We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride In The History of Queer Liberation

by Matthew Riemer, Leighton Brown

Have pride in history.

A rich and sweeping photographic history of the queer liberation movement from the creators of the massively popular Instagram account @lgbt_history, released in time for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Through the lens of protest, power, and pride, We Are Everywhere is an essential introduction–told through stunning photographs and thoroughly researched narrative–to the history of the modern queer liberation movement. Tracing queer activism from its late nineteenth century European roots to the homophiles who made Stonewall possible and the gender warriors who continue the struggle today, this beautifully packaged book contains hundreds of photos and pieces of ephemera that allow the reader to see history as they read. With photography from some of the best-known queer photographers alongside the work of unknown activists, the vintage and contemporary images cover every aspect of queer life and liberation, including marches, protests, family life, personal snapshots, celebrations, reactions to important legal decisions, and Pride.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Queer, LGBT, Social Justice, Art, Historical

368 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2019

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a story of the LGBTQ+ community that doesn’t just center the perspective of white cis gay men. Wonderful coffee table book that I’m sure I’ll share with others in the coming years. As we approach Stonewall 50, this book is a wonderful reminder of all the work that was happening well before that transformative night, how much has moved forward since then, and how far will still need to go.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photos in this large book are wonderful. Really gives the reader a taste of all the different facets of the Gay Liberation Movement now the LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈 civil rights movement. Captivating and makes a great gift.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

If intentions were everything, this would definitely be a full 5 stars, but the book has some ... issues. It's actually an uneasy amalgamation of two books that might have been better separated. The first, and better one, is a visual history of the gay liberation movement, containing a multitude of fascinating photographs covering over a hundred years of homophile history. Even here, after awhile a 'sameness' sets in, since how many pictures of people carrying signs at various Pride events, or 'pinbacks' (i.e., buttons, which the authors seem to fetishize). can one look at? The large coffee table format would seem to favor an even wider and more diverse inclusion of photographs, however.

The second book is less successful, attempting to compress those 100 years of fighting back oppression into a succinct history of the various strands of the movement. Granted this is a daunting task, and even though some snippets provided interesting tidbits of information I DIDN'T know, most of it is an unruly hodge-podge of badly filtered information culled from various sources - all of which did a better job of synthesizing that information than you'll find here. It also skips around in time, and paragraphs that would seem to be better situated in either earlier or latter chapters get shoehorned in willy-nilly. And some seemingly essential information gets relegated to the 30+ pages of footnotes at the end (or omitted all together) .... I had to check out Wikipedia to get concrete information about the death of Marsha P. Johnson, and going back and forth gets truly wearisome.

All that said, I'm not sorry I took the time to wade through this during Pride month... it did give a nice sense of history and reminded me of several struggles and individuals I'd forgotten about.

[John Jardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We’re trying to nudge the community toward a consciousness of gay liberation, rather than the compromise of gay rights.” -Marty Robinson, 1986

This book is the culmination of decades and decades of militant civil-disobedience. The history that is narrated in these pages is one that brings me ineffable pride and that deserves to be widely celebrated, taught, and committed to memory. If you’re seeing this and you have my number, reach out and ask to borrow it—PLEASE.

[Mareike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents a clear and concise overview over the movement for queer liberation in the U.S. from the early 20th century up until now. It's not the deepest dive, but it highlights the many activists and how they came to their activism - and it doesn't shy away from tracing the faultiness between radical activists fighting for liberation and more moderate ones pushing for assimilation. It also takes a much-needed critical look at, among other things, the central position the Stonewall riots are accorded in most popular tellings of U.S.-American LGBTQIA history (which is not to say that Stonewall wasn't important, just that there were other events before, concurrent, and after that are just as important). I was also glad to see the authors repeatedly criticize and condemn the Patient Zero" misnomer that Gaëtan Dugas had long been settled with.

But what makes this book really special and precious are the photos the authors have collected here. It took me a long, long time to realize and start exploring my own queerness and seeing so many photos of LGBTQIA people through the decades was incredibly powerful for me. These photos are why I'm pretty sure I will come back to this book again and again.

[cristian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leer este libro ha sido una de las mejores cosas que he hecho en mi vida, sinceramente. He sonreído, he sufrido, he llorado, he aprendido y, sobre todo, me he sentido orgulloso de lo que soy y de todxs aquellxs que vinieron antes e hicieron que el camino para las generaciones futuras fuese más sencillo. Hemos sido invisibles durante mucho tiempo, pero en realidad siempre hemos estado ahí. Existíamos, existimos y existiremos. Este libro lo demuestra. Igual que también demuestra que no ha sido fácil, que incluso dentro de un colectivo tan oprimido como el nuestro se ha oprimido. Y fueron aquellas personas a las que nadie defendía las que nos dieron la libertad que tenemos ahora. Veo este libro como un homenaje y eso me hace sentir mejor que nunca. Todo ello, por cierto, acompañado de un conjunto de fotografías maravillosas que me han hecho sentir presente, que me han hecho vivir la lectura más intensamente. Ojalá mucha más gente pudiese disfrutar de todas estas historias, de cada recoveco de nuestra historia. Yo, gracias a ellas, soy un poquito más feliz.

"This rose is for Marsha", he said, holding up the larger one. "It's a bigger flower for a bigger heart." He placed it on the ground. "And this rose is for Sylvia," he said of the smaller flower. "She was harder and stronger in a way, and she lasted longer".

[Jeneen Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing historical photographs, beautifully written and very inclusive. Gorgeous queers from our history

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is 2/3 fantastic color pictures and 1/3 very readable history. The layout in this oversize (9" x 12") book is well thought, with big important pictures, and uninterrupted text. I was not able to finish this library book while I had it, since another 'hold' was on it. I'm sure I'll check it out again.

I dislike some other oversize books (especially the DK series) that emphasizs artistic layout over readability. I want text I can read and this book delivers. Paragraphs are uninterrupted and fill the page, instead of being squished to fit around pictures. I like the black text on a white background in a consistent font - Thank You!

I skimmed every single picture, since this book cries out for you do do so! I did not get to read as much as I wanted (yet). For USA history, I have already loved: The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America by Eric Cervini. The detail in this We Are Everywhere book is shorter, but it looks like all the important milestones are covered.

I'll add more to this review when I get the opportunity to check this out from my local library once again.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully crafted coffee table book that charts the history of LGBTQ liberation in the United States. Included are historical photographs that span across the 20th and 21st-centuries. This is augmented with text that shows how the history of each movement is related to each other.

Photos of Jiro Onuma at the Tule Lake concentration camp in the 1940s.

"At a time when people in the United States seemed unable to challenge authority, Jorgensen and her European doctors forced them to question everything: individuality, science, gender, sex, and sexuality. And, given her moral objections to homosexuality, Jorgensen stressed that transsexuality was a scientific issue that could be corrected: "Nature," she told her parents, "made the mistake which I have had corrected and I am now your daughter."

A brief note on terminology is necessary here. The umbrella term transgender-which Professor Susan Stryker uses "to refer to people who move away from the gender they were assigned at birth, people who cross over (trans-), the boundaries constructed by their culture to define and contain that gender"-encompasses, among other distinct groups, transsexuals (who desire to change their sex, whether or not, they undergo any transformative procedures, generally as a means to affirm their gender identity as different from what they were assigned at birth) and transvestites (who "wear gender atypical clothing but do not engage in other kinds of body modification")."72

"Unsurprisingly, the homophiles did little to support Jorgensen. In an open letter in ONE, for example, Dale Jennings summarized the vitriol and ignorance of may gay men, calling Jorgensen a "eunuch" who'd turned to surgery as a "solution" for homosexuality. "You're not a woman," he said. "A dress and high heels will not provide you with a baby." In essence Jennings saw Jorgensen as a traitorous homosexual man who weakly accepted the notion that castration was the cure." 74

"The attack on gender norms picked up back in the 1950s and 1960s, as drag balls returned to a central role in urban queer life, despite the disapproval of white middle-class gay. Philadelphia-born Flawless Sabrina helped organize pageants across the United States, as the lines between drag, transvestism, and transsexualism remained blurry. Crystal LaBeija, one of the contestants in Sabrina's 1967 film The Queen, was a legend in New York's ball scene for decades. On the West Coast, Empress Jose I (Jose Sarria) built the Imperial Court System, a network of queer social organizations known for its Gala Drag Balls." 100

"In the five years since the North American Conference of Homophile Organization (NACHO) had declared "GAY IS GOOD," the number of gay organizations in the United States had gone from about sixty to over twenty-five hundred. As San Francisco activist Carl Wittman wrote in his 1969 essay, "A Gay Manifesto," there'd been "an awakening of gay liberation ideas and energy."110

"During the same period, though, Women's Liberation fragmented, and more militant ideologies emerged. Radical Feminist groups-seeking a "revolution in which women free themselves from male definitions and domination in all areas of society: politically, economically, socially, psychologically and sexually"-developed as an alternative to older organizations. With an emphasis on sexual freedom from men, Radical Feminism produced "political lesbians," women who weren't born queer but who had "decided to sleep with other women as an act of political solidarity." Ti-Grace Atkinson best captured the convergence of Radical Feminism and Lesbian Liberation, writing, "Feminism is the theory; lesbinism is the practice." 150

"Finally, on July 3, 1981, the New York Times ran Lawrence Altman's article "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals,..." 221

"When the queer struggle shifted from Gay Liberation to Gay Rights in the 1970s, queer history had to be packaged as neatly as David Goodstein's Advocate. It's "what always happens to radical protest movements," Martin Duberman said.." 270

"I HATE STRAIGHTS" anonymous queers, NYC, June 1990. 299

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was very incredible especially considering of how passionate I am about Queer History it gives a really incredible timeline and overview of Queer History it was especially incredible to read to me during pride month which just a remember to ecreyone isn't about pride it's about resistance it's about fucking activism.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me first take my hat off to the two authors of this book. What a fantastic accomplishment these two men have produced with this beautiful, powerful, and most necessary book that describes the LGBTQ+ struggle for equality, human dignity, rights, and acceptance in this nation. It's about time a book like this was put together and it could only be done by two gay men who wanted to make sure this history was documented and written about properly. They don't just introduce readers to LGBTQ+ people on the East and West coasts, but cover many areas throughout the United States.

No one book could ever be comprehensive enough to cover every moment in the history of a group of people, but this book, thankfully, doesn't try but focuses instead on the early 1900s till the present. With thorough research, the two authors detail the early starts and stops of the movement, the leaders who emerged through the years, and how each time period was filled with victories and losses. The authors also don't sugarcoat the infighting among members of various organizations, the competing goals of those deemed "radicals" vs. "centrists," and how too often transgendered men and women, people of color, and lesbians were sidelined and/or their interests and concerns ignored. There's so much information presented that I'm sure I will be going back and re-reading sections to get a deeper understanding of my history. So much was new to me and helped me to understand that our fight didn't start with the Stonewall Riots but has played out for many, many decades.

What really sets this book apart are all the incredible black & white and color photographs included with this book. The authors delved far and wide throughout collections from museums and individuals to add context to the words. The photos are superb and I would have to say that 99% of them I have never seen before anywhere. It validated all the pictures I take at various LGBTQ+ events and lets me know that one day my photos may be important documentation of a people.

What I took away from all of these photographs and this book is how important it is for LGBTQ+ people to document their own histories and to make sure they take pictures, write a diary/journal, or hold onto various memorabilia as a record of their lives because many in the straight world are not going to care or those interested in telling only a particular version of history will erase these items. Our history deserves to be told.

Kudos to the authors of this book!

[Molly Cleary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK! It was compiled with amazing diligence and research by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown. My work at the Mellon Foundation supports archives cited throughout, like John J. Wilcox, Invisible Histories, and others. AND I used to work with Matthew, so it was amazing for me to see these intersections and hold this physical manifesto of proof that LGBTQ+ are indeed everywhere, and always have been and always will be. When books like this are published, it becomes harder and harder for marginalized voices to be silenced, or worse - forgotten. We need to encourage their publication and celebrate them. Best book of 2019.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for people looking to expand their knowledge on queer history in the US. The authors did such a great job of writing the nuances of terminology from the time and depicting great figures as people who still might have had opinions that would be considered bad problematic today without completely villianizing them or taking away from their accomplishments and what they have done for the community, but still acknowledging them.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it took me a long time to finish this book, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it. The photos were magnificent, and it was about a topic that I know next to nothing about. I learned a ton in this book and although I can never truly understand how transgender and non-heterosexual feel and experience the world, I think I have a better understanding of the issues and problems that this community has faced. I really enjoyed this book!

[elle vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really, really enjoyed this, and i really loved how inclusive and informational it is. big fan

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing read! It was particularly appealing to me due to the fact that many/most of the images were from the 60s and 70s, when I was coming-of-age and a teen/young adult. So glad I read this to learn much of this history that I would never have otherwise known!

Why can't we just let people be who they are without judging and/or oppressing them? Live and let live is a motto many more of us should live by, IMO!

[Nott]

I want to see more queer people, more pictures from the past. I want to see every single one. I want to look into their faces and remember.

[Ashley Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant compilation of queer (American) history. I appreciated the distinction being made that Stonewall was nowhere near the "beginning"; indeed, we have an entire first chapter dedicated to pre-Stonewall queer history, and the mainstream decision to push Stonewall as "the start of gay rights" is -- and should be recognized as -- a lie, especially when occasions like Stonewall 25 still did nothing to include the trans community.

One name I was not expecting to see mentioned herein was Dr Anthony Fauci. Small world.

All gratitude and honor to the elders of the queer community -- Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P Johnson, Harry Hay, Audre Lorde, Leslie Feinberg, et al -- and the thousands who perished because of the AIDS crisis.

[Ben Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great. The historical writing and research was strong, but I think what really makes this great is the fantastic selection of photos, many from the authors' personal collections. The size of the book made it a little awkward for bedtime reading, but it was absolutely worth it.

[Laura Sackton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this on my shelf for years and have taken it down from time to time to flip through and look at the photos. Turns out it was worth reading the whole way through, too.

[Xanthe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is called we are everywhere and it’s like a coffee table book about the progression of LGBTQ+ rights in America. People were finding the secret gay bars and burning people alive while they were doing community church!! Gay pastors!! And then their families wouldn’t even claim their bodies because they knew that they were gay because of where they had been found!! Pple were fired from their jobs for being gay and getting disowned as they lay dying from escaping but not really from the fires!! This book was meaningful in every way. I had to stop and start again with this book, because not only at times was it incredibly sad, but these were real people that had to bear this suffering not characters in a book. It makes me love every queer old person even more because this book gives me a slight taste of what they went through at different points in their lives. This book <333

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Great pictures.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice and human account of the US Queer Rights Movement of the 20th century. The best parts were the photographs and the consistent and deliberate attempt to re-insert trans and bisexuality - as well as race and class elements- back into the narrative. The authors clearly wrote this book with the best intent and it was so refreshing to see the focus move away from white cis gay men (which i see too much researching queer history) to - dare i say - full intersectionality.
My biggest complaint about this book is how saturated with groups and names this is. I get the intent of wanting to bring in grassroots etc. but it was ineffective unless we spent considerable time on a person/group mentioned. It was, however, effective when the same actors kept showing up throughout and has some emotional impact towards the end.
This book made me love Sylvia Rivera even more than what i knew about her going in - the book managed to paint such a powerful image of her. It was a pleasant surprise for a popular history book engage with some seamless critical analysis - especially about respectability, protest, narrative creation, and whiteness - rather than just being descriptive.
A sometimes slow but interesting book. Would love to own a physical copy for the photos.

[James Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 rounded up

TW: there are multiple references to explicit homophobia, transphobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, hate crime, murder, police brutality and many more like misogyny, racism. But this is our history and we have to acknowledge it, it wasn’t great with queer people suddenly realising they’re queer and being like ‘rights… yay!’ Come on. It’s a horrible history but also hopeful and one we must come to terms with to honour those before us and look forward to what we have to do next.

This book was exceptionally well put together with a clear intention of portraying the real history of the LGBTQIA+ rights and liberation movement. Unlike previous notions of queer history starting with the 69’ Stonewall Riots, centred on the actions of middle class, white, cis, gay men, We Are Everywhere refocuses our history, bringing attention to the true trailblazers to whom we might not have our rights today. The book sophistically tells how the queer liberation and rights movement started, highlighting key moments, figures, groups and ideologies across the 21st C. It deals with the documented history as well as more private acts, the moderates, radicals and the down right pissed off. So many events, organisations and key people I hadn’t heard of (granted my knowledge of queer history is rather limited not being taught it in school - something we really need to address) and this book really makes you appreciate the work of these people. It’s a shame that so much of queer history was riddled with infighting, racism, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia and ridicule of ‘freaks’ to whom actually did the majority of on the ground fighting. How far ahead would we be if the infighting was addressed earlier on? We’ll never know but I’m guessing much better.

The format is well executed, split into five sections focused on different time frames and ideologies. There is some disjointedness in terms of telling the tale but overall I think it’s well put together and makes sense. It was not a linear path - history is a very messy field and I feel the authors did a great job at compiling the story into a succinct chronology. There are large sections of knowledge broken up by stunningly rendered photographs, it’s externally readable. I read this whilst listening to dark academia / piano / rain music and it paired so well with a book like this so I would totally recommend, it’s solemn, melancholy and really refocused my attention on what I was reading and seeing. It was only a recollection of USA’s queer history, so something like that based on British queer history would be something I’d be interested in - any recommendations greatly appreciated.

These are some quotes that stood out to me:

‘We stand on the shoulders of those who’ve demanded our community look beyond dominant narratives in search not for the stories we want but instead for the history we have’

‘[the evidence]… point to a truth that members of the dominant culture take for granted: you've always been here, you always will be here, and you are everywhere.’

‘You can "never be like them," Sylvia Rivera said, and, by longing for normality, "you are forgetting your own individual identity." The very source of queer power, Nestle wrote, is that our "roots lie in the history of a people who were called freaks."’

‘There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives’
‘For not one of us will ever be free until we are all free’ - Audre Lorde

‘…the [Stonewall] riots must therefore be "viewed as an achievement of gay liberation rather than as a literal account of its origins."’

‘We need to know the ones who went before us’ - Leonard Matlovich

‘Remember, assimilation is a lie. It is spiritual erasure. Our visibility is a sign of revolt. We cannot be stopped. We are everywhere. We are bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender people.’ - Lani Ka’ahumanu

‘The only way we can build real solidarity in our movements is to be the best fighters of each other's oppressions. It's the kind of solidarity that's forged in the heat of struggle that makes lasting bonds.’ - Leslie Feinberg

‘To Queer Nationalists, "using 'queer' is a way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world... a way of telling ourselves we don't have to be witty and charming people who keep our lives discreet and marginalized in the straight world."’

‘…everyday you wake up alive, relatively happy, and as a functioning human being, you are committing a rebellious act. You as an alive and functioning queer are a revolutionary.’

‘Being queer means leading a different sort of life. It's not about the mainstream, profit-margins, patriotism, patriarchy or being assimilated... It's about being on the margins, defining ourselves; it's about gender-fuck and secrets, what's beneath the belt and deep inside the heart; it's about the night.’

‘When the history of this epidemic is told, let it be known that gay men, lesbians, and women were our warriors; that we took care of our sick and we fought a government that seemed not to care. And we did it with integrity, compassion, and love. Be well everyone, I love you.’ - Terry Sutton’s outgoing message on his answering machine before he died

"We condemn attempts to label us as 'victims’, a term which implies defeat. And we are only occasionally 'patients’, a term which implies passivity, helplessness, and dependence upon the care of others. We are People With AIDS’.” - Denver Principles

[Rachel Nortz · Rating 5 out of 5]

No queer history is ever going to be complete because of the way we have been buried, hidden, and erased from the narrative. I’m thankful for this slice. I’m thankful the way it centers trans people, especially trans women of color. I’m thankful for knowing where I come from in a community where our defining trait is finding our family and heritage out in the world instead of where we are born. I’m thankful that I can fight for the next chapter.

Taken from the Asheville offering at BNV a few years ago in a stunning piece about intersectionality: “my bones are genetically thickened due to the brutality my ancestors bore.”

May we continue to be everywhere.

[Hristo Serafimov · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful encyclopedia-like book on LGBT+ history. Some parts flowed better than others but overall it's great for references and you can feel the hard work that was put into compiling so many details about important events for the queer movement. Also, spectacular photos!

[Susan Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent photographic and journalistic trip down the history of the LGBTQPIA movements. This volume is perfect for anyone wanting to learn more or as a refresher on history that finally does not exclude intersections of the entire LGBTQPIA communities and movements.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect introduction to queer history and power written in accessible and engaging tone. Would highly recommend for anyone (especially baby queers!) looking to get into queer history for the first time.

[Songie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

Read this as part of the queer book club at work. I really enjoyed this! Definitely recommend it to anyone trying to learn more about queer history.

My only nitpicks are in terms of formatting (sometimes a sentence is halfway, there’s a bunch of images, and the sentence continues. I get a bit lost).

I was surprised this didn’t go over the legalization of same-sex marriage, nonetheless, it manages to recount a great part of the history of queer liberation within the United States.

It’s a work of love and dedication to compile these pieces of history and sort them enough to have a coherent timeline. Great work quoting and citing sources.

[Will add quotes later]

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning