Michael Bronski – författare

An Anthology of Early Erotic Writings Illustrating the Development of a Gay Consciousness; In the histories of the modern gay movement, the beginnings are nearly always cited in political terms and usually with the Stonewall Inn riots of 1969. But before there could ever be a recognisable gay movement, the very possibility of a gay community first had to be imagined. In this anthology of largely underground and little known gay erotic writings from the late Victorian age to the late 1960s, cultural critic Michael Bronski explores the ways in which the erotic imagination ultimately led to gay identity and the creation of gay culture.

The advancement of LGBT rights has occurred through struggles large and small-on the streets, around kitchen tables, and on the Web. Lawsuits have also played a vital role in propelling the movement forward, and behind every case is a human story: a landlord in New York seeks to evict a gay man from his home after his partner of ten years dies of AIDS; school officials in Wisconsin look the other way as a gay teenager is repeatedly and viciously harassed by other students; a lesbian couple appears unexpectedly at a clerk''s office in Hawaii seeking a marriage license.Engaging and largely untold, From the Closet to the Courtroom explores how five pivotal lawsuits have altered LGBT history. Beginning each case narrative at the center-with the litigants and their lawyers-law professor Carlos Ball follows the stories behind each crucial lawsuit. He traces the parties from their communities to the courtroom, while deftly weaving in rich sociohistorical context and analyzing the lasting legal and political impact of each judicial outcome.Over the last twenty years, no group of attorneys has helped to transform this country more than LGBT rights lawyers, and surprisingly, their collective accomplishments have received relatively little attention. Ball remedies that by exploring how a band of largely unheralded civil rights lawyers have attained remarkable legal victories through skill, creativity, and perseverance.In this richly layered and multifaceted account, Ball vividly documents how these judicial victories have significantly altered LGBT lives today in ways that were unimaginable only a generation ago.From the Hardcover edition.

2014 Lambda Literary Award Finalist: LGBT NonfictionBreaks down the most commonly held misconceptions about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their lives   In “You Can Tell Just by Looking” three scholars and activists come together to unpack enduring, popular, and deeply held myths about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, culture, and life in America. Myths, such as “All Religions Condemn Homosexuality” and “Transgender People Are Mentally Ill,” have been used to justify discrimination and oppression of LGBT people. Others, such as “Homosexuals Are Born That Way,” have been embraced by LGBT communities and their allies. In discussing and dispelling these myths—including gay-positive ones—the authors challenge readers to question their own beliefs and to grapple with the complexities of what it means to be queer in the broadest social, political, and cultural sense.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The debate over marriage equality for same-sex couples rages across the country. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage boldly moves the discussion forward by focusing on the larger, more fundamental issue of marriage and the law. The root problem, asserts law professor and LGBT rights activist Nancy Polikoff, is that marriage is a bright dividing line between those relationships that legally matter and those that don''t. A woman married to a man for nine months is entitled to Social Security survivor''s benefits when he dies; a woman living for nineteen years with a man or woman to whom she is not married receives nothing.Polikoff reframes the debate by arguing that all family relationships and households need the economic stability and emotional peace of mind that now extend only to married couples. Unmarried couples of any sexual orientation, single-parent households, extended family units, and myriad other familial configurations need recognition and protection to meet the concerns they all share: building and sustaining economic and emotional interdependence, and nurturing the next generation. Couples should have the choice to marry based on the spiritual, cultural, or religious meaning of marriage in their lives, asserts Polikoff. While marriage equality for same-sex couples is a civil rights victory, she contends that no one should have to marry in order to reap specific and unique legal results. A persuasive argument that married couples should not receive special rights denied to other families, Polikoff shows how the law can value all families, and why it must.From the Hardcover edition.

Queer history didn''t start with Stonewall. This book explores how LGBTQ people have always been a part of our national identity, contributing to the country and culture for over 400 years.It is crucial for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth to know their history. But this history is not easy to find since it''s rarely taught in schools or commemorated in other ways. A Queer History of the United States for Young People corrects this and demonstrates that LGBTQ people have long been vital to shaping our understanding of what America is today. Through engrossing narratives, letters, drawings, poems, and more, the book encourages young readers, of all identities, to feel pride at the accomplishments of the LGBTQ people who came before them and to use history as a guide to the future.The stories he shares include those of  *  Thomas Morton, who celebrated same-sex love in Boston''s Puritan community in the 1620s.   *  Albert D. J. Cashier, an Irish immigrant and Civil War hero, who was born in the body of a woman but lived as a man for over a half century.   *  Gladys Bentley, an African American blues singer who challenged cross-dressing laws in 1920s Harlem.   *  Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr.''s close friend, civil rights organizer, and an openly gay man.  *  Sylvia Rivera, who along with Marsha P. Johnson, founded the first transgender political group in the United States in 1970.  *  Harvey Milk, a community organizer and the first openly gay politician to win an election in California.  *  Jamie Nabozny, a teen who brought national attention to the issue of LGBTQ bullying by bringing his case to the Supreme Court in the 1990s.With over 60 illustrations and photos, a glossary, and a corresponding curriculum, A Queer History of the United States for Young People will be vital for teachers who want to introduce a new perspective to America''s story.

A provocative book about rethinking hatred and violence in America  Over the centuries American society has been plagued by brutality fueled by disregard for the humanity of others: systemic violence against Native peoples, black people, and immigrants. More recent examples include the Steubenville rape case and the murders of Matthew Shepard, Jennifer Daugherty, Marcelo Lucero, and Trayvon Martin. Most Americans see such acts as driven by hate. But is this right? Longtime activists and political theorists Kay Whitlock and Michael Bronski boldly assert that American society’s reliance on the framework of hate to explain these acts is wrongheaded, misleading, and ultimately harmful. All too often Americans choose to believe that terrible cruelty is aberrant, caused primarily by “extremists” and misfits. The inevitable remedy of intensified government-based policing, increased surveillance, and harsher punishments has never worked and does not work now. Stand-your-ground laws; the US prison system; police harassment of people of color, women, and LGBT people; and the so-called war on terror demonstrate that the remedies themselves are forms of institutionalized violence. Considering Hate challenges easy assumptions and failed solutions, arguing that “hate violence” reflects existing cultural norms. Drawing upon social science, philosophy, theology, film, and literature, the authors examine how hate and common, even ordinary, forms of individual and group violence are excused and normalized in popular culture and political discussion. This massive denial of brutal reality profoundly warps society’s ideas about goodness and justice.Whitlock and Bronski invite readers to radically reimagine the meaning and structures of justice within a new framework of community wholeness, collective responsibility, and civic goodness.From the Hardcover edition.

Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History: Critical Readings is an authoritative four-volume survey of the seminal essays on the subject from the last half century. It traces both the intellectual arc and larger theoretical implications of the field, including Queer Theory, which emerged from this scholarship in the early 1990s.Edited by Michael Bronski, a world-renowned, leading scholar in the field, the four volumes cover theory, the pre-modern period, the modern era and contemporary times. As well as substantial contextualizing editor introductions for each book, there are 64 individual essays included across the set, with relationships, identity, community, politics and LGBT around the world all key topics at the heart of this vital collection.This is an essential resource for all scholars interested in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history and LGBT studies more generally.