Description

A subtle and complex study of how a generation of activists came to reinvent themselves, and an outstanding contribution to the history of the gay movement in Australia.

In the 1960s and 1970s many Australians began thinking about some radical questions. Who are we as homosexuals? Who might we become? How are we to act politically? In short, how are we to live?

In lively prose Robert Reynolds looks at how these men and women undertook what is now a universal task: the reinvention of the self in an era of uncertainty and change, where old answers no longer suffice, and where sexuality is a core preoccupation. This agile account avoids simple, romantic or stereotyped views of the gay and lesbian movements to reveal a complex but largely forgotten history and legacy.

Reynolds delves into personal stories, moving adroitly from the camp bars of the 1960s to the openly proud homosexuals who have created a politics of homosexuality in Australia. He presents a highly readable yet complex history in which there are no simple dualities.

From camp to gay to the recent movement of queer, from modern to postmodern and a transgressive use of psychoanalysis, From Camp to Queer is a sophisticated yet highly accessible story.