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Show E RE5EA i ( < Gay Community and Family in Post War America Michaal* Smith \ Elizabeth Gltmant) Departm#nt of History, University ol Utah Archou^h The AIDS epidemic and the debare-o'j'er legjilLzaclon of idnw-ie^ marriage have boch biou^hi naibnal dnienilon 101 he gay tr^imurhy In Aniejlcfl. ttie fotrnatlon of Hie ^ay Lorn munl-iy be^an muLh earhei I researched the developnwnt of l he gay ^r^imunny for Dr_ tllzabeih Clern-enc who rs Mining ili^-hiiioiy of^ysand letbldins In Amei'ica In r.hef*iS[-WdN era dndihelr rddnnoninips co fdirmly D\ -[.lerYieni i book Ai II dK umem l he eviluihon of [he ^ay comniunlc^ihere^ilonihlpichey had wrch ilwir tn n h families their effoita to crerte trwir own fimlhei. andihe luterosexual reaction i j^, u ^ gay fd rnlly ntembeis of my research fcf C> ClenwiTt tiufocDHd on ttie gay cfininiLnrty In l he 1 ?Kfc and I MDsand toreactlon S epVisrrfck: After maii-aCrum AmerJca ftpred Iti fcackon gays they cumed co ihei own commufiny for 1 ii ri^dl Miy v^lrh [hli sirlw-s Ai They rind coping rnecha n'rsrni d nd tart giving l hey eywnded cheli dsnnl lton of tanil^ to Intclude fMendi and bvtri I his led to a trend which we are flill seeing today Gay Arneifcant ire l lying to define l heir non-nacdl families and d^en l heir rlghc co be retc^ nlzed di firrnl "si dr>d ^am ¦ n- benerlis given Co crad n Final fam illes Fm rrryreseait h 10 far.1 have been leadlrjgrarioLisMlfectlon! crfnomfcf^ oui stories and hdve round leddion [x?iilble)o jrrula for I. il ¦ researchj such ji, ^d n neri MagaAe k Gay and Lesbldin isjple^ Pdiiirwfi Newslentr rbi tdry and Lesbbn doJpl«, ESelween dur SefwiWomen of Cr>bi Nertipaper. J <i kxm ^gailneand Gay'Lcmrn u n n v h^wt. I have also read b&okt I ike Hotprtal Time and Inihe Shadow or an EpKfeni \c both of whkh offered a more personal understanding of the impact of HIV a nd AIDS en che gay ic-mmunny Even before the Aldtepldemc.che gay community was Hruggllng co hnd its pbee in socleiy Wuchc-fmy research rime has been spent reading primary source documents describing many Indlvdual coming oil stories and the reactions oF family members, which ranged From violence to acceptance. Even within one family each member reads In different and sometimes surprising ways. Oven he last several decades the gay community has become more and more vrslHe. Gays ar>d Lesbians have faced a long history of disc rimlnai cn_ HopeFul|y this project and l> element s book will help bring to light the i|-|i i ~ ¦"¦- -¦¦¦"¦ I by these individuals and raise the consciousness oF mainstream Amerca. |