10/13/2011
Images from BEYOND NORMAL: The Birth of Gay Pride by Gale Chester Whittington, which is now available as an iBook, a paperback or an eBook with over 45 vintage images! The book traces the true evolvement of homosexual militancy to San Francisco, before the New York Stonewall riots of 1969. Much has been written about the ’60’s gay liberation movement, but most accounts focus on East Coast activities and are either incomplete, omissive, or simply inaccurate with respect to northern California. My comrades in the world’s first militant gay organization, the Committee for Homosexual Freedom, which I co-founded, christened me the “Rosa Parks of Gay Liberation,” and later “Gale the Liberator.” My book fills a gap not previously detailed in print and it does so in an entertaining, novel-like style.
The Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. bestowed six awards on me for my writing, including one for this memoir. The ultra-conservative judge (Oklahoma is in the heart of the Bible Belt), who confided he finds “the subject matter abhorrent” called the manuscript “raw, honest, vivid, talented . . . and publishable if the rest of the book is as frank and brutal as these first pages.”
Terence Kissack, former Executive Director and current board member of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco, read my manuscript and commented via email:
"By far the most valuable aspect of the book and the one that drew me in as a reader was the personal account . . . You had the good luck of living through interesting times and your perspective as a participant observer makes for a fun and fascinating read . . . Lots of material!"
The heart of the story begins in May 1969, when I’m fired from my job at States Steamship Company in San Francisco after my photo is plastered on page three of the “underground” newspaper, The Berkeley Barb (then sold on every street corner in California), with the headline, “HOMOS DON’T HIDE IT!”
KGO-ABC radio announcer LEO LAWRENCE and I co-found the Committee for Homosexual Freedom (CHF), to protest and demand civil rights for g**s everywhere. The night before the first demonstration, I reminisce about my life, beginning with Denver in 1967, when I attempt su***de because of a broken heart and confusion about being gay.
I flee to the “City of Love,” where I become radicalized because of the Vietnam War, racism, and the political assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.
My work with the gay magazine Vector leads to my aforementioned outing and firing. The idea of aggressive homosexuals is such a radical concept (oxymoron) that the San Francisco Chronicle calls our rally, “A Different Kind of Protest.” We form a speakers bureau, initiate a guerrilla theatre group, and circulate a petition for an end to discrimination against g**s in city government and housing—written with the help of two young, handsome attorneys, TERENCE HALLINAN and DAVID CLAYTON, and signed by then City Supervisor DIANE FEINSTEIN.
We form coalitions with the “straight” radical movement. Our picketing at Tower Records gets a gay man rehired.
Many colorful characters join CHF: a charming young Italian claiming to be from the Gay Mafia; a loud-mouthed priest who turns out to be an FBI informant; a chubby man who pays me to help organize office workers for the Teamsters; a gay folksinger; a feature writer for LA Advocate who follows us around, promoting a plan for the gay community to take over tiny Alpine County—to name a few. My style of writing about all this is matter-of-fact and unapologetic, laced with self-deprecating humor.
Yes, indeed! To purchase BEYOND NORMAL: The Birth of Gay Pride at
Booklocker (3 Free Chapters) http://tinyurl.com/329y6qs
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/37cwh22
ibookstore: http://itunes.apple.com/US/book/9781609105501
Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/2dnefnh
More details at my blog: http://tinyurl.com/5rv7htk and on my Website: http://www.galechesterwhittington.com/beyondnormal
