I want to announce the publication of my book, The Gay Liberation Youth Movement in New York: "An Army of Lovers Cannot Fail." The book addresses LGBT youth activism within the gay liberation movement. I focus on three community- and school-based New York City groups--Gay Youth (GY), Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), and the Gay International Youth Society of George Washington High School--from the advent of gay liberation in NYC in 1969 to just after its dissolution and the rise of identity politics by 1975.

The book includes the history of S.T.A.R., founded in the very early 1970s by Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and other street transvestites. S.T.A.R. rented a tenement on the Lower East Side which served as a shelter for transgender street kids. Its members were active in Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activists Alliance, Queens Liberation Front, and other gay liberation groups. Bebe Scarpi (a S.T.A.R. participant) provided a good deal of information.

The book was published as part of a monograph series (and thus expensive), but I think it is an important work that clarifies the historical record -- particularly in terms of the contributions of S.T.A.R. to the gay liberation movement.
http://www.amazon.com/Gay-Liberation-Youth-Movement-York/dp/0415957990

Please ask university and community libraries to order the book!

Thanks,

Stephan Cohen, Ed.D.
Associate Professor
School of Education
Lesley University
slcohen@lesley.edu
http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/slcohen/

Here is a synopsis:
Between 1966 and 1975 North American youth activists established over 35 school- and community-based gay liberation youth groups whose members sought control over their own bodies, education, and sexual and social relations. This book focuses on three groundbreaking New York City groups-Gay Youth (GY), Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), and the Gay International Youth Society of George Washington High School (GWHS)-from the advent of gay liberation in NYC in 1969 to just after its dissolution and the rise of identity politics by 1975. Cohen examines how gay liberation-with its rejection of stultifying sex roles, attack on institutional oppression, connection between personal and political liberation, celebration of innate androgyny, and resolute anti-war and anti-capitalist stance-shaped understandings of sexual identity, membership criteria, organization, decision-making, the roles of youth and adults, and efforts to effect social change.

And a review by GLF member Perry Brass:
"This is a sensitive and very important book about a topic that has been barely scratched by the media: the radical genesis of the gay liberation movement. There are numerous books that whitewash this, that try to make the beginnings of the movement squeaky clean, but this is one of the few that covers it as it was. It also deals with what is now a very difficult subject to handle: queer youth and sex. It is incredibly well researched, has a huge bank of footnotes and bibliography, and profiles too many people who are prenaturely dead, so they will not get to speak for themselves as much as they can. They've been silenced, but they speak beautifully here. The real great beauty of this book though is that the writing is clear, lively, and intriguing. You want to read it. For a book with an academic premise from an academic press that is a reason to rejoice and experience this account of lgbt youth in the late 60s and into our time."

http://www.amazon.com/Gay-Liberation-Youth-Movement-York/dp/0415957990