Items
Theme is exactly
HIV/AIDS
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Aphrodisiac : fiction from Christopher Street This anthology of “the best fiction from Christopher Street” was praised for its “literary excellence” by ‘Publishers Weekly’. It compiles eighteen short stories published in “America’s leading gay magazine”, from authors including Jane Rule, Edmund White, Tennessee Williams and Kate Millett. The magazine, named after the location of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, was founded in 1976 and published monthly until the mid-1990s. As well as original fiction, it featured writing on gay politics and culture, interviews and satirical cartoons. A series of essays about the unfolding AIDS crisis in New York by Andrew Holleran – one of the featured authors in this collection – was later published as ‘Ground Zero’.
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Black men/white men : a gay anthology A collection of forty poems, short fiction and non-fiction pieces which explore the intersections of race and sexuality “from the most scholarly to the most explicit”, by authors such as Langston Hughes, Eric Garber and Bruce Nugent. Contributions on sexual stereotyping, discrimination and anti-Black racism within the white gay community are interspersed with several high-quality monochrome photographs and drawings of gay men, both Black and white, pictured separately and in couples. Editor Michael J. Smith founded the advocacy organisation Black and White Men Together in 1980. Chapters sprung up in cities across the United States – there was even, briefly, a Dalston-Hackney branch in London – and the organisation continues today. Smith died of AIDS in 1989 aged 45.
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Cruise to win “This book is about making contact” is the opening declaration of this self-help guide to successful and confident cruising for gay men. Written by Lenny Giteck, assistant editor and columnist at ‘The Advocate’, the book is based on interviews with fifty pseudonymous gay men and seventeen mental health professionals. In chapters on the principles of cruising, ‘dealing with rejection’ (and ‘rejecting others’), ‘sex and intimacy’ and older men and cruising, among others, the book aims to bolster self-worth and reduce anxiety around meeting other men, especially in bars. The inside back cover includes a statement that the book now comes with an ‘AIDS Supplement’. This suggests that this is a later edition of the book – an exact date of publication is not given – as this kind of material would not have been available on first publication in 1982. The supplement is unfortunately not included with this copy.
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Cute : and other poems A collection of around thirty poems, many of which had previously appeared in gay publications such as ‘Fag Rag’ and ‘Gay Sunshine Journal’ as well as the avant-garde literary review ‘New – American and Canadian Poetry’. Everhard’s writing is moving, personal and direct. ‘For Marcie’ details the complicated feelings of the speaker on sleeping with a woman to whom he is unable to come out. ‘Reasons Why I Love You’ and ‘Enemy’ explore a love affair with a man named Richard – and its aftermath. The book’s cover features a drawing of a boy, face-on and in the foetal position, and on the inside flyleaf there is a sketch of a nude young man, all by Joe Fuoco. Born in 1946, Everhard died of AIDS in 1986.
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Death claims Following ‘Fadeout’ (1970), this is the second book in Joseph Hansen’s Brandstetter series, featuring gay private investigator David ‘Dave’ Brandstetter. Set in Los Angeles, it moves through the worlds of rare books, community theatre and television. Hansen eventually published twelve books in the series and can be credited with inventing the ‘gay detective’ genre. Gay themes are woven throughout – in book nine, Brandstetter must track down a serial killer who is targeting gay men with AIDS. Hansen, born in 1923, was also a poet and journalist. Under the pen name James Colton, he published several gay novels in the pre-Stonewall era, including ‘Strange Marriage’ (1965) and ‘Known Homosexual’ (1968). He received a Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992, writing several more books before his death in 2004.
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Gay Theatre Alliance directory of gay plays This book was the first to list plays where gay men and lesbians are the “main, primary, or at least, very important focus”. As part of the criteria for including a play, the key emphasis was on the sexuality of the characters not the playwright, so works authored by straight writers are listed. The four hundred plays are organised alphabetically by title, alongside information such as number of male and female characters and date of first performance. The appendixes list '“Lost” Plays’ and names of gay theatre companies. Terry Helbing (1951-1994) was co-founder of the Gay Theatre Alliance, which supported and promoted gay theatre, and the book is published by his JH Press, which was one third of the Gay Presses of New York. He died from AIDS in 1994.
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If this isn't love! : (two men--twenty years--in three acts) Part of the ‘JH Press Gay Play Script’ series, this was one of the most successful plays performed at The Glines, a not-for-profit gay theatre company in New York. Written by Sidney Morris (Fineberg) (1929-2002), the play follows couple Eric and Adam across three acts representing three decades of gay life and experience, entitled ‘The Fearful Fifties’, ‘The Seeking Sixties’, and ‘The Succulent Seventies’. As the men age, they respond to increasing societal liberation and changes in their own relationship. Morris, whose own youth was in the 1950s, wanted to ensure that the gay community did “not forget our dark and absurd past”. Morris wrote a number of other plays with gay male themes. Terry Helbing from JH Press, the play’s publisher, was also the general manager of the play’s first run. Morris died from AIDS in 2002.
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Mr. Benson First published in 1983 by San Francisco-based publishers Alternate, John Preston’s classic S/M novel details a young man’s slave/master relationship with the sadistic and dominant Mr Benson. Preston (1945-1994) was involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, as well as in gay activism. By 1975, he was editor of national gay newspaper, ‘The Advocate’. In the 1980s, he combined his writing of erotica and pornography with more mainstream anthologies about gay life. In 1995, he posthumously received a Lambda Literary Award and was a finalist for the American Library Association’s Stonewall Book Award for 'Sister and Brother’, a nonfiction anthology co-edited with Joan Nestle. In 1994, the year of his death from complications from AIDS, he received the Steve Maidhof Award from the National Leather Association International, who inaugurated a short story prize in his name in 2007.
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New York native. Issue 82, January 30-February 12, 1984 Published biweekly between 1980 and 1997, this is a relatively early edition of ‘New York Native’. Much of the paper’s reporting at this time concentrated on the growing AIDS crisis, and this issue is no exception, with headline statistics and an editorial concerned with a potential link between the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the African Swine Fever virus. While a paper supporting this theory appeared two years later in medical journal ‘The Lancet’, it was later discredited. Also featured are music, theatre, film, gallery and restaurant reviews, guides to New York and San Francisco, a letters page, classified ads and personal ads.
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New York native. Issue 83, February 13-26, 1984 The ‘New York Native’ newspaper was published by Charles Ortleb (1950?-) between 1980 and 1997. This issue contains articles, reviews, personal listings, adverts, a fashion spread and a winter travel supplement. Most notable is the range of reports on AIDS, which begin with an editorial critiquing the racism and homophobia in press reports of the crisis. Other articles in this issue focus on the first European conference on AIDS and lists of numbers of cases reported in New York. The paper first reported on AIDS in 1981, after the ‘New York Times’ broke the story on 3 July that year. ‘New York Native’ had been pioneering in its coverage, although it later fell out of favour and was boycotted by some activists when it began to promote conspiracy theories regarding the cause of AIDS.
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Taking care of Mrs. Carroll : a novel This first novel by poet and novelist Paul Monette (1945-1995) begins with the sudden death of wealthy estate owner Mrs Beth Carroll and the introduction of her houseboy David who awakens in bed alongside John, the gardener. The narrative that follows, involving unsigned wills, forgery and impersonation, was described by one reviewer as “a most entertaining venture into fantasy, hilarity, and gay sex”. Monette’s later works, including a memoir of his partner Roger Horwitz’s illness and death from AIDS, took a more serious turn. Horwitz’s presence is felt in the novel displayed here – the book is dedicated to him, and the author photograph gracing the back cover was taken by him. Before Monette’s own death from AIDS, he founded the Monette-Horwitz Trust to honour individuals and organisations that fight to eradicate homophobia.
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The AIDS epidemic In spring 1983, a “devastating, puzzling and fatal” new illness was spreading rapidly throughout the United States. At that time, some three to four years after the first cases of HIV/AIDS had emerged and under two years since the first cases were reported in the ‘New York Times’, New York City was the hardest-hit metropolitan area with 595 cases and 228 deaths. This astonishingly prescient book edited by physician Kevin Cahill (1936-2022) comprises the published proceedings of a symposium that took place at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City. Doctors, epidemiologists and policy-makers gathered to discuss how they might combat the disease, stating that “there is every indication that we will soon be in the midst of a worldwide epidemic”. As of 2024, HIV has claimed over 40 million lives worldwide.
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The butch manual : the current drag and how to do it A tongue-in-cheek manual for gay men on how to appear more ‘butch’, or stereotypically masculine, written in the style of a women’s magazine – complete with a problem page featuring Gertrude Stein as a fictional agony aunt. Butch men shun smiling, screaming and “misquoting Dorothy Parker” in favour of moustaches, yelling and talking dirty, according to author, model and artist Clark Henley (1950-1988). The book is undoubtedly influenced by the wildly popular contemporary humorous titles ‘The Official Preppy Handbook’ (1980) and ‘The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook’ (1982). Henley also drew the rare 1976 ‘Tails of the City’ ‘Alligator Oz’ map of San Francisco, a gay map of the city populated by cartoon alligators, and ‘A Butch Look at America’ (1982), in which the United States is represented by torn cut-off jeans over bare buttocks. Diagnosed HIV-positive in 1986, Henley died in San Francisco of AIDS-related causes in 1988, aged just 38.
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The joy of gay sex : an intimate guide for gay men to the pleasures of a gay lifestyle A collaboration between Dr Charles Silverstein (1935-2023) and novelist Edmund White (1940-), “by gays, for gays”. Structured as an A-to-Z guide to gay life, from Androgyny to Wrestling, plus a short bibliography, it is illustrated throughout by Michael Leonard, Ian Beck and Julian Graddon. Riding high on the popularity of ‘The Joy of Sex’ (1972), it sold out its first print run of 75,000 copies. Some commentators, however, were critical of this apparent mainstreaming. “If we have reached a point where cultural interests include the marketing of our sex lives, it would be nice for some basic civil rights to come along with that,” wrote Michael Bronski in ‘Gay Community News’ in November 1977. “You can still get arrested for having a good time.” The book was later used in healthcare during the AIDS crisis, and ‘The New Joy of Gay Sex’ (1993) was substantially updated with safe sex information.
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The terminal bar : a novel Self-published by Larry Mitchell (1939-2012) of Calamus Books, one third of the Gay Presses of New York collective, this novel is set in a real Times Square bar which was popularly known as the “roughest” in New York but which was a sanctuary for its clientele. Based on Mitchell’s experiences and those of his friends, the novel follows a group of lesbians and gay men against a backdrop of a decaying America, symbolised by the Three Mile Island nuclear incident in 1979. The novel has also been considered the first work of fiction to reference AIDS. The copy of the book on display is inscribed to Gay’s the Word by the author “In defence of the freedom to read”.