The Crotchety Old Man

Category: Gay Rights

  • LGBTQ History: Missing Pieces?

    June 2019 was the best LGBTQ Pride Month ever. The level of media coverage was unprecedented, and several excellent shows were aired. All in all, I was blown away and thrilled for our history to be so widely shared. Coming out in 1979 sparked a life-long interest in gay history. I realized while doing the…

  • The Birth of Gay Liberation

    In 1969, a group of New York’s most disenfranchised citizens fought with police during a late June raid of the Stonewall Inn. John Lindsay was mayor and running for reelection. The raid was part of his campaign to clean up the city. State regulations in New York prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages to homosexuals.…

  • The Stonewall Movie

    I first heard about the 1969 Stonewall riots in the early 1980s. I vaguely recall mentions in books I read after coming out and conversations with gay friends. Before researching Stonewall to write Happy Independence Day, all I knew was that a bunch of New York City queens stood up to police during a late…

  • This Bathroom Business

    The push for transgender rights is much in the news these days. The guidance issued to schools by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education provoked a flurry of fear-mongering commentary from opposition groups. You’d think the world was coming to an end. Science has established that gender, sexual preference, and gender identity are three…

  • Total Assimilation

    Attitudes about homosexuality have changed much faster than I ever expected. In the 1950s and 1960s, mothers worried about protecting their children from homosexual pedophiles. Today, they’re card carrying members of P-FLAG. Sixty years ago, homosexuality was illegal in every state but Illinois. Until 1974, the American Psychiatric Association considered homosexuality to be a mental…

  • Happy Independence Day Release Party & Blog Tour

    Dreamspinner Press has officially released my third novel, Happy Independence Day. The story features the relationship between Terrence Bottom and Cameron McKenzie and is set in June 1969, a few years later than the prequel, After Christmas Eve, and about 225 miles farther north. Much of the action occurs in and around the infamous Stonewall…

  • Happy Independence Day Cover Reveal

    Getting a novel published is a roller coaster ride. Transforming a finished manuscript into a book people can read is a six-month journey filled with highs and lows. Difficult edits and short deadlines are lows. The high — at least for me — is my first glimpse of the cover. To celebrate the beautiful cover…

  • The Secret Lives of 20th Century Gays

    Thanks so much to pals Julie Lynn Hayes and M.A. Church for organizing The Power of Love blog tour. Click here for links to all the participating blogs. All the authors are giving something away, so you’ll want to visit all of the participating blogs to see what to do for a chance to win free…

  • Coming Soon: Happy Independence Day

    Back in July of 2013, I started working on Happy Independence Day, my third novel. The idea was to place several of the characters from After Christmas Eve in New York City for the 1969 Stonewall Riots — the beginning of gay liberation and a turning point for gay and lesbian Americans. Seven months later…

  • My Holiday Series

    I had no idea when I wrote Until Thanksgiving that a prequel would follow. The idea of writing a novel was intimidating enough — never mind a series. But something about Philip Potter, a supporting character, grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I wanted to know more about him. Readers loved him too, and shared my…