Out of the Underground: Homosexuality, The Radical Press, and the Rise and Fall of the Gay Liberation Front

Out of the Underground explores homosexuality in the radical press. It covers the rise and fall of the Gay Liberation Front in several cities, including Milwaukee, Atlanta, Austin, Detroit, San Jose, as well as gay metropolises like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Prior to a regular and reliable gay press, the only positive images of homosexuals appeared in the underground rags. In the turbulent 1960s, young gay men couldn’t relate to the stuffy newsletters of Mattachine-era groups. Young lesbians too were drawn to the direct action of the Radical Lesbians and Women’s Liberation Front, rather than the gab and java get-togethers of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). Those young radicals were more likely to read the Great Speckled Bird, the Ann Arbor Argus, the San Francisco Oracle, the feminist It Ain’t Me Babe, and the anarchic Berkeley Tribe, than the Ladder, the DOB newsletter. Out of the Underground is also about the culture, music, politics, and art, that radicalized young queers. Clearly, not all LGBTs were left-wing revolutionaries. Some were conservative and worked within established gay groups. The majority were deeply closeted. This book isn’t about them.