Gay L. A. A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians [Hardcover]

The exhortation to Go West! has always had a strong hold on the American imagination. But for the gays, lesbians, and transgendered people who have moved to L.A. over the past two centuries, the City of Angels has offered a special home--which, in turn, gave rise to one of the most influential gay cultures in the world. Drawing upon untouched archives of documents and photographs and over 200 new interviews, Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons chart L.A.'s unique gay history, from the first missionary encounters with Native American cross-gendered two spirits to cross-dressing frontier women in search of their fortunes; from the bohemian freedom of early Hollywood to the explosion of gay life during World War II to the underground radicalism sparked by the 1950s blacklist; from the 1960s gay liberation movement to the creation of gay marketing in the 1990s. Faderman and Timmons show how geography, economic opportunity, and a constant influx of new people created a city that was more compatible to gay life than any other in America. Combining broad historical scope with deftly wrought stories of real people, from the Hollywood sound stage to thebarrio, Gay L.A.is American social history at its best.

Lillian Fadermanis the award-winning author of numerous books on lesbian/gay history, includingSurpassing the Love of MenandOdd Girls and Twilight Lovers, which were both named among theNew York TimesNotable Books of the Year. Her most recent book,Naked in the Promised Land, received the Judy Grahn Award for nonfiction, and a Lambda Literary Award for memoir. She also has been given several lifetime achievement awards for gay/lesbian scholarship, including the Paul Monette/Rogler Horwitz Award, Yale University's James Brudner Award, and the Publishing Triangle's Bill Whitehead Award. She lives in California.Stuart Timmons'The Trouble with Harry Hay, chronicled a century of gay life in Los Anglã]