Sometime between 19, he wrote, “I don’t think this surgery would make me a better man or woman, but I know it would make me a better person. Sullivan would go on to become one of the most visible gay trans men of the Gay Liberation Movement, and this book is a declaration of that journey from start to finish. Starting in 1961, at only ten years old, Sullivan wrestled with gender identity and the tension between who he was inside and his lived reality as a Catholic schoolgirl.
Arranged marriage books series#
Written over a span of three decades, Lou Sullivan lets readers into the depths of his life through a series of intimate diary entries. ' We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan' Edited by Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma To celebrate this month, I’ve got recommendations for books from Lou Sullivan, Jeanette Winterson, and Chinelo Okparanta. And if I love you and duck it, I die.” There’s a lesson to be learned in the story of Pride about fighting oppression with radical love. In response to a question about living in America as a gay man, he explains, “All I know about human life is that if I love you, I love you. That concept makes me think of something James Baldwin said to Maya Angelou.
There’s beauty in the richness of history in LGBTQ+ resistance and the willingness to live authentically, even against dire consequences. It can feel regressive, dark even, but there is joy too. The Human Rights Campaign named 2021 as the worst year for anti-LGBTQ legislation in the United States in recent history, with religious refusal bills, anti-LGBTQ education decrees and anti-trans sports bans being enacted across the country. The following year, organizers arranged the first Pride march, which soon spread to other cities, birthing the movement of love now celebrated worldwide. It carried on for days, marking a turning point in the movement for gay liberation. The riots began in Greenwich Village on a summer night in June 1969, after patrons at the Stonewall Inn defended themselves against the police.
Police often raided bars in search of people breaking these rules, which led to the Stonewall Riots. Same-sex marriage was decades away, bars were forbidden from serving drinks to gay people and cops arrested those who wore more than three pieces of clothing that didn’t match their perceived gender. Pride as we know it today, a joyful month-long celebration, had a radical beginning. WBUR arts and culture fellow Lauren Williams recommends three books to read about all kinds of love.