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The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. The United States of America

Roosevelt House and the LGBTQ Policy Center at Hunter College present a live Zoom webinar on The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, the new biography of Frank Kameny, the founder and intellectual father of the LGBTQ movement in America. The book’s author, Eric Cervini, will be interviewed by three panelists: author, critic, and activist Michael Henry Adams; journalist June Thomas; and Charles Kaiser, acting director of the Roosevelt House LGBTQ Policy Center at Hunter College.

Cervini’s book is the first full-length biography of Kameny—a crucial figure, who was the first Federal employee to challenge his dismissal after the Army Map Service fired him for being gay in 1957. In his petition to the Supreme Court, Kameny called the government rules banning homosexuals from federal employment “a stench in the nostrils of decent people, an offense against morality, an abandonment of reason, an affront to human dignity, an improper restraint upon proper freedom and liberty, a disgrace to any civilized society, and a violation of all that this nation stands for.” The Court rejected Kameny’s petition. But this spring, 61 years later, the Court echoed Kameny’s view in a landmark 6-3 decision, ruling that the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited job discrimination against LGBTQ persons. The panel will explore the lessons modern activists can learn from the work of the most successful gay activist of all time.











When: Wed., Jul. 8, 2020 at 4:00 pm
Where: Hunter College
47-49 E. 65th St.
212-396-7919
Price: Free
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Roosevelt House and the LGBTQ Policy Center at Hunter College present a live Zoom webinar on The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, the new biography of Frank Kameny, the founder and intellectual father of the LGBTQ movement in America. The book’s author, Eric Cervini, will be interviewed by three panelists: author, critic, and activist Michael Henry Adams; journalist June Thomas; and Charles Kaiser, acting director of the Roosevelt House LGBTQ Policy Center at Hunter College.

Cervini’s book is the first full-length biography of Kameny—a crucial figure, who was the first Federal employee to challenge his dismissal after the Army Map Service fired him for being gay in 1957. In his petition to the Supreme Court, Kameny called the government rules banning homosexuals from federal employment “a stench in the nostrils of decent people, an offense against morality, an abandonment of reason, an affront to human dignity, an improper restraint upon proper freedom and liberty, a disgrace to any civilized society, and a violation of all that this nation stands for.” The Court rejected Kameny’s petition. But this spring, 61 years later, the Court echoed Kameny’s view in a landmark 6-3 decision, ruling that the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited job discrimination against LGBTQ persons. The panel will explore the lessons modern activists can learn from the work of the most successful gay activist of all time.

Buy tickets/get more info now