Creating Change: Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312287127 ISBN 13: 9780312287122

Publisher: Stonewall Inn Editions, 2002

Synopsis

The two dozen essays assembled in Creating Change examine some of the most bitterly contested and controversial public events and public policy battles in American history. These writings, each by a leading activist or scholar, recount how a specific constituency—gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons, and their allies—achieved tremendous progress despite seemingly insurmountable barriers. With each of the chapters written by an activist or scholar integral to the specific area of discussion, this is a work of scholarship and a work of passion about the way the American political and cultural landscape became what it is today. It is the story of how social change is made.

About this title

Review:

Like those '40s dance marathons, where the winners were the couple that stayed on their feet the longest, public policy change is sometimes just a matter of endurance. Over the past 30 years, despite a steady shift to the right in federal and state politics, lesbians and gays have made tremendous social and political advances, thanks to the unremitting efforts of activists and sympathetic legislators and policy makers. This inspiring and highly readable anthology, which includes Barney Frank on immigration law, Rich Tafel on gay Republicans, Marj Plumb on lesbian health in the Clinton years, and David L. Chambers on marriage and domestic partnership, describes the incremental but essential changes in American public policy on gay rights since 1970. Creating Change reminds us of the big picture: that gay issues now have a national stage, and that queer lives are braver and hipper than anyone else's. This book should be in every gay library, but especially on the shelves of younger readers, who may not be familiar with the pre-ACT-UP world. --Jack Connolly

About the Author:

John D'Emilio is a Guggenheim fellow, professor of history at the University of North Carolina, and author of numerous books including the classic Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities.

William B. Turner is a visiting assistant professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University.

Urvashi Vaid is the Director of the Policy Institute (and former Executive Director) of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She is the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation.

About this edition

• Publisher: Stonewall Inn Editions
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312287127
• ISBN 13: 9780312287122
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544
• Editor: D'Emilio John, Turner William B., Vaid Urvashi