Great Speeches on Gay Rights

Description

This comprehensive anthology traces the rhetoric of the gay rights movement from the late nineteenth century to the present. It chronicles the progression from its deeply clandestine beginnings to the battle for recognition, through political struggles and victories of the mid-twentieth century to its current position—at the forefront of the mainstream political debate concerning the fight for marriage equality. The speeches include Robert G. Ingersoll's "Address at the Funeral of Walt Whitman"; Harvey Milk's "Hope Speech"; "Civil Liberties: A Progress Report" by Franklin Kameny; Harry Hay's "Unity and More in '84"; and Urvashi Vaid's "Speech at the March on Washington." Suitable for courses on contemporary politics and social issues, this edition is the only available compilation of speeches on gay rights. Address at the funeral of Walt Whitman (1892) / Robert G. Ingersoll -- Address at the Reichstag (1898) / August Bebel translated by John Lauritsen -- What interest does the women's movement have in solving the homosexual problem? (1904) / Anna Rueling translated by Michael Lombardi-Nash -- Appeal to the Second International Congress for Sexual Reform on behalf of an oppressed human variety (1928) / Kurt Hiller translated by John Lauritsen -- Civil liberties : a progress report (1964) / Franklin Kameny -- Why I joined the movement (1967) / Jack Nichols -- The lesbian and God-the-Father (1972) / Sally Gearhart -- The Hope Speech (1978) / Harvey Milk -- Unity and more in '84 (1984) / Harry Hay -- We gather in Dubuque (1988) / Sue Hyde -- Speech at the March on Washington (1993) / Urvashi Vaid -- Why can't we all get together, and what do we have in common? (1997) / Jim Kepner -- The emerging sex panic targeting gay men (1997) / Eric Rofes -- Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness : the GLBT movement at a crossroads (2000) / Elizabeth Toledo -- First convention speech by a gay organization's leader (2000) / Elizabeth Birch -- Marriage equality and lessons for the scary work of winning (2004) / Evan Wolfson -- The Civil Marriage Act (2005) / Paul Martin -- A matter of interest (2009) / Ian Hunter.