San Francisco Public Library

Lavender and red, liberation and solidarity in the gay and lesbian left, Emily K. Hobson

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Lavender and red

bibliography

945028476

Emily K. Hobson

American crossroads, 44

liberation and solidarity in the gay and lesbian left

"LGBT activism is often imagined as a self-contained struggle, inspired by but set apart from other social movements. Lavender and Red recounts a far different story: a history of queer radicals who understood their sexual liberation as intertwined with solidarity against imperialism, war, and racism. This politics was born in the late 1960s but survived well past Stonewall, forming a gay and lesbian left that flourished through the end of the Cold War. The gay and lesbian left found its center in the San Francisco Bay area, a place where sexual self-determination and revolutionary internationalism converged. Across the 1970s, its activists embraced socialist and women of color feminism and crafted queer opposition to militarism and the New Right. In the Reagan years, they challenged U.S. intervention in Central America, collaborated with their peers in Nicaragua, and mentored the first direct action against AIDS. Bringing together archival research, oral histories, and vibrant images, Emily K. Hobson rediscovers the radical queer past for a generation of activists today"--Provided by publisher

Beyond the gay ghetto: founding debates in gay liberation -- A more powerful weapon: lesbian feminism and collective defense -- Limp wrists and clenched fists: defining a politics and hitting the streets -- 24th and mission: building lesbian and gay solidarity with nicaragua -- Talk about loving in the war years: nicaragua, transnational feminism, and AIDS -- Money for AIDS, not war: anti-militarism, direct action against the epidemic, and movement history