Creating Change: Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights

by John D'Emilio

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312287127
• ISBN13: 9780312287122
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Stonewall Inn Editions
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Inspiring words for trying times

As a progressive activist, I immensley enjoyed this anthology of movers and shakers in the GLBT movement. Introspective, energetic and visionary, they remind both allies and GLBT people although much has been accomplished, there is no shortage of public policy issues to focus their work on. AIDS, securuty clearances, lesbian feminism and dual identity conflicts of GLBT people of color are issues that will not go away until we deal with them substantively. While I was famillar with some names... I was introduced to several unsuing heroes and role models. My only regret is that the book tended to gloss over instaces where the movement was not doing as well as it could have been. I believe this would have made some of the anthology more coherent. There are gaps which take away from the individual policy papers. Even if I understood the National Gay Task Force eventually bevame the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to disadvow sexism, other readers might not be aware of the reason for the name change. More information on the Romer vs. Evans decision (which invalidated Colorado's virulently homophobic Amendment Two), a real victory at a time when the Supreme Court has no shortage of conservatives. The authors simply assume that people know the important bits and pieces that give the riveting stories meaning and importance. Given their backgrounds, this tendency is both troubling and unusual, little is accomplished by preaching to the choirStill, the format of this book means it can also be used as a college textbook on GLBT issues and theory. Thus it is important to consider the book's above mentioned flaws as a fair description rather than a deliberate pan. Flaws and all, this book is recomended for anybody who wants to know what the "newest" civil rights movement has and is doing to improve American society.