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Social Movements
LGBTQ Social Movements
In recent years, there has been substantial progress on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights in the United States. We are now, though, in a time of incredible political uncertainty for queer people. LGBTQ Social Movements provides an accessible introduction to mainstream LGBTQ movements in the U.S., illustrating the many forms that LGBTQ activism has taken since the mid-20th century.
Covering a range of topics including the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation, AIDS politics, queer activism, marriage equality fights, youth action, and bisexual and transgender justice, Lisa M. Stulberg explores how marginalized people and communities have used a wide range of political and cultural tools to demand and create change. The five key themes that guide the book are assimilationism and liberationism as complex strategies for equality, the limits and possibilities of legal change, the role of art and popular culture in social change, the interconnectedness of social movements, and the role of privilege in movement organizing.
This book is an important tool for understanding current LGBTQ politics and will be essential reading for students and scholars of sexuality, LGBTQ studies, and social movements.
Covering a range of topics including the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation, AIDS politics, queer activism, marriage equality fights, youth action, and bisexual and transgender justice, Lisa M. Stulberg explores how marginalized people and communities have used a wide range of political and cultural tools to demand and create change. The five key themes that guide the book are assimilationism and liberationism as complex strategies for equality, the limits and possibilities of legal change, the role of art and popular culture in social change, the interconnectedness of social movements, and the role of privilege in movement organizing.
This book is an important tool for understanding current LGBTQ politics and will be essential reading for students and scholars of sexuality, LGBTQ studies, and social movements.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published February 20, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 28, 2021
The book bills itself as an introduction to LGBTQ movements for students who aren't familiar with the topic yet. As such, it provides an interesting and fairly comprehensive overview of some key developments in the US since the early 20th century.
However, it suffers from a number of analytical shortcomings that mean that I wouldn't use this in class without some very serious contextualising.
First, there are number of unacknowledged problematic assumptions built into the book. The most obvious one is that it is called 'LGBQ Social Movements', but is only about the US (continually referred to as 'America'). It then proceeds from a 'we the nation' stance according to which queer people are implicitly seen as (desiring to be) part of the 'American' nation rather than addressing the issues that come with that understanding of the nation – including, but not limited to, queer critiques of national belonging and Indigenous analyses and critiques of settler colonialism.
Beyond these fundamental oversights, the book attempts to address inequalities and structural power relations within LGBTQ movements (especially related to race and to some extent gender and class) and succeeds in doing to so a certain extent. However, this aspect often comes across as a sort of afterthought, with the regular pattern being an overview of 'the movement(s)' that sometimes involves scattered mentions of whiteness or the dominance of gay men, to be followed by a swerve to communities of colour. Thus, while such communities of colour are included to some extent, they are implicitly positioned as the other to the universal movement in a way that white communities are not.
The treatment of inequalities further tends to utilise an undertheorised notion of 'privilege'. There is no discussion of how 'privilege' is conceptualised and what it involves, and my impression is that as a result, inequalities are individualised and essentialised instead of being addressed as structural forces: it's privileged white gay men that are responsible for inequalities, not white supremacist, patriarchal and similar structures and patterns.
I also found the distinction between 'assimilationist' and 'liberationist' tendencies within LGBTQ movements that the book highlights to be unconvincing and equally undertheorised, especially as the distinction is shown to be too simple within the chapters themselves.
In spite of these issues, the first three chapters in particular provide a helpful, basic historical overview of key developments in the US.
The last two chapters promise to spotlight two specific aspects of LGBTQ movements today – young people and bi/trans activism –, but underwhelmed in their emphasis on descriptive statistics that are barely contextualised as well as minutious enumerations of legal developments in singular US states (though these may be more interesting to US readers of course). The chapter on 'B' and 'T' specifically only offers a very narrow selection of issues, developments and discussions relevant to bi and trans people and communities, and intersex is barely mentioned at all.
However, it suffers from a number of analytical shortcomings that mean that I wouldn't use this in class without some very serious contextualising.
First, there are number of unacknowledged problematic assumptions built into the book. The most obvious one is that it is called 'LGBQ Social Movements', but is only about the US (continually referred to as 'America'). It then proceeds from a 'we the nation' stance according to which queer people are implicitly seen as (desiring to be) part of the 'American' nation rather than addressing the issues that come with that understanding of the nation – including, but not limited to, queer critiques of national belonging and Indigenous analyses and critiques of settler colonialism.
Beyond these fundamental oversights, the book attempts to address inequalities and structural power relations within LGBTQ movements (especially related to race and to some extent gender and class) and succeeds in doing to so a certain extent. However, this aspect often comes across as a sort of afterthought, with the regular pattern being an overview of 'the movement(s)' that sometimes involves scattered mentions of whiteness or the dominance of gay men, to be followed by a swerve to communities of colour. Thus, while such communities of colour are included to some extent, they are implicitly positioned as the other to the universal movement in a way that white communities are not.
The treatment of inequalities further tends to utilise an undertheorised notion of 'privilege'. There is no discussion of how 'privilege' is conceptualised and what it involves, and my impression is that as a result, inequalities are individualised and essentialised instead of being addressed as structural forces: it's privileged white gay men that are responsible for inequalities, not white supremacist, patriarchal and similar structures and patterns.
I also found the distinction between 'assimilationist' and 'liberationist' tendencies within LGBTQ movements that the book highlights to be unconvincing and equally undertheorised, especially as the distinction is shown to be too simple within the chapters themselves.
In spite of these issues, the first three chapters in particular provide a helpful, basic historical overview of key developments in the US.
The last two chapters promise to spotlight two specific aspects of LGBTQ movements today – young people and bi/trans activism –, but underwhelmed in their emphasis on descriptive statistics that are barely contextualised as well as minutious enumerations of legal developments in singular US states (though these may be more interesting to US readers of course). The chapter on 'B' and 'T' specifically only offers a very narrow selection of issues, developments and discussions relevant to bi and trans people and communities, and intersex is barely mentioned at all.
February 27, 2018
Lisa Stulberg told me, when I interviewed her on KKUP radio, the other day, that the reason that she wrote this text book was that she found it hard to teach LGBTQ social studies, and history without it. Most of her students knew about the fight for gay marriage, or may have heard of Stonewall, because she was teaching not far from that famous bar, but they couldn’t tell her much more than that, so she wrot this book.
She has divided it into the five major movements in LGBTQ rights in the United States. These movements were: Before and after Stonewall, the AIDS activism, Marriage polticits, LGBTQ Youth, and the “b” and “t” as she calls bringing in Bisexuals and Transgenders. As she explained, although we currently call it LGBTQ, in the early days it was just G, as in Gay. Then, later, Lesbians were added, then Bisexuals then Transgenders, and Queer.
What she found most interesting, when she was doing research to write the book, was that it was World War II that brought about the biggest change to the LGBTQ community. It brought large numbers of men and women together, where they might not have ever met, and a lot of them found each other, and when the war was over, didn’t want to go “back to the farm” so to speak.
She also brought up, how, there were always those that thought if they just looked and talked, and acted as straight as possible, so that they wouldn’t be that different, that they would be accepted for who they were, versus the parts of the movement who felt that was not the right way to go. She called that the difference between Assilimlationists and liberationists, and how that is common in all social movements such as the civil rights movement and the women’s rights movements.
Well written, comprehensive, non-dry book. I can only hope that it finds its way into many classrooms.
Thanks to Gail Leandare Public Relations for providing this book for an honest review.
She has divided it into the five major movements in LGBTQ rights in the United States. These movements were: Before and after Stonewall, the AIDS activism, Marriage polticits, LGBTQ Youth, and the “b” and “t” as she calls bringing in Bisexuals and Transgenders. As she explained, although we currently call it LGBTQ, in the early days it was just G, as in Gay. Then, later, Lesbians were added, then Bisexuals then Transgenders, and Queer.
What she found most interesting, when she was doing research to write the book, was that it was World War II that brought about the biggest change to the LGBTQ community. It brought large numbers of men and women together, where they might not have ever met, and a lot of them found each other, and when the war was over, didn’t want to go “back to the farm” so to speak.
She also brought up, how, there were always those that thought if they just looked and talked, and acted as straight as possible, so that they wouldn’t be that different, that they would be accepted for who they were, versus the parts of the movement who felt that was not the right way to go. She called that the difference between Assilimlationists and liberationists, and how that is common in all social movements such as the civil rights movement and the women’s rights movements.
Well written, comprehensive, non-dry book. I can only hope that it finds its way into many classrooms.
Thanks to Gail Leandare Public Relations for providing this book for an honest review.
June 6, 2022
Hopefully I'll get more of a review up here, but for now: I found this book fascinating, informative, helpful. I was fascinated to learn details of various actions and initiatives that moved the USA to more affirming social attitudes and national legislation between 1960 and 2016. Stulberg chooses a few critical events and movements throughout those years, outlining key players, internal tensions within LGBTQ advocates, and multiple types/agents of resistance. I was inspired and humbled by the tenacity of those who made the choices and did the work to bring change, and in that way we see parallels with social movements for other causes.
July 8, 2022
Interesting and useful general history overview of queer lives covered, but little depth/exploration of specific movements (as the title boasts). There’s no detailed exploration of movement organizing, following its early stages, how it operated (protests, for example), then evolving, etc. there’s a little of this with ACT UP, but not much else.
February 25, 2025
I wasn't impressed by a lot of the information presented, I think it was a pretty surface-level analysis of LGBTQ+ history and social movements, especially if you're already in the queer community and know a lot of the information already. But a good starting point for prompting conversations, especially given today's climate.
March 11, 2024
a pretty sanitised account of very standard well known lgbt movements
if you want a book to teach kids in school abt lgbt social movements this is the one for you, that’s the best way i can describe it
if you want a book to teach kids in school abt lgbt social movements this is the one for you, that’s the best way i can describe it
August 16, 2020
Interesting, well-written, and about an important topic.
February 22, 2025
good intro to lgbtq+ movements and related topics with useful references for continued research. could be more clearly organized, intersectional, and expand on the b&t chapter
February 1, 2023
The book bills itself as an introduction to LGBTQ movements for students who aren't familiar with the topic yet. As such, it provides an exciting and reasonably comprehensive overview of some key developments in the US since the early 20th century. Hopefully, I'll get more of a review up here, but for now: I found this book fascinating, informative, and helpful. I was fascinated to learn details of various actions and initiatives that moved the USA to more affirming social attitudes and national legislation between 1960 and 2016. Stulberg chooses a few critical events and movements throughout those years, outlining key players, internal tensions within LGBTQ advocates, and multiple types/agents of resistance. I was inspired and humbled by the tenacity of those who made the choices and did the work to bring change, and in that way, we see parallels with social movements for other causes.
However, it suffers from some analytical shortcomings that mean I wouldn't use this in class without some very serious contextualising. First, several unacknowledged problematic assumptions are built into the book. The most obvious one is that it is called 'LGBQ Social Movements' but is only about the US (continually referred to as 'America'). It then proceeds from a 'we the nation' stance according to which queer people are implicitly seen as (desiring to be) part of the 'American' nation rather than addressing the issues that come with that understanding of the nation – including, but not limited to, queer critiques of national belonging and Indigenous analyses and critiques of settler colonialism.
Beyond these fundamental oversights, the book attempts to address inequalities and structural power relations within LGBTQ movements (primarily related to race and some extent, gender and class). It succeeds in doing so at a specific time. However, this aspect often comes across as an afterthought, with the regular pattern being an overview of 'the movement(s)' that sometimes involves scattered mentions of whiteness or the dominance of gay men, to be followed by a swerve to communities of colour. Thus, while such communities of colour are included to some extent, they are implicitly positioned as the other to the universal movement in a way that white communities are not.
The treatment of inequalities tends to utilise an under-theorised notion of 'privilege'. There is no discussion of how 'privilege' is conceptualised and what it involves, and my impression is that as a result, inequalities are individualised and essentialised instead of being addressed as structural forces: it's privileged white gay men that are responsible for inequalities, not white supremacist, patriarchal and similar structures and patterns.
I also found the distinction between 'assimilationist' and 'liberationist' tendencies within LGBTQ movements that the book highlights to be unconvincing and equally under-theorised, especially as the distinction is shown to be too simple within the chapters themselves. Despite these issues, the first three chapters, in particular, provide a helpful, basic historical overview of key developments in the US.
The last two chapters promise to spotlight two specific aspects of LGBTQ movements today – young people and bi/trans activism –but are underwhelmed in their emphasis on descriptive statistics that are barely contextualised as well as minutes enumerations of legal developments in particular US states (though these may be more interesting to US readers of course). The chapter on 'B' and 'T' specifically only offers a minimal selection of issues, developments and discussions relevant to bi and trans people and communities, and intersex is barely mentioned.
Overall, it was a useful general history overview of queer lives covered, but little depth/exploration of specific movements (as the title boasts). There's no detailed exploration of movement organising, following its early stages, how it operated (protests, for example), then evolving, etc. there's a little of this with ACT UP, but not much else.
However, it suffers from some analytical shortcomings that mean I wouldn't use this in class without some very serious contextualising. First, several unacknowledged problematic assumptions are built into the book. The most obvious one is that it is called 'LGBQ Social Movements' but is only about the US (continually referred to as 'America'). It then proceeds from a 'we the nation' stance according to which queer people are implicitly seen as (desiring to be) part of the 'American' nation rather than addressing the issues that come with that understanding of the nation – including, but not limited to, queer critiques of national belonging and Indigenous analyses and critiques of settler colonialism.
Beyond these fundamental oversights, the book attempts to address inequalities and structural power relations within LGBTQ movements (primarily related to race and some extent, gender and class). It succeeds in doing so at a specific time. However, this aspect often comes across as an afterthought, with the regular pattern being an overview of 'the movement(s)' that sometimes involves scattered mentions of whiteness or the dominance of gay men, to be followed by a swerve to communities of colour. Thus, while such communities of colour are included to some extent, they are implicitly positioned as the other to the universal movement in a way that white communities are not.
The treatment of inequalities tends to utilise an under-theorised notion of 'privilege'. There is no discussion of how 'privilege' is conceptualised and what it involves, and my impression is that as a result, inequalities are individualised and essentialised instead of being addressed as structural forces: it's privileged white gay men that are responsible for inequalities, not white supremacist, patriarchal and similar structures and patterns.
I also found the distinction between 'assimilationist' and 'liberationist' tendencies within LGBTQ movements that the book highlights to be unconvincing and equally under-theorised, especially as the distinction is shown to be too simple within the chapters themselves. Despite these issues, the first three chapters, in particular, provide a helpful, basic historical overview of key developments in the US.
The last two chapters promise to spotlight two specific aspects of LGBTQ movements today – young people and bi/trans activism –but are underwhelmed in their emphasis on descriptive statistics that are barely contextualised as well as minutes enumerations of legal developments in particular US states (though these may be more interesting to US readers of course). The chapter on 'B' and 'T' specifically only offers a minimal selection of issues, developments and discussions relevant to bi and trans people and communities, and intersex is barely mentioned.
Overall, it was a useful general history overview of queer lives covered, but little depth/exploration of specific movements (as the title boasts). There's no detailed exploration of movement organising, following its early stages, how it operated (protests, for example), then evolving, etc. there's a little of this with ACT UP, but not much else.
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March 22, 2019306.76097 S9341 2018
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews