GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE JUNE 23, 1995

WILLIAM C. HALE, PH.D.

PSYCHOLOGIST

Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues

Coping with Loss and Grief

Survivors of Abuse

Depression

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Living with AIDS

Self Esteem and Assertiveness

Relationship Problems

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BOOKS

An entertaining, educating look at our history

Out of the Past

Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present by Neil Miller

Reviewed by Dan Mullen

Did you know that Native American tribes once revered members who took on roles of the opposite sex? That pre-World War II Germany was a golden age for gay culture and research? Or that Sappho's legacy was revived in Paris before 1900? These are just some of the anecdotes that come "out of the past" while reading Neil Miller's new survey of queer history and social construction.

Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present is a dense narrative focused on Western Europe and North America. A former Boston journalist and author of In Search of Gay America, Miller has drawn from the work of historians and scholars to form a dramatic, readable introduction to the last 125 years. The account is flavored with mini-biographies and excerpts from books and letters.

The 560-page book is also somewhat of a reference text. The names of hundreds of selected historical figures, famous and semifamous, are bold-faced for easy accessibility. A complete index is supplemented by bibliography and summary of reference choices.

The history begins with the "Invention of Homosexuality." In Walt Whitman's time, "the love that dared not speak its name" had no name. Change began when Oscar Wilde became the first symbol of "homosexual degeneracy." Intense emotional relationships between women, lesbian chic in Paris, and England's patriotic "love of comrades" were freedoms of a passing time. Science and society began associating sexuality with same-sex intimacy and attraction.

Gay life, forced underground, blossomed in "Four Bohemias." The 1920's countercultures of Greenwich Village, Renaissance Harlem, Paris, and London's Bloomsbury were havens for an emerging queer culture.

However, World War II welcomed a "Triumph of Ideology." Homosexuals were scape-

goats and deviates in Stalin's Russia, Nazi Germany, and the United States.

In the 1950s, Freudian psychology and McCarthyism peaked, influencing Britain and Canada until their courts brought reform: in the sixties, moderate gay and lesbian organizations struggled in America and watched a radical society from offstage.

"OF THE PASES the best intru Dust and press that I know at supe

QUTY the PAST

eil Miller

esbian History

om 1 1869 to

the Present

Stonewall marked the revolution and militancy of the "Gay Liberation Decades." Freedom was now for all, feminism led the way, and the ballot box proved effective.

Harvey Milk, Anita Bryant and AIDS bring the reader into the present. The "International Scene" reviews and evaluates recent communist and fascist stances and Japan. Miller concludes with the "Gay Moment" and disappointment of the Clinton presidency.

Out of the Past focuses on the lives of gay and lesbian artists, activists and intellectuals. Lesbian history does seem well represented: The balanced account includes scveral chapters and sections devoted to female themes. Miller's book is a great introduction because it gives one an overview that is bound to pique more intense interest in certain areas. Out of the Past is educating and entertaining as it samples a wide range of queer life, repression, and freedom.

A century of lesbian and gay identity

Continued from page 21

and lesbian progress. I think we're so far along the road that there's really no going back. It is two steps forward, one step back, and all this kind of thing. But the shift in political climate is just distressing. I'm not

lgjo

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quite as optimistic as she is, but I remain optimistic.

Politically, are we headed in the right direction?

I think our leadership just seems really poor. I don't know. There just don't seem to be any outstanding gay leaders we can really look to who really articulate our positions. Maybe once Roberta Achtenberg becomes mayor of San Francisco that will change. (Laughs.)

Any comments on your next book? Well, I don't know what it is. That's my comment. I think what I want to do is something that is more in my usual kind of journalistic approach to things. I'm not planning to do another history book, unless this book is so successful that there's a huge demand for me to do that.

If you could go back and relive one period covered in Out of the Past, which one would you choose?

(Laughs.) God, that's an interesting question. I've always been fascinated by World War I, but I don't think I want to relive it. You know, the trenches and all that. (Laughs) Gee, that's certainly a provocative question. I'm looking through chapters here: Paris in the '20s, that sounds pretty good... the Harlem Renaissance . . . that early period in Germany-but I don't know that I want to live in Germany in 1910... it's not the '70s... the '60s-well, I did live through some of this--but the carly gay liberation days, which I actually missed out on. That would be a lot of fun to relive.