Gay Society Men Like That: A Southern Queer History By John Howard

Many may argue that the gay lifestyle was hidden from society until recent years, however, many books argue otherwise. It is surprising to know just how massive and significant gay society was in the beginning of the twentieth century. It is also important to understand how society’s acceptance of the gay lifestyle has changed over time. All four books I reviewed speak on gay society and how it flourished on its own, separate from “regular” society despite existing within it. Much of the content in all books is presented with an oral history methodology. Accounts of interactions between gay individuals are presented and described to validate points made by the authors. Overall, the books help modern readers understand the history of gay society

Surprisingly, Howard documents male same-sex sexualities in places where many may least expect to find them. Howard begins his book by challenging the urban, progressive, and identity-based writings that have dominated the delivery of gay history by focusing in the queer worlds of rural and small town Mississippians. Howard breaks the book down into two parts. Part one is perhaps best viewed as a set of contexts out of which develop, in part two, a series of changes (Howard, 2001). Through oral history, Howard details stories of queer male life in Mississippi. Important locations for gays are explored, such as homes, churches, schools, colleges, and work places. Howard also succeeds in explaining how the gay community in Mississippi ‘circulated’ and ‘congregated’ in queer sites in cities, towns, bars, and roads (Howard, 2001). Infamous cases in queer society of the time are also explored during the book. Howard explains in detail a 1955 murder of an interior decorator, an arrest of an African American civil rights activist in 1962, a 1963 arrest of a Euro-American civil rights activist, and a 1965 arrest of a local symphony conductor to trace shifts in sexual and gender norms and crackdowns on queers in the midst of the civil rights movement (Howard, 2001). Literature and the arts in the gay community is also explained. Gays in Mississippi

The focus of the book helps understand the true importance of books like Gay New York, Coming Out Under Fire, and Men Like That by explaining the progress made in the United States regarding the acceptance of the gay community into society. Consisting of six chapters that cover many issues regarding the government, including the military, welfare, and immigration. Much like in Coming Out Under Fire, Canaday points out issues gay men and women faced following World War II. From the mid-1940s into the late 1960s, the state crafted tools to overtly target homosexuality (Canaday, 2009). Policies were enacted that explicitly used homosexuality to define who could serve in the military (Canaday, 2009). Much has changed since then, considering the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed. Canaday’s main argument in the book is that sexual citizenship was built into the federal bureaucracy as it was being created, and this needs to be more attended to by historians (Canaday, 2009). According to Canaday, the foundations of sexual citizenship are the reason the United States has such an issue with securing universal gay rights. Issues in the South are also addressed, much like in Men Like That. Religion and the power it has in the country limits many initiatives that support gay