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The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS
The little-known story of the man who sparked a groundswell of gay activism with a wrongly decided Supreme Court decision.
When a police officer stood at his bedroom door on August 3, 1982, Michael Hardwick had no idea that he would become an avatar of the gay rights movement. Arrested for sodomy, Hardwick sued for his right to privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraled. When he lost, his era-defining case inspired a half-million people to protest against the Court. Today Bowers v. Hardwick continues to reverberate as the rights of privacy underpinning abortion, contraception, and same-sex relationships come under fire.
In this fiercely empathetic blend of biography and history, Martin Padgett tells the story of Hardwick’s life—as a child of Stonewall, as an artist, and as one of thousands claimed by the epidemic. The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick reveals the halting shifts of American sexual politics, poses urgent questions about the Supreme Court, and returns to Hardwick some of the humanity stolen from him.
When a police officer stood at his bedroom door on August 3, 1982, Michael Hardwick had no idea that he would become an avatar of the gay rights movement. Arrested for sodomy, Hardwick sued for his right to privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraled. When he lost, his era-defining case inspired a half-million people to protest against the Court. Today Bowers v. Hardwick continues to reverberate as the rights of privacy underpinning abortion, contraception, and same-sex relationships come under fire.
In this fiercely empathetic blend of biography and history, Martin Padgett tells the story of Hardwick’s life—as a child of Stonewall, as an artist, and as one of thousands claimed by the epidemic. The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick reveals the halting shifts of American sexual politics, poses urgent questions about the Supreme Court, and returns to Hardwick some of the humanity stolen from him.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published June 3, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
did-not-finish
October 23, 2025wish i’d liked the writing style more for this one :/
May 9, 2025
Terrific history of the man behind the (in)famous Bowers v Hardwick Supreme Court case. I learned about the case in school but had no idea who the appellant was or what led this case to be tried. I am grateful to the author for his extensive research. We lost so many men of that generation to AIDS and so many stories were lost. I’m glad I got to read this one. The inside info about the Supreme Court Justices was also gold. My only quibble with the book was honestly the conclusion, where the author decided to go on and on about the process of history/historiography. I wasn’t into it. Luckily this was just a small part of an overall great book.
Highly recommend to anyone who likes legal history or lgbtq history.
I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Highly recommend to anyone who likes legal history or lgbtq history.
I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
August 28, 2025
Martin Padgett does an amazing job of piecing together Hardwick's life before, during and after the fateful loss before the Supreme Court.
As he says in the Epilogue, "History is a kind of karmic recovery operation that inevitably raises more questions than it can answer. Historians try to resurrect people and re-create events gone unrecorded, mementos discarded, traumas long since buried. The past usually is unrecoverable, but is especially difficult to document during Hardwick's time and in his community, where so many people died so quickly, and so young...History is a kind of karmic recovery operation that inevitably raises more questions than it can answer...The point of history is to provoke us into contemplation or into action...a radical pursuit of instability in the hope of achieving perfection, knowing it will always fail."
I had never heard of Hardwick or the Supreme Court case - or have forgotten. I lost many friends to AIDS and never understood (and still don't) why queerness raises so many people's hackles.
We're living in a time of destruction of so many Supreme Court precedents, so much rancor and hatred and division and understandable fear of a dictatorship. Who would have thought so much could be lost in less than a year?
This book reminds me of how hard people have had to fight for their rights.
As he says in the Epilogue, "History is a kind of karmic recovery operation that inevitably raises more questions than it can answer. Historians try to resurrect people and re-create events gone unrecorded, mementos discarded, traumas long since buried. The past usually is unrecoverable, but is especially difficult to document during Hardwick's time and in his community, where so many people died so quickly, and so young...History is a kind of karmic recovery operation that inevitably raises more questions than it can answer...The point of history is to provoke us into contemplation or into action...a radical pursuit of instability in the hope of achieving perfection, knowing it will always fail."
I had never heard of Hardwick or the Supreme Court case - or have forgotten. I lost many friends to AIDS and never understood (and still don't) why queerness raises so many people's hackles.
We're living in a time of destruction of so many Supreme Court precedents, so much rancor and hatred and division and understandable fear of a dictatorship. Who would have thought so much could be lost in less than a year?
This book reminds me of how hard people have had to fight for their rights.
July 1, 2025
Two years ago, I went online to look for a book on Michael Hardwick after reading about some LGBTQ history. There were no books about him available at the time. So simply the fact that I have now been able to read hundreds of pages about him in this book is a marvel in itself. We need stuff like this considering how little information is available on the internet about Michael (not even a brief Wikipedia page!). The author must be commended for putting this together and helping to preserve his story.
Because of how little information is available about Hardwick's life, the book does sometimes stray from its original purpose into ACT UP and other queer rights protest descriptions, which was appreciated but not really what I was looking for. But the heart of the book is this: what was Hardwick's life like, as a man whose SCOTUS case was only vindicated some 13 years after his death from AIDS? A man who inadvertently became the face of the gay rights movement for a couple years? And it provides some incredible insight into that question.
The language does get a little flowery at times (like when the author is talking about Hardwick's stunning good looks and his chiseled jawline) but we're talking about gays here so I'll give it a pass. We tend to be a little flowery.
Because of how little information is available about Hardwick's life, the book does sometimes stray from its original purpose into ACT UP and other queer rights protest descriptions, which was appreciated but not really what I was looking for. But the heart of the book is this: what was Hardwick's life like, as a man whose SCOTUS case was only vindicated some 13 years after his death from AIDS? A man who inadvertently became the face of the gay rights movement for a couple years? And it provides some incredible insight into that question.
The language does get a little flowery at times (like when the author is talking about Hardwick's stunning good looks and his chiseled jawline) but we're talking about gays here so I'll give it a pass. We tend to be a little flowery.
July 28, 2025
The point of history is to provoke us into contemplation or into action, to learn what is presented to us as fact and then, often, to actively seek to disrupt that perception of truth. It is a radical pursuit of instability in the hope of achieving perfection, knowing it will always fail.
this is such a scary time to be reading about queer history, bc everything that was happening in the past is happening again now. but i guess that means it’s the perfect time to be reading about queer history.
this is such a scary time to be reading about queer history, bc everything that was happening in the past is happening again now. but i guess that means it’s the perfect time to be reading about queer history.
July 10, 2025
Having known Michael during his Atlanta time, this book captures the essence of the man. Humble (yeah some ego), handsome, caring. It also tells the story that "fame" for the good causes may not end as expected.
Highly recommend this read.
Highly recommend this read.
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September 7, 2025Audio
November 30, 2025
Another history of a time when I was alive, but not really paying attention. Well-researched and easy to read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews