IMAGINING a GAY NEW WORLD: COMMUNITIES, IDENTITIES, and the ETHICS of DIFFERENCE in LATE TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA David Palmer
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IMAGINING A GAY NEW WORLD: COMMUNITIES, IDENTITIES, AND THE ETHICS OF DIFFERENCE IN LATE TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA David Palmer A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History Chapel Hill 2011 Approved by: John F. Kasson William Fitzhugh Brundage Jacquelyn Dowd Hall John Howard John Wood Sweet ©2011 David Palmer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT DAVID PALMER: Imagining a Gay New World: Communities, Identities, and the Ethics of Difference in Late Twentieth-Century America (Under the direction of Professor John F. Kasson) The formation of identity-based communities constitutes one of the most important political trends in late twentieth-century America. It has enabled oppressed people to mobilize politically in effort to demand legal protection, acquire political rights, and achieve social legitimacy. Yet, identity claims have also emerged as critical strategies to either uphold or challenge dominant social conventions and imagine new possibilities for citizenship and everyday living, a feature commonly overlooked in scholarship on social movements and identity politics. This dissertation draws from newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and non- academic journals directed at lesbian and gay readers published from the late 1960s through the first half of the 1990s to show how writers grappled with basic human questions of oppression and liberation by asking what it meant to be a sexual minority in American society. In raising these questions, writers reflected on the moral implications of being different and debated questions of consumerism, sexual ethics, and political strategy. These discussions provided readers valuable news and other information. More importantly, they instructed readers of the ethical responsibilities to themselves, other gay people, and the broader American public. In highlighting gayness as the primary marker of shared difference, writers generated new terms of exclusion rooted in class, gender, iii race, and region. Still, these writers‟ uses of identity claims gave public character to experiences deemed apolitical or socially negligible. In so doing, they provided critical mediums to potentially challenge dominant social conventions that indirectly affected all marginalized people. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sometimes the tasks that seem the simplest are the most trying. Such is the case with writing this part of my dissertation – the acknowledgements. Whether reading one – or several – of my drafts, providing a soundboard as I pitched one of my inchoate ideas, grounding me as I fretted over the prospect of never finishing, or simply cheering me up when I was down, so many people have contributed immeasurably to the completion of this dissertation. With all due respect to the many individuals who have helped me along in my journey, there a few people I would like to acknowledge for helping me through the last six years. My advisor, John Kasson, has been an extraordinary mentor. He has consistently encouraged me to follow my intellectual interests, even when they seemed unclear. His careful edits and thoughtful, patient feedback on my numerous drafts of various chapters have motivated me to write a dissertation that I hope readers will find both intellectually engaging and accessible. Fitz Brundage, Jay Garcia, Jacquelyn Hall, Jerma Jackson, Andy Perrin, and John Sweet have each read major portions or my entire dissertation. Collectively, their comments have helped me to broaden the scope of my project and ultimately to produce a work that I feel proud to stand behind. Special thanks also go to Henry Abelove and Walter Williams for their words of encouragement and very useful career advice. Finally, I am indebted to John Howard. I had the great fortune of meeting John halfway through my graduate career, at which time I was questioning the merits of v continuing. Because of his mentorship and sound advice, I renewed my commitment to finishing. This project would not be what it is without John‟s selfless assistance and friendship. Several fellowships have helped finance my time as a graduate student and the completion of my dissertation. These fellowships include the Mowry Dissertation Fellowship, two University of North Carolina summer research fellowships, and a six- year teaching fellowship. I owe countless thanks to the great archival staffs from the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina, the Special Collections Library at Duke University, the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the New York Public Library. This project has also been made possible by the generous support that I have received from my fellow graduate students. Heather Branstetter, Chris Cameron, Josh Davis, Kate McFarland, Justin Smith, and Harry Thomas have all read portions of my work. Their feedback in the early stages of my dissertation writing has been invaluable in helping me focus my work. My history writing group members – Rob Ferguson, Rachel Martin, and Cecelia Moore – have simply been fantastic. Over the last three years they have read and commented on every single word I have drafted for this dissertation. Their feedback has consistently been judicious and respectful of my intellectual goals. More importantly, they have helped keep me sane through the roller coaster of emotions that have accompanied me through the research and writing process. Catherine Conner and Kelly Morrow have also commented thoughtfully on my work, yet I am truly indebted to them for their friendship. Catherine and Kelly have always been there for me – through the good and the bad. I could not have done this journey without them. vi Very special thanks is owed to my non-historian friends, including Fabio Cacciapaglia, Ramon Frisneda, David Hodorowski, Kelda Nelson, Bill Robertazzi, Colleen Russo, Joe Velez, and all my yogis at Carrboro Yoga Company and Franklin Street Yoga Company. Finally, I owe my greatest thanks to my family. My parents, Bill and Pat Palmer, have supported me in every moment during this process with love and encouragement. Their presence has kept me centered throughout my time as a graduate student, reminding me that there is more to life than my dissertation. And, then there is my sister, Jennifer Palmer. She is one of those rare individuals who conducts every facet of her life in the service of truth and love. I am very fortunate to have her in my life. I dedicate this dissertation to her. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I. GAY LIBERATION, PRIVILEGE, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF QUEER CONSUMERISM IN EARLY SEVENTIES AMERICA ............................................................................................... 20 This is Liberation ..................................................................................... 26 The Unintended Audience ....................................................................... 43 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 66 II. FIRST YOURSELF, THEN SOCIETY: LESBIANISM, KNOWLEDGE, AND THE QUEST FOR LIBERATION IN EARLY SEVENTIES AMERICA .......................................................... 68 The Politics of Radical and Lesbian Feminist Publishing ....................... 73 Oppression ............................................................................................... 82 Lesbian Identification and “Separatism” ................................................. 92 Sexual Freedom and Sexual Ethics ........................................................ 107 Lesbian Feminism and the Problem of Race ......................................... 117 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 121 III. THE DEATHTRAP OF RESPECTABILITY: GAY RIGHTS AND THE POLITICS OF EROTIC DESIRE IN LATE SEVENTIES AMERICA ............................................................................................. 124 Respectability as Strategy ...................................................................... 129 viii Disrespectability as Strategy .................................................................. 141 Self Determination and Sex with Minors ............................................... 150 Consent? ................................................................................................. 158 Man-Boy Love and the Contraction of Gay Liberation ......................... 164 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 171 IV. LIVING THROUGH SEX: AIDS AND THE POLITICS OF SEX-POSITIVISM IN LATE EIGHTIES AMERICA ......................... 173 AIDS in the Popular American Imagination .......................................... 178 Redeeming and Romanticizing Sex in the City ..................................... 182 Sex-Positivism in North Carolina: The Limits of Liberation ............... 189 Lesbian Sexual Politics and the Fight against AIDS ............................. 204 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 218 V. BLACK GAY LIBERATION AND THE ETHICS