We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation

Gilbert Baker, the creator of the Gay Pride flag in 1978 and devoted his entire life to gay activism.Bayard Rustin, a black and gay civil rights leader that worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr.Stormé DeLarverie, a lesbian and drag king that is heavily credited as sparking the Stonewall Riots.Robert Mapplethorpe, a gay New York artist that photographed gay sex and went to court for it after his death from AIDS, resulting in protests.Chuck Renslow, gay activist that protested injustices against gay men in Chicago alongside his lover Dom Orejudos; Renslow also founded International Mister Leather (IML) in 1979.Mary Jane Rathbun, activist from San Francisco that baked AIDS patients brownies interlaced with marijuana to ease their pain resulting in arrest; she is why pot is called Mary Jane.Oliver Sipple, the man that saved President Ford’s life was outed to the media as gay by Harvey Milk, he eventually drunk himself to death in the face of media backlash.Kathleen Connell and Michael Valerio, activists from San Francisco that started the infamous Folsom Street Fair in 1984 as a protest.Matthew Shepard, a young gay man that was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming; his murder would ignite outrage and countless protests in 1998, speeches were given by Ellen Degeneres and many more.If you read this book, you will learn none of this. The book’s purpose is to show how LGBT have always been here, that the liberation started before Stonewall. While this is true, it only briefly covers this fact. Since it’s a book focusing on American Queer history, not Queer history in its entirety, it focuses on what’s going on in America, which is fair. However, it doesn’t cover many things.Two decades after Oscar Wilde was jailed for being gay and dying soon after, the United States had their own scandal. The Newport Sex Scandal, in 1919, was a national scandal about men in the navy going to a club with homosexuals and crossdressers. For years the government entrapped men, arresting gays even after having sex with them. The book fails to address closeted men that couldn’t live openingly. Grant Wood, one of America’s most famous artists who painted American Gothic, was a closeted gay man. According to historians, the reason why he painted the father’s tool as a pitchfork instead of what he initially planned, was to symbolize his father as Satan. His father was very abusive because Grant was feminine. Details like this in American history aren’t told in this book. One of America’s most famous artworks has a history, but it’s not recognized in this book.(Side note: There’s many photos of Santa in this book. The book does not recognize the ironic usage of Santa in heterosexual cultural. JC Leyendecker, who illustrated the original vision of Santa, was a gay man!!!)The book does a great job at some things. Acknowledging the impact Sylvia Rivera made is important, however it avoids the fact that Sylvia wasn’t even at Stonewall the first night. By the time Marsha P Johnson arrived, the place was already on fire. It doesn’t mention Stormé DeLarverie either.Although a good portion is dedicated to San Francisco, it has no photos of the Folsom Street Fair or Up Your Alley Fair, both protests in their own right, led by the queer community there. It does not show the celebration of homosexuality at International Mister Leather in Chicago, where men could be who they were. It avoids the Leather culture altogether. It excludes descriptions of any of our pride flags, even not mentioning Gilbert Baker, the artist that created the gay pride flag. He was a drag queen that protested frequently, yet was ignored by this book!Throughout this review I wrestled with whether I should give this a one star or not. I feel a good portion of history was ignored in the creation of this book. All that being said, I also think this book is astonishingly beautiful. It does many wonderful things, and I realize this must not have been easy task. However, if you want to read a great book on what life was like before Stonewall, I HIGHLY encourage you to read Buying Gay by David K Johnson, Gay New York by George Chauncey, or Making Gay History by Eric Marcus. This book didn’t even have pictures of Physique Pictorials!! Those were HUGE for gay men in the past, but they were not mentioned.In conclusion, this is a very pretty book. It has some encouraging, hopeful pictures. However, don’t use it as a substitute for other books. Don’t use it as a primary source for our history. Queer history goes very deep, and this is the tip of the iceberg. All in all, I’m glad to have this book to flip through when I’m bored. It’d make a nice gift :)

I was so stunned by the beauty, moved by then images and stories, and amazed at the size of this thing. It's huge!I got it as a gift for my trans son and I was so thrilled with what gorgeous and important piece of history was displayed in the pages that I teared up while rifling through the pages. I'm so glad I got this for him. It's sure to be a treasured addition to his library for all time.

A lot bigger than I expected but I love it and I will prbly keep it as my favorite, it’ll be in a stand on my bookshelf for sure, it looks and plays the the part of pride history!!

I really felt connected and "part of something" by owning and reading this book. It's an excellent coffee-table book, very well-researched, well-written, and strongly features the many important contributions of black, brown, and trans people to LGBT History. I feel proud to own it, and I feel every library should have a copy. My only criticism is that some of the photos look a little distorted because they were enlarged to suit the layout of the book. Not sure there's much you can do about that aside from keep them at the original image size. Other than that, there is so much hard work and love put into the book it is easy to forgive.

This book not only gives you a lot of textual information on queer liberation but it follows up with beautiful and stunning pictures. If you need or want a book that dives into the many stories of queer protests I say this one is perfect.

Absolutely beautiful book!! I’m so excited to read further and love it so far.

i'd been following their instagram for a while when they released this and i was not disappointed. i appreciate the thoroughness of their research and respect for those in the photographs (including consulting them/those close to them on whether they would like to be identified). it's one thing to read about queer history, but it's another to see it so vividly. i can't thank these two enough for the work they've done, and i would have gladly paid more for this amazing book.

After just learning about the book, I knew that it was to be the perfect gifts for a variety of friends.. those who are LGBTQ, those who teach, all people I love. It is a magnificent book in detail and the photos are amazing. For anyone, this is a history that bears knowing .. and a book that is perfect. I sent the authors a photo of two of the friends who just got their copies today. They are so pleased!

Throughly researched and a must read for everyone (LGBT+ or not). The authors post a lot of history on their incredible LGBT history Instagram page which is how I discovered this book.

Everyone gay straight non binary etc should read this

amazing pictures and a great and interesting read! going to be very useful in writing my dissertation for uni.

This is a BIG book. Heavy and need to read at a desk or table. But very extensive history of LGBT

An amazing book with so much history. Looking forward to reading this front to back.