Book Review: My Dear Boy

My Dear Boy

Gay Love Letters Through the Centuries

Editor:                            Rictor Norton

Publisher:                      Leyland Publications

Type:                              Soft Cover

Pages:                             278

Genre:                            non-fiction

Published:                     1998

ISBN:                             9780943595719

 This book is well written and well produced. It has a few black and white photos, paintings and drawings within. It should be noted that there is a little nudity, but this is very tasteful and artistic.

 This book is exactly what it says on the cover, it presents love letters between male loves thorough history. It is amazing that so many gay love letters have survived.

 The introduction makes a very excellent point that while some have tried to claim that homosexuality s a modern invention. That claim is as ridiculous as claiming there were no alcoholics before Magnus Huss "discovered" alcoholism in 1852.

 Each entry starts out describing the writer and recipient of the letters and then often shows some written correspondence back and forth between them.

 We start off reading of Alexander the Great and his lovers, the we move on to Marcus Aurelius who funnily enough equated his desire for his male lover with being thirsty after a great fever. After that we move to ancient China and a love story that might just bring a tear to the eye.
 I will also mention that some of there solve letters come from saints, monks and clerics.

 The stories come from all over the world, Germany, Portugal, China, Rome, Japan, Italy, Brittan, France, America among other locations. 

 Some of the authors i knew while others were a mystery to me. Some more famous names included; Hans Christian Anderson, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, King Ludwing II, Pior, Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Michelangelo, King James, Alexander Hamilton, Lord Byron, William Burroughs, TS Elliot, Edward Carpenter, Oscar Wilde, Countee Cullen, TE Lawrence and Allen Ginsberg.

 This is a fascinating and very important work. Australians LGBTQ community is currently going through a hate campaign enabled by the right wing government, in it every Australian will get to vote on if LGBTQ people should have equal marriage rights. During this horrible "debate" i have hear much vilification and many threats against LGBTQ individuals, family's and youth. But the worst was probably one woman. She was arguing that LOVE was between a man and a woman, not marriage, no she was adamant that only a man and a woman could love. For more on what kind of people are voting on our rights read the #TheyGettoVote hashtag on Twitter.

 Anyway i highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in history, or LGBTQ issues. If fact if your going to comment publicly on LGBTQ issues you have a responsibility to educate your self on those issues. You should read this book. This book should be in every high school, perhaps an edited version with some pictures removed if necessary, but it needs to be there.

Book Review: Colouring the Rainbow

Colouring the Rainbow

Blak Queer and Trans Perspectives

Life Stories and Essays by First Nations People of Australia

Editor:                          Dino Hodge

Publisher:                     Wakefield Press

Type:                              Soft Cover

Pages:                             252

Genre:                            non-fiction

Published:                      2015

ISBN:                              9781743053935

 This book is exactly as described on the cover, we have stories and essays about being both Aboriginal and Queer. 
 While some of the essays delve a little too deeply into "UNI-speak" for me personally, i still found them interesting reads. 

 The real gems here though are the true life stories, we see Australians fighting for basic human rights in our modern world while struggling to keep their inherent spirituality. 
We hear of people who survived horrific accounts of homophobia / transphobia, in isolated outback town. 
We hear gut wrenching stories of bullying, violence, discrimination and the depression and suicide that this can cause. Reading this it reminds me jut how important the Safe Schools program is, and how instead of being scraped it should become mandatory in all schools. Surely the fact that the vocal opponents of Safe Schools  do not want LGBTQ children to survive until adulthood, is a perfect example of why Safe Schools is so needed. Sorry i digress.

 We also find within tales of acceptance, and did you know that before invasion/colonisation at least some tribes accepted LGBTQ people as they recognised the natural diversity of human sexuality. If you want to talk about traditional marriage in Australia you would have to start here.

 We hear how at least one contributor is trying to make amends for their own homophobic behavior, which they adopted at school as a way to protect themselves, yet another example of the need for Safe Schools.

 One poor soul even drew the reportedly malicious attentions of the, (legally confirmed) racist and  homophobic (by his own words) Andrew Bolt. you may remember Andrew Bolt from his recent major hussy-fit after he (by his own admission) violently "assaulted" someone for merely playing a prank on him. Andrew Bolt's defenders are saying that Bolt should escape charges because Bolt's homophobia runs so deep that the mere physical contact with glitter enrages him into hysterical violent attacks.
I should note that as of this writing charges of assault have yet to be applied to him, and i believe he is trying to play the victim in this encounter, it seems apparent that the mainstream media are quite willing to side with him.
 But that event was only recent and is not related to the matter in this book, it would appear Andrew Bolt has a long history of seemingly attacking minority's while being a very sensitive snowflake himself. 

 Please for your own safety do not try and enlighten Andrew Bolt by sprinkling glitter about him or his person. In fact its best not to glitter anyone against their wishes, no matter how disgusting they are.

 

 The book has an extensive notes section, glossary, bibliography and index. I would highly recommend this book if your interested in Australian history, LGBTQ issue, or Aboriginal Australians.
 Every commentator on Aboriginal, or LGBTQ issues in Australia should read this book before next opening their mouths, or putting finger to keys.

 Why does the media consult homophobes about LGBT issues and racists about Aboriginal issues? It just seems ass-backwards to me, why don't we instead see the opinions of scholars and the people these issues actually effect. It would be like the media getting the opinion of the Nazi groups every time a local Jewish school held a fete, no one wants or needs their opinion!

                                         Helpful Links:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community Website. 

NAIDOC Week

ACON Aids council of NSW

QuAC QLD Aids council

Open Doors Youth Service

Beyond Blue 

Australian Pride Network

Review: Closets are for Clothes

Closets are for Clothes

A history of queer Australia 

 

Author:                               Rachel Cook

Publisher:                           Black Dog Books

Type:                                    Soft Cover

Pages:                                   147

Genre:                                  non-fiction

Published:                            2010

ISBN:                                   9781742031040

 The book itself is well made. I did notice a few (only two) errors however these were seen in extracts from letters and diary, so they may have been included to retain authenticity. As mentioned the book has many accounts of the history of Australia from those who lived it, sadly there are only a few black and white photos within the book.

 Pages from book

 This book is an exploration of LGBT life in Australia from "colonization" onward. It is a pity that there is no information within about LGBT life before invasion. Though i have a feeling that this is because such information is difficult to access if it even still exists at all, and not necessarily a whim of the author. Lets take a quick look thorough with some commentary on what i thought were some of the highlights.

 The book begins with some praise by notables including The Honorable Michael Kirby and nice introduction
 Chapter One deals with the first non-native Australians, the convicts. We see lesbian marriages taking place way back in 1792, now that's traditional. We learn that sodomy (oral or anal sex) was punishable by death or transportation (to Australia), though it is noted that only gay men were prosecuted for sodomy. This must mean that a considerable number of early white Australians were indeed gay, indeed there is much evidence of homosexual couples living as married in the colony's. The homosexuality was so prevalent (and distasteful to snobbish British eyes) that it brought about the first calls for an end to transportation.

 Chapter Two we learn that gay men also came to Australia as free settlers seeking a better life away from the prying eyes of family and harsh judgement of the law. We take a look at some gay bushrangers, as well as early works on the fact homosexuality was a natural part of human sexuality.

 Chapter Three We hear a lot of the 1950's fear of the other, and it is sad how much these sentiments mimic the hate spewed forth by racists and homophobes today. You may be forgiven if you think the author was in error and accidentally published pages from the One Nation website in the wrong section, but no 1950's bigots and 2016 bigots are just playing to the same darker aspects of humanity.

 Chapter Four looks at life after World War Two.

 Chapter Five examines the sham that is aversion therapy as well as the treatment of homosexuality as an illness and its failure. Because even then they knew the problem wasn't homosexuality it was homophobia.

 Chapter Six shines a light on a dark era of Australian history with the targeted harassment, and entrapment of Gay men by government forces. It is also incredible to think that we were once so barbaric as to have made it illegal to have been born a 
homosexual male. It is amazing how humans thought they were above the laws of nature.

 Chapter Seven deals with the 60's and 70's with topics ranging from the white Australia policy, the Kinsey report, the burgeoning gay rights movement, and the forming of what would become the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

 Chapter Eight takes a look at feminism, and AIDS. It is interesting to note that despite the vilification and hate of the disgusting Fred Niles (and his ilk) the LGBT community helped Australia become a world leader in dealing with the AIDS crisis.

 Chapter Nine shows us some gay people becoming famous and some LGBT characters appearing on television. It looks at inclusiveness, transgender issues, adoption, IVF, and the fight for equal rights. As well as the horrible act of John Howard changing the marriage act, in order to nullify existing LGBT marriages and prevent more, he did this disgusting thing without a plebiscite mind you. We also see that about 70% of homophobic bullying experienced by young Australians happens at school, which shows again how important initiatives like the Safe Schools anti-bullying program really are and how immoral it would be to oppose them.


The book ends with an extensive glossary, timeline, index and ample references. 

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Australian history, law, civil rights and LGBT issues. It is easy to read and should be in every school library history section. The book really needs an updated edition but is still a good reference from 2010 and back.

Also check out The Sex Lives of Australians for more on this topic.

 
 

Book Review; A Little Gay History

A Little Gay History: 

Desire and Diversity Across the World

 

 

Authors:                                R. B Parkinson

Contributors:                                   Kate Smith
                                               Max Carocci
Design:                                  Will Webb Design               

Publisher:                             The British Museum Press           

Type:                                     TPB

Pages:                                   128

Genre:                                  Non fiction

Published:                            2013

ISBN:                                    978-0-7141-5100-7

Source:                                 Independently purchased 

How old is the oldest chat-up line between men? Who was the first lesbian? Were ancient Greek men who had sex together necessarily gay? And what did Shakespeare think about cross-dressing?


These questions start of the book and the readers journey into a history that has been hidden from the mainstream world for far too long. 

The book itself is a smallish thing about 7" by 7 1/2 ". It has an odd double cover, that is to say that the cover is folded over to make the cover thicker. The effect is nice and might add to the durability of the book. The pages are high quality and glossy pictures are lavishly portrayed on almost every page, in full vivid colour, where that is appropriate.

The book is an cautious introductory evaluation of some historic artifacts and what they may imply about the history of same sex love and attraction. It is the perfect starting place for any avid historian or curious person. The book is careful not no go out on any limbs and only state the facts, if an object is open to even the smallest interpretation this is clearly stated in the text.

I found this book to be an interesting read and a copy should be found in every high school library and counselors bookshelf. It is highly important that we put a stop to the straightening of history. And give support to homosexual youth.

I myself have noticed just recently that Wikipedia has had almost every reference to gay marriage deleted or replaced with the term 'civil union', despite in a lot of cases marriage being the correct term.
We also have the movies rewriting history making the heroes of old straight and dishonouring their memory. 

I feel books like this one are important so that we do not allow bigotry to foster ignorance.

This book itself is not as heavy as all that and is easily approachable and readable by the average person.

 

* A version of this review originally appeared on Monkeys Book Reviews.