14 Quotes by Martin Duberman

There’s even less acceptance of bisexuality than homosexuality. Binary thinking still holds strong sway with the general population, and the exclusive homosexual is more understandable to the average person than is an individual who wanders the Kinsey scale with apparent—and alarming—abandon.

The attitudinal changes we’ve seen in recent decades regarding racism, sexism, and homophobia are real, but can encourage simplistic optimism about additional progress.

Historically, blacks and Latinos were routinely “carded”—denied admission—to white gay clubs; today, segregated socializing is less pronounced but an expansively “welcoming” atmosphere remains uncommon, and for trans people all but nonexistent. Lesbian activists, comparably, have been subject through time to gay male chauvinism so pronounced that they’ve felt the need periodically to form separate organizations.

We take you at your word: you are like us; now that we’ve ‘let you in,’ we expect that in your gratitude you won’t pull any surprises and start behaving like some subspecies that you’ve assured us you’re not; if we now say it’s OK to be gay, we don’t expect you to pull the rug out from under us and start acting queer.

When GLF talked about sexual liberation, the agenda often included two interlocking items rarely mentioned these days: freeing up same-sex attraction in confirmed heterosexuals and releasing heterosexual desire in those who considered themselves exclusively gay.