visions of the past. (PS, Oscar Wilde was married and loved his wife and I wish we talked about that more, though I don't blame these authors for participating in a very long discourse they stumbled into.)