A queer capital : a history of gay life in Washington, D.C. /

Beemyn, director of the Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, offers a fascinating account of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) life in Washington, DC. Beginning in the 1890s with an analysis of gay male cruising culture and ending with the current struggle for trans rights, Beemyn's work is sweeping in chronology and scope. Other key topics include the same-sex sexual lives of Washington's black elites during the New Negro Renaissance, mid-20th-century community-building and crackdowns, and LGBT movements during the 1960s and 1970s. In all of these examples, Beemyn highlights not only the challenges LGBT individuals faced but also the forms of resistance they devised. Particularly illuminating is her analysis of how race, gender, class, and region shaped (and continue to shape) LGBT experiences, communities, and identities. Also impressive is the range of primary sources employed in this history. In addition to archival records and published primary sources, the author conducted more than 100 interviews, which provided important information about the history of LGBT life in the nation's capital. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduate collections and above. --Laura Micheletti Puaca, Christopher Newport University