Mark Thompson

"What does it mean to be an advocate? To become a person who speaks out and defends a cause? In this collection of moving essays, longtime journalist Mark Thompson charts his own journey of becoming both a witness and participant in the gay liberation movement. He then goes on to describe other advocates of personal and political freedom he has known and how these friendships further informed his activism. His story begins in 1968 when, as a curious teenager in the throes of coming out, he accidentally discovers one of the first issues of The Advocate, a tiny Los Angeles newsletter that would grow into the gay movement's most important national journal of record. Little did he know that only in a few more years he'd be working for the publication-first as an enterprising young writer and then, after nearly two decades, as its Senior and Cultural Editor. Filled with historic eye-witness accounts of a movement and its primary chronicle always in flux, as well as profiles of artists and activists who have made a difference, Advocate Days and Other Stories is more than the sum of its parts. Taken together, these keenly observed tales offer a stirring testament to the significance of living a life graced with meaning and purpose. Show More Show Less.

From Amazon.com: Arguably the book that started the Gay Spirituality Movement. Publishers Weekly wrote: Cultural editor of the Advocate, Thompson here collects previously published articles and book excerpts from the magazine, each an attempt to define the status of gay men. In an introduction he distinguishes between homosexual (a form of sexuality) and gay: "A social identity and consciousness actively chosen." The text discusses the gay's role in politics, religion, culture, identity. Among the contributors are Judy Grahn, author of lesbian/feminist works; Malcolm Boyd, activist Episcopal priest; Harry Hay, a founder of the Mattachine Society; writer William S. Burroughs; and Geoff Mains's presenting an approving, detailed description of sadomasochism. Gay Spirit is so terrific at making the reader feel there might be something more wondrous, more miraculous to life... the book's exciting challenge to conventional thinking is that it's not merely time for society to tolerate but time to cherish its intermediate sexual types. --Los Angeles Times Gay Spirit calls gay people back to the Circle of Life as full participants in the dance of survival and joy...this anthology is like the rains of spring hastening our unique growth, flowering and fruition. --Gay Community News

The most valuable possession a people have is their story...their history. Many years in the making, with over fifty contributors from around the world, The Fire in the Moonlight is the first anthology of its kind. Beginning with Walt Whitman and Edward Carpenter in the nineteenth century and moving through the liberation movements of the late twentieth, Dancing in the Moonlight speculates far into the twenty-first. It offers a timely compendium of culture wisdom, provocative wit and challenging sensuality. Dancing in the Moonlight gives witness to a groundbreaking movement that painstakingly emerged from the Gay Liberation era. Rooted in the history of radical visionaries, this little known, essential community informs the modern world with new meaning, offering fresh definitions of faith, identity, purpose and gender. Fire in the Moonlight is a series of personal reflections on who the Radical Faeries are, where they've been and where they are going: Radical Faeries in their own words. It is about how a movement has changed lives--and how Radical Faeries contribute to healing a fractured Earth.

The emergence of the gay and lesbian community in the last quarter century has confronted America with what has become the new civil rights movement of the nineties, as millions of gay people assert their right to live as decent American citizens without the fear of persecution and discrimination. Since 1967 - two years before the Stonewall Riots, usually seen as the beginning of gay liberation - The Advocate has been the nations publication of record for the gay community. From its humble beginnings as a newsletter covering Southern California's homosexual subculture to its prominence today as a newsmagazine read around the world, The Advocate has mirrored the astonishing growth of the community it's served. Now the remarkable history of the modern gay and lesbian movement - a quarter century of rebellion and reform, tragedy and triumph - fills the hundreds of pages of news, photographs, essays, cartoons, and interviews culled from The Advocate. From first-person accounts of the Stonewall Riots to the tragic last day of Harvey Milk's life, from the crisis of AIDS to the controversy over outing, the milestones of the movement are presented as they happened, along with accounts of the lighter side of gay life, from disco divas to the politics of drag. Each year is introduced by a distinguished gay or lesbian historian or movement leader. Martin Duberman, Lillian Faderman, Allan Berube, Felice Picano, Urvashi Vaid, Joan Nestle, John Preston, Torie Osborn, and Randy Shilts are among those interpreting this revolutionary movement that has affected millions of people across the world.

"A riveting ride through some og the most facinating, exciting and harrowing times in gay history. Vito Russo's sharp eye, deep love of gay people, and unbridled passion for writing about gay culture light up every page...He is an icon for generations to come - Michelangelo Signorile" -- Cover.