Queer Legacies : Stories from Chicago's Lgbtq Archives

There is no single archive of gay life in Chicago. But since 1981, the Gerbert-Hart Library and Archives has been collecting records of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified individuals and organizations. In this book, legendary scholar John D'Emilio draws on those archives to illuminate the scope of people and groups that literally made history. These include publishers, lawyers, athletes, artists, performers, transvestites, bisexuals, and Latinx organizers, to name a few overlapping constituencies.

They also include institutions like Dignity, long the primary organization giving voice to LGBTQ Catholics, as well as the Gay Academic Union. In that last case, D'Emilio takes the first steps toward a full history of how scholarly research, writing, and teaching developed and how a visible LGBTQ presence became institutionalized in American higher education. D'Emilio's casual and enthusiastic essays range from politics to culture, from social life to institutions. And though the milieu is Chicago, many of the essays reach beyond to illuminate national events. Overall, this is a kaleidoscopic look at the diverse flavors of organizing and community-making that have been pursued by gay men and women over the decades.