City of Friends: A Portrait of the Gay and Lesbian Community in America [Paperback]

Simon LeVay (Author), Elisabeth Nonas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 1997

City of Friends offers a practical, intelligent, and well-informed overview of what it means to be gay or lesbian. The authors seek to help gay men and women, as well as their families and friends, to better understand the institutions and communities that make up the most culturally and ethnically diverse minority in America today.Beginning with basic concepts, LeVay and Nonas define the words "homosexual," "gay," "lesbian," and "bisexual" and discuss the various patterns of homosexuality in different cultures around the world. They relate the history of the gay and lesbian community in the United States, and its struggle for equal rights and social acceptance, before tackling the question -- still highly controversial -- of what determines an individual's sexual orientation.City of Friends describes the great diversity within the gay and lesbian community: Life in the "gay ghetto." Old lesbians in rural hideaways. Gay resorts. A "town without men." Gay and lesbian Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans -- what it means to be a minority within a minority. Lesbian and gay youth, the elderly, the deaf. Bisexuals and transsexuals. Academics, drag queens, technoqueers, publishers, softball players -- all make their appearance in these pages.LeVay and Nonas continue with a discussion of health issues (especially of the AIDS epidemic and the community's response to it), the law, and gay and lesbian politics. They describe the cultural achievements of lesbians and gay men -- their art, literature, theater, music, and dance. Finally they take a look at the spiritual life of gays and lesbians, both within and outside of organized religion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The subtitle is overly modest, for the book opens with a discussion of homosexuality throughout history and continues with a treatment of the role of science in interpreting its etiology, including its occurrence in other mammals and even insects. Turning to the U.S., the authors consider the frequency of homosexuality, rejecting Kinsey's figure of 10% as too high; the geographical distribution of the homosexual population; and especially the diversity in that population, which has worked against unity. In the past, the authors note, that unity has been encouraged by homophobia, but they feel that such hatred has been diminishing and that the community must seek a new rallying point. They treat corollary subjects such as occupation, income, education, religion, politics, the arts, ageism and the AIDS crisis. It is difficult to see how the text of this eminently rational survey could be more complete. LeVay is co-founder of the Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education in West Hollywood, Calif.; Nonas teaches fiction writing at UCLA Extension. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

This well-intentioned volume attempts to be "a survey of what it means to be gay or lesbian; where gays and lesbians come from in history and in individual development; what are their common interests, needs, and aspirations; and a portrait of the gay community as a seething coalition of groups and subgroups that resolve ultimately into the splendid uniqueness of the gay individual." Nonas is a teacher of fiction writing at the Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education in West Hollywood, cofounded by LeVay, the author of the controversial The Sexual Brain (MIT Pr., 1993; "Best Sci-Tech Books," LJ 3/1/94, p. 52-56). Overly ambitious, this title includes information on such topics as science, health, legal and political issues, arts, and spirituality but is compromised by peculiarly opinionated and ill-defined prose, oversimplification and generalization, errors of fact, specious interpretation, glaring omissions, redundancies, inconsistencies, and peculiarly incomplete lists for further reading. An optional purchase for gay studies collections. (Index and illustrations not seen.)?James E. Van Buskirk, San Francisco P.L.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 468 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (February 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262621134
• ISBN-13: 978-0262621137
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,868,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon LeVay is a British-born neuroscientist turned writer. He is best known for a 1991 study, published in Science, which reported on a difference in brain structure between gay and straight men. He has served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and the Salk Institute in San Diego, but he now lives in Los Angeles. He has written several books on sex, including a college textbook titled Human Sexuality (now in its third edition), and most recently Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation. Once a fanatical bicycle racer, LeVay continues to ride his bicycle though at a more sober pace. He is intolerant of creationists and lactose.