Speak its Name! Quotations by and about Gay Men and Women

by Christopher Tinker (Editor), Simon Callow (Introduction)

This collection of quotations by and about gay people celebrates the advances of the international LGBT community over the past 50 years. Amusing observations by Noël Coward, Tallulah Bankhead, Quentin Crisp, Boy George and Ian McKellen are interspersed with interviews with Dusty Springfield, Alan Bennett, Freddie Mercury, Clive Barker, George Michael and William S. Burroughs, and diary entries by Kenneth Williams, Joe Orton, W.H. Auden and John Maynard Keynes. John Gielgud and Alan Turing’s accounts of being arrested contrast with letters from Violet Trefusis to her lover Vita Sackville-West, King James I to the Marquis of Buckingham, and Benjamin Britten to his partner Peter Pears. Contributions by Oscar Wilde, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, John Wolfenden, Field Marshal Montgomery, Lord Arran, Margaret Thatcher, Waheed Alli and David Cameron demonstrate enormous developments in gay rights. Reflections from celebrity icons such as Julie Andrews and David Beckham are also featured, alongside a wealth of reproductions.

Genres: LGBT, Biography, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Published November 22, 2016

Reviews

[Mihai-Andrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely top notch stuff, if you ignore the political kiss-up entries (David Cameron, I mean you).

I am particularly elated to discover that George Mallory was bisexual! What a joyful thing to know.

[Paul Allard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening collection of information and quotations from the gay community.

I was fortunate enough to win this book a few years ago and have finally got round to reading it. It's great for dipping into and there's a lot to learn about the various famous people included in this book. I was more interested in the short biographies than the quotations but the whole experience was interesting and informative, Very good.

[Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite elated to see this little book. I wish I had known more gay role models when I was young and I believe this would be the case for a lot of gay kids.