The Gay Metropolis Response 1

This book is a history of gay life in America starting in the forties and going through the nineties (the book was written in 1997). When I decided to choose this book, I had every intention of reading the entire thing, but since it is the end of the semester and I am stressing out, I decided to cut back and focus on a smaller chunk of history. I was still concerned that it may be confusing to start in the middle since I did not know if the author was going to examine events in earlier decades that would become relevant later but, starting with the seventies, I was relieved to find that I was not completely lost. An interesting aspect of this book is that it does not just focus on the major events, but examines how those events impacted individuals' lives. The chapter begins with Stonewall- "an urban riot sparked by drag queens"- and its impact on the gay community including, but not limited to, the creation of many gay organizations such as the Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activists Alliance, and National Gay Task Force. From there, the novel looks at the individual people that were a part of or affected by these movements, including Phil Donahue, Philip Johnson, Ethan Geto, and Philip Gefter. I think that this makes the history so much more interesting. It is not just facts being thrown at you, it is people with their own opinions and feelings as they were living through this time; it is like reading about the Holocaust versus reading Anne Frank's diary. It makes it so much more real. That being said, this style of telling the history makes it confusing to read at times. I found myself having to look back to remember who is who because there are just so many names being thrown at you all at once (including an alarmingly large name of men named Philip). I think that this novel shows the darker side of something that the media often portrays as something so sunny and wonderful. Thinking about the beginning of the gay rights movement in the 70s and 80s, I think that it is easy to picture the bright and colorful gay rights parades we see today. And while they did have pride parades, there was also a massive underground gay community, full of shady bars, unfettered access to drugs, and orgies in dirty, dark back rooms. One account told of a doctor well-known in the local gay community as someone who would treat gay men for the STDs they would inevitably have as a result of these backroom exploits (keep in mind, this was before the AIDS crisis). As someone living after the rise of AIDS, it was just so shocking to read the details of these underground spaces. Although I haven't finished it yet, I can already say that I do not think I will ever have this in my classroom- it gets too explicit at times. However, if I have a student who is a senior in high school and that I think is mature enough, I would suggest it to them. I will definitely be reading the entire thing when I have the time to.