Items

• From violent men : a novel
  In 1978, gay politician Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in San Francisco by former city Supervisor Dan White. Daniel Curzon (1938-) self-published this loosely fictionalised version of the aftermath of these deaths through IGNA (or International Gay News Agency). He had experienced “a decade of frustration with publishing houses” over this and other works, according to a 1983 article in ‘Out’ magazine. This copy is inscribed by the author, “Give ‘em hell at Customs! Long live Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence and gay rights!”, and dated 27 February 1985. “D.H. Lawrence” is a reference to the ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ trial in 1960, when the amended Obscene Publications Act 1959 allowed for a work to be defended on the grounds of literary merit for the first time. Curzon’s short story collection ‘Human Warmth and Other Stories’ was also seized in ‘Operation Tiger’.
• Gay sunshine interviews. Volume 2
  This volume contains interviews with gay artists and cultural figures, including Ned Rorem, John Wieners and Samuel M. Steward. It also features Harry Britt, who was a gay member of the legislative San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and succeeded Harvey Milk, who had been the first openly gay man in such a role. Winston Leyland (1940-), the publisher of this book, had been ordained as a priest, a role he abandoned as he became more involved in radical and gay politics. This is most clearly seen in his work as a publisher, which he described as follows – “I see Gay Sunshine Press as a catalyst in the evolving Gay Cultural Renaissance and myself as deeply involved in that process”.