Gay & Lesbian History

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Below are groups and resources (books, articles, websites, etc.) related to this topic. Click on an item’s title to go its resource page with author, publisher, description/abstract and other details, a link to the full text if available, as well as links to related topics in the Subject Index. You can also browse the Title, Author, Subject, Chronological, Dewey, LoC, and Format indexes, or use the Search box.
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Connexions Library

Allan Bérubé, 1946-2007: Against The Current vol. 135
Kinsman, Gary
Article
2008
An inspiring and broad-ranging queer historian, Allan Bérubé died at the age of 61 on December 11, 2007. He left us with major contributions of exciting historical work, but also important unfinished ...
The Art of Activism
Tatchell, Peter
Article
1997
The unique style of 'protest as performance' pioneered by the queer rights group OutRage!
Before the parade
Rose, Rebecca
Article
2016
Halifax's first generation of gay and lesbian elders forged a rainbow path that LGBTQIA and Two-Spirited activists continue to march down today.
Call Me Kuchu
Zouhall-Worrall, Malika; Fairfax, Katherine
Film/Video
2012
In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. David Kato - Uganda's first openly gay man - and his fellow activists work against the clock to defeat the legislation while ...
The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation
Kinsman, Gary; Gentile, Patrizia
Book
2010
From the 1950s to the late 1990s, agents of the Canadian state spied on, interrogated, and harassed gays and lesbians in a series of so-called national security campaigns. This book traces this histor...
Carol L. McAllister (1947-2007): Against The Current vol. 131
Le Blanc, Paul
Article
2007
I remember meeting Carol on a public transit bus, I believe in 1980 –- when, almost out of the blue, she approached me and started talking to me about Central America. She recognized me from some earl...
Connexions Library: Lesbians, Gays, Bi-sexuals Focus
Website
Selected articles, books, websites and other resources on gays, lesbians, bisexuals.
The Early Homosexual Rights Movement (1864-1935)
Lauritsen, John; Thorstad, David
Book
1974
The First Stone: Homosexuality and the United Church
Riordon, Michael
Book
1990
A dramatic account of the tumultuous decade-long struggle in the United Church of Canada to balance faith, sexuality and human rights. Drawing on the church's history, and more than one hundred person...
Flaunting It!
Jackson, Ed; Perksy, Stan (eds.)
Book
1982
An anthology of articles spanning the first decade of the Canadian gay liberation periodical, The Body Politic.
Gay Marriage Yes!: Against The Current vol. 110
The Editors
Article
2004
Any doubts about the meaning of the struggle for the right of gay and lesbian marriage should have disappeared forever when Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco opened the marriage bureau at city hall ...
Gay Men and the Sexual History of the Political Left
Hekma, Gert; Oosterhuis, Harry; Steakley, James
Book
1995
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940
Chauncey, George
Book
1994
A study of the making the the gay male world in New York from 1890 to 1940.
Gays and the Left
Drucker, Peter
Article
1997
The contemporary movement for lesbian/gay liberation was born out of the ferment of the New Left. Its leftist roots were openly acknowledged. Leading theorists identified with one socialist or communi...
Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past
Duberman, M.B.; Vicinus, M.; George, C. Jr. (eds)
Book
1989
Eessays analyzing the political, philosophical, and social history of homosexuality from the ancient world to the postwar era.
Idealism, Pride & Anger- The Beginnings of Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Britain
Tatchell, Peter
Article
1989
A glorious chaotic enthusiasm. At times, shocking. Always unapologetic and defiant. An exhilarating mixture of idealism, pride, anger, bravado and imagination.
Is that an archive in your basement... or are you just hoarding?: Sources News Release
Article
2012
Are you an 'accidental archivist'? Have you been saving the publications and documents produced by the social justice projects you've been involved in? Then Connexions would like to hear from you.
Lesbian and gay liberation in Canada: a selected annotated chronology, 1964-1975
McLeod, Donald W.
Article
1996
This authoritative reference guide covers the first twelve years of the organized homophile/gay liberation movement in Canada, from 1964 (when the Association for Social Knowledge [ASK], Canada's firs...
Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1976–1981
Mcleod, Donald W.
Article
2016
This authoritative reference guide is a continuation of Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964–1975. It starts where the first volume left off, and highlights some...
LGBT: a Dissection
Thorstad, David
Article
2016
"LGBT" is everywhere these days. But is it here to stay, or is it a passing fad? Where did it come from? Why was it promoted? By whom? And to what end? How did it acquire its seemingly endless variant...
LGBT history, Timeline of: Connexipedia Article
Article
The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) related history.
Michael Riordon in conversation with Barbara Goslawski
Riordon, Michael; Goslawski, Barbara
Article
"People are not specimens or statistics," says Michael Riordon, author of Eating Fire: Family Life on the Queer Side.
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - February 26, 2015: Ukraine
Diemer, Ulli (editor); Khan, Tahmid (production)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2015
Ukraine is spotlighted in this issue of Other Voices, with several articles on the events of the past year, from the overthrow of the government, to the rise of the far right, the armed conflict in th...
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - November 21, 2015: Climate Change and Social Change
Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2015
This issue of Other Voices spotlights climate change, the escalating crisis that the upcoming Paris climate conference is supposed to address. But climate change is not a single problem: it is a produ...
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - June 18, 2016
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2016
This issue of Other Voices features a wide range of issues. The topic of the week is homophobia, the hate that led to 49 deaths in Orlando last week, but which is present in greater or lesser form in ...
Our Generation: Volume 20 Number 1
Roussopoulos, Dimitrios
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1988
Out Our Way: Gay & Lesbian Life in Rural Canada
Riordon, Michael
Book
1996
Explores the richly varied life experience of gay and lesbian Canadians living in small towns and rural areas across the country. Travelling 27,000 km and recording more than 300 conversations, the au...
Personal Ad Politics : Race, Sexuality and Power at The Body Politic
Churchill, David S
Article
2003
Published in Labour/Le Travail 8.2 (2003)
Pride
Warchus, Matthew (director)
Film/Video
2014
Based on a true story, the film depicts a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984, at the outset of what would become the Le...
Queer Activism in the Labor Movement
Smith, Sarah R.
Article
2015
Smith's review of a book published on the history of LGBT activisim within the labour movement.
Queer Activism in the Labor Movement
Smith, Sara R.
Article
2015
In the 1970s, Teresa Rankin kept her sexual orientation private while organizing textile workers at J.P. Stevens in North Carolina. When the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) offe...
Queer Progress: From Homophobia to Homonationalism
McCaskell, Tim
Book
2016
A political memoir by a leading gay rights and AIDS activist.
Queering the Cold War
McCaskell, Tim
Article
2010
A review of the book 'The Canadian War on Queers' and its examination of how homophobia, national security, and queerness unfolded in Canada during the Cold War.
The roots of gay oppression
Carlin, Norah
Article
2007
Marxists, since Marx and Engels themselves, have always believed that only a socialist revolution could open the way to sexual freedom and equality. The history of same-sex relations suggests that the...
Seeds of Fire: A People's Chronology
Diemer, Ulli
Article
2012
Recalling events that happened on this day in history. Memories of struggle, resistance and persistence.
Stonewall riots: Connexipedia Article
Article
A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New Yo...
Toronto Pride 1981 - setting the historical record queer
Kinsman, Gary
Article
2006
The Pride event in 1981 would not have taken place without the new political and social context created by the massive resistance that took place against the bath raids that year. Thousands of queer m...
An Unauthorized Biography of the World: Oral History on the Front Lines
Riordon, Michael
Book
2004
This book uses oral history to discuss oral history. It is in memoir style, and delves into how oral history is done in such places as First Nations (Canada), Turkey, Chicago, Newfoundland, Peru, New ...
Warped: Gay Normality and Queer Anti-Capitalism
Drucker, Peter
Book
2015
Recent victories for LGBT rights have gone faster than most people imagined possible. Yet the accompanying rise of gay 'normality' has been disconcerting for activists with radical sympathies. This bo...
Whose National Security?: Canadian State Surveillance and the Creation of Enemies
Kinsman, Gary; Buse, Dieter K.; Stedman, Mercedes
Article
2000
Examines RCMP monitoring of trade unionists, Left-wing political groups, students, gays and lesbians, feminists, consumers' associations, Black activists, First Nations people, and Quebec sovereignist...
Winds of Change: The Daughters of Bilitis and Lesbian Organizing
Gallo, Marcia M.
Article
2005
A history of Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first national lesbian organization in the United States.

Connexions Directory of Groups & Websites

Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives
The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives aspires to be a significant resource and catalyst for those who strive for a future world where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are accepted, valu...
Connexions Archive & Library
The Connexions Archive & Library is Toronto-based project dedicated to keeping alive the rich history of grassroots movements for social justice. Connexions preserves 'alternative' histories that r...
Glad Day Bookshop
Specializing lesbian and gay literature, both in and out of print.
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
The ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives honors the past, celebrates the present, and enriches the future of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We foster acceptance of sexual and gender...
Peter Tatchell
Articles and actions related to human rights, democracy, and global justice.

Sources Experts & Spokespersons

Sources Library

Leather Archives & Museum
The Leather Archives & Museum is a library, museum and archives pertaining to Leather, fetishism, sadomasochism, and alternative sexual practices. The geographic collection scope is worldwide and incl...
Operation Soap
Wikipedia article
Operation Soap was a raid by the Metropolitan Toronto Police against four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which took place on February 5, 1981. More than three hundred men were arrested, t...
Sodomy law
Sources Select Resources Encyclopedia
A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood by courts to include ...
Toronto's gay archive getting an upgrade
Renovations will make it more accessible
Smee, Michael
2017
Reporting on the renovations to the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in Toronto, which will expand the archive and improve accessibility.

From the Connexions Archives

The Body Politic
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1978
The Body Politic - a magazine for gay liberation is aimed at the building of a gay movement and spreading gay consciousness. The paper features social and political issues representing the struggle ...
Came Out Decades Ago (CODA)
Organization profile published 1981
Organization
1981
Freedom indivisible: Gays and Lesbians in the African American Civil Rights movement
PhD Thesis, University of Nebraska, 2013
Leighton, Jared E
Article
2013
Gay Liberation Against The Right Everywhere
Organization profile published 1983
Organization
1983