GLR July-August 2025

The Gay & Lesbian Review July–August 2025 • VOLUME XXXII, NUMBER 4 WORLDWIDE

Editor-in-Chief and Founder R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . Managing Editor WORLDWIDE The Gay & Lesbian Review ® PO Box 180300, Boston, MA 02118

C ONTENTS

The Situation

F EATURES

J EREMY C. F OX Literary Editor M ARTHA E. S TONE Poetry Editor D AVID B ERGMAN Associate Editors S AM D APANAS P AUL F ALLON M ICHAEL S CHWARTZ Contributing Writers R OSEMARY B OOTH D ANIEL A. B URR C OLIN C ARMAN A NNE C HARLES A LFRED C ORN A LLEN E LLENZWEIG C HRIS F REEMAN P HILIP G AMBONE M ATTHEW H AYS H ILARY H OLLADAY A NDREW H OLLERAN I RENE J AVORS J OHN R. K ILLACKY C ASSANDRA L ANGER

“We have seen dark times before.” 10 J ENNIFER F INNEY B OYLAN

Colin Carman converses with the author of Cleavage

Nine Lessons from Weimar Germany 13 M ATHIAS F OIT

The sexual liberation of the 1920s provides a cautionary tale

Queer Life in Postwar Germany 16 K EIRA R OBERSON

Remnants of prewar activism slowly regrouped to fight ¶ 175

The Lavender Scare and Its Echoes 19 R ONALD O.V ALDISERRI

McCarthy didn’t stop with the Commies; next came the homos

Making Sense of the Trans Right 22 E LI E RLICK

They’re out there, and they have a following: meet Buck Angel

Banning Books Is Back in Fashion 26 G IANNA H OLIDAY

State and local bans persist, but now it’s official U.S. policy

R E V I E W S

P OEMS & D EPARTMENTS G UEST O PINION — On the Power of Books in Perilous Times 5 D AVID G ROFF C ORRESPONDENCE 6 BTW 8 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . P OEM — “Song of Sappho” 24 A NZHELINA P OLONSKAYA T RAVEL M EMO — The View from Scandinavia 28 A DAM M.M C M AHON A RT M EMO — James Le Baron Boyle: Camping It Up on Campus 30 E DWARD M ORAN P OEM — “Underwear Nostalgia” 32 M ICHAEL M C K EOWN B ONDHUS P OEM — “My Husband” 39 E DMUND W HITE C ULTURAL C ALENDAR 46 A RT M EMO — March Laumer, a Gayer Oz 47 F RANK S ERAFINO P OEM — “Neither Here Nor There” 49 M ALCOLM F ARLEY Daniel Kane, editor — Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard 42 M ICHAEL Q UINN Kaila Adia Story — The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf 43 J EAN R OBERTA Bruce P. Spang — River Crossed 43 H ANK T ROUT Prabal Gurung — Walk Like a Girl: A Memoir 44 N ILADRI C HATTERJEE Rebecca L. Davis — Fierce Desires 45 Y OAV S IVAN Five Films 48 J EREMY C. F OX Roshan Sethi, director — A Nice Indian Boy 50 B RIAN B ROMBERGER Larry Carver — Rochester and the Pursuit of Pleasure 31 R AYMOND -J EAN F RONTAIN Simon Goldhill — Queer Cambridge: An Alternative History 33 D ANIEL A. B URR Mary Frances Phillips — Black Panther Woman 34 A NNE C HARLES Amy J. Elias, editor — Speculative Light 36 R EGINALD H ARRIS Kevin Brown — Countée Cullen’s Harlem Renaissance 37 T HOMAS K EITH Alison Bechdel — Spent: A Comic Novel 38 B RIAN A LESSANDRO Bruce Vilanch — It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time 40 C HARLES G REEN B RIEFS 41

A NDREW L EAR J AMES P OLCHIN J EAN R OBERTA V ERNON R OSARIO Contributing Artist C HARLES H EFLING Publisher S TEPHEN H EMRICK Webmaster B OSTON W EB G ROUP WebEditor A LLISON A RMIJO ______________________________ Board of Directors

A RT C OHEN ( CHAIR ) R OBERT H ARDMAN S TEPHEN H EMRICK H ILARY H OLLADAY D AVID L A F ONTAINE J IM J ACOBS A NDREW L EAR

R ICHARD S CHNEIDER , J R . ( PRESIDENT ) T HOMAS Y OUNGREN ( TREASURER ) S TEWART C LIFFORD ( CHAIR EMER .) W ARREN G OLDFARB ( SR . ADVISOR EMER .)

The Gay & Lesbian Review/ WORLDWIDE ® (formerly The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 1994-1999) is published bimonthly (six times per year) by The Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational corporation located in Boston, Mass. Subscription rates : U.S.: $41.70 per year (6 issues). Canada and Mexico: $51.70(US). All other countries: $61.70(US). All non-U.S. copies are sent via air mail. Back issues available for $12 each. All correspondence is sent in a plain envelope marked “G&LR.” ISSN: 1077: 6591 © 2025 by Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc. All rights reserved. W EBSITE : www.GLReview.org • S UBSCRIPTIONS : 847-504-8893 • A DVERTISING : 617-421-0082 • S UBMISSIONS : Editor@GLReview.org

July–August 2025

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