Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence

University of Maryland American studies professor Hanhardt offers a commendable revision of the LGBT story in America, in which competing conceptions of crime, violence, property, and prejudice shaped what became the urban gay neighborhood. Hanhardt argues that there is a complicated connection between calls for gay “territories” and mainstream anti-violence politics. Such territories are not safe for all, she suggests, and grew out of a multifaceted lineage of impressive diversity. The analysis complicates the simplified narratives of activist groups and political movements that often combined multi-issue politics, militancy, and accommodation with governments in contingent and shifting alliances. It is a dramatic picture of a febrile movement that had a difficult relationship with its competitors. The book further excels by demonstrating this history through the experiences of LGBT people of color, transgender individuals, and immigrants. This rich analysis serves as a useful primer on why gay neighborhoods are at the epicenter of discussions about gentrification. Though its occasional descent into Queer Theory–based obscurity clouds its analysis, the book’s argument that the LGBT movement must address complex issues of race, gender, and class is entirely persuasive. 25 illus. (Nov.)