Coming Out Into the Light

BECOMING VISIBLE: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF LESBIAN AND GAY LIFE IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA

By Molly McGarry and Fred Wasserman

Penguin

$34.96, 282 pp.

In 1969, the routine police raid of a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn turned into a riot as the customers resisted arrest and cornered the arresting officers in the bar, throwing bricks at them through the windows from the outside. Later in the same week, two demonstrations in front of the Stonewall turned into riots as police struggled to disperse them. Becoming Visible strives to both challenge the popular assumption that gay liberation was born with the Stonewall riots and to show the wide ranging effects of those riots on gay movements up to the present day.

After the New York Public Library held and exhibition titled "Becoming Visible: The Legacy of Stonewall" four years ago, two of the exhibition's curators transformed this massive collection of information into a book. Starting with a chapter on the Stonewall riots, the writers attempt to piece together a history of gay life and politics up to the riots. While accepting that the riots were instrumental in assembling strong gay and lesbian movements, the writers argue that as a result of the emphasis placed on the riots, history has been forgotten and the important movers of the pre-Stonewall era repeatedly overlooked.

McGarry and Wasserman successfully manage to draw similarities between the gay struggle for recognition and equality and other civil rights struggles of the last century. Grounding queer history in long-standing traditions of definition and prohibition, as well as in twentieth-century American history, the book establishes a structured framework within which its subject matter can be understood. Moving Through historical events known to the general reader, the writers relate gay and lesbian history to already familiar landmarks. Thus, the book takes a new look at such diverse phenomena as the Harlem Renaissance, the world wars, the McCarthy hearings, the rebellion of the sixties, the disco era and the AIDS epidemic.

Broken up into several sections, the book continues the discussion of the Stonewall riots with a quick overview of the prohibitions against homosexuality, including punishments and laws associated with such legal and religious condemnation, as well as an investigation into the origins of the term "homosexual" itself. Coined by a Hungarian author, the term was quickly adopted by doctors who, excited by concrete terminology, quickly proceeded to diagnose it as an illness to be treated. At the same time, however, the term could serve as a label, providing a disorganized group of individuals with an identity, a self-definition to gather around.

According to McGarry, the crushing of the strong twenties `gay culture drove homosexual relationships underground, keeping them under wraps and subject to harassment by police until the '50s. McCarthy's attempts to weed homosexuals out of positions of power then led to the rise of an activist body to counter his political manipulations. Instead of trying to define and establish a unique and separate culture, gay activists decided to strive for assimilation by attempting to establish a niche in society for homosexuals. Queer groups began fighting serious legal battles in the '50s and '60s over the right to distribute homoerotic material and writings on gay topics through the mail, the lack of legal social spaces in which gay couples and singles could congregate, the exclusion of homosexuals from the military and the attempts to oust the supposedly subversive gay officials from government positions. Important cases had already been tried and large demonstrations has been made by the time of the Stonewall riots. The riots thus represent not the first step in a process of liberation, but rather an important link in a chain of events.

A long process of organization and splintering followed the riots. As groups spring up with well-defined purposes, members leave to found their own societies with differing goals. The lesbian organizations branch off from gay groups and join up with feminism. Radical in-your-face activists split off from those seeking legal victories. With the slogan "Out of the closets and into the streets" queer groups made their presence and power known within society. Attempting to strike down anti-gay legislation, queer groups established powerful legal and educational networks. The strength of these networks, partly a result of Stonewall, was instrumental in con- fronting AIDS.

While the Stonewall riots are clearly seen asholding immense symbolic significance, the writersargue that this significance appears in partbecause the riots are seen as a creation myth anda rallying point of the queer fight for civilrights. We must, however, never forget theimportance of the history that broke the groundfor the organization of the 1970s. Warning ofdangers to gay civil rights--in the last twentyyears influential Republicans like PatrickBuchanan, Jesse Helms and Newt Gingrich havespoken against homosexuality--the authors manageto convey the importance of the organizationalstructure established through the efforts of thepre-Stonewall activists and which became empoweredby the riots.

Becoming Visible is a history thatshould be important to queer and heterosexualreaders alike. Addressing the history of a cultureall Americans share and outlining the historicalrise of a minority group within this culture, theauthors offer the opportunity for a reevaluationof the recent past and of past and currentstereotypes. The history is well written, withnumerous illustrations supporting the text.

Taken from the NY Public Library's exhibition,the posters, banners, letters, magazines, articlesand photographs serve to support the text andalmost provide a pictorial text on their own. Attimes, the book can be academically dry; at othertimes, it can be preachy. It is dry, however, onlywhen the writers attempt to integrate too manysources without enough commentary; it seemspreachy only when taking on homophobia anddiscrimination. Given the nature and context ofthese flaws, they are certainly forgivable

While the Stonewall riots are clearly seen asholding immense symbolic significance, the writersargue that this significance appears in partbecause the riots are seen as a creation myth anda rallying point of the queer fight for civilrights. We must, however, never forget theimportance of the history that broke the groundfor the organization of the 1970s. Warning ofdangers to gay civil rights--in the last twentyyears influential Republicans like PatrickBuchanan, Jesse Helms and Newt Gingrich havespoken against homosexuality--the authors manageto convey the importance of the organizationalstructure established through the efforts of thepre-Stonewall activists and which became empoweredby the riots.

Becoming Visible is a history thatshould be important to queer and heterosexualreaders alike. Addressing the history of a cultureall Americans share and outlining the historicalrise of a minority group within this culture, theauthors offer the opportunity for a reevaluationof the recent past and of past and currentstereotypes. The history is well written, withnumerous illustrations supporting the text.

Taken from the NY Public Library's exhibition,the posters, banners, letters, magazines, articlesand photographs serve to support the text andalmost provide a pictorial text on their own. Attimes, the book can be academically dry; at othertimes, it can be preachy. It is dry, however, onlywhen the writers attempt to integrate too manysources without enough commentary; it seemspreachy only when taking on homophobia anddiscrimination. Given the nature and context ofthese flaws, they are certainly forgivable