Eric Cervini

Happy #pridemonth, y’all! My next #queer read is BEERS & QUEER HISTORY, a collaboration between @ericcervini and @millerlite. Cervini takes us on a tour of some of the more important gay and lesbian bars in the country, with short essays about each, accompanied by an illustration of the bar. Cervini also discusses the decline of the queer bar over the last couple of decades.

After reading this, it put me in mind of the local gay bars that we had here in Lansing and the sense of home and community they offered. I miss those days, hanging out, dancing, the drag shows, the mingling, and I’m happy that I’ve kept in touch with so many of those friends over the years.

A very quick read (the book is only 27 pages, illustrations included), it’s still a fun journey through a part of queer history that may never be the same again.

#books #bookstagram #book #booklover #reading #bookworm #bookstagrammer #bookish #read #booknerd #bookaddict #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #instabook #bookaholic #bookshelf #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #reader #booklove #instabooks #frommybookshelfblog #frommybookshelf #queerbooks #happyreading #queerbookstagram #pride #pride🌈… (mere)

A stubborn cis white gay man, fired from his defense job because he was gay, waged a decades-long war against anti-homosexual discrimination starting in the 1950s and was a major figure in the homophile movement/Mattachine Society. Early on he developed the position that being homosexual was a positive good, which he insisted on while suffering the jeers of those who pointed to the Bible, the positive law, the official position of psychiatry, and the consensus of polite society. He filed legal briefs (pro se) making this argument along with, or sometimes instead of, legal ones. He persisted long past the point of diminishing returns, couldn’t pay his bills, annoyed people around him including his allies, insisted on a politics of respectability that eventually became very outdated, and lived long enough to see himself vindicated and his security clearance retroactively reinstated.… (mere)

This is the total story o the quest for equality for America's Gay/lesbian population. The book centers on Frank Kameny who in the 1950's lost his job with the Dept. of Defense for the sole reason that he was seen doing an "obscene" act. He will eventually found the first organization to protest and agitate for Gay rights. The book broadens out to include many other activists and groups over the years. The progress is painstakingly slow as he personally loses several jobs over the years but ultimately has a meeting with Barack Obama in the Oval office. A really informative and well written book even for a straight man like myself.… (mere)