We've Been Here All Along: Wisconsin's Early Gay History

by R. Richard Wagner

Overview

The first of two groundbreaking volumes on gay history in Wisconsin, We’ve Been Here All Along provides an illuminating and nuanced picture of Wisconsin’s gay history from the reporting on the Oscar Wilde trials of 1895 to the landmark Stonewall Riots of 1969. Throughout these decades, gay Wisconsinites developed identities, created support networks, and found ways to thrive in their communities despite various forms of suppression—from the anti-vice crusades of the early twentieth century to the post-war labeling of homosexuality as an illness to the Lavender Scare of the 1950s.

In We’ve Been Here All Along, R. Richard Wagner draws on historical research and materials from his own extensive archive to uncover previously hidden stories of gay Wisconsinites. This book honors their legacy and confirms that they have been foundational to the development and evolution of the state since its earliest days

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870209123
Publisher:	Wisconsin Historical Society
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Edition description:	1
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	688,770
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Scholar and activist Richard Wagner was the first openly gay member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, where he served for fourteen years. In 1983 he was appointed by Governor Tony Earl to co-chair the Governor’s Council on Lesbian and Gay Issues, the first in the nation. In 2005 he joined the Board of Fair Wisconsin to fight the constitutional amendment against marriage equality. Wagner has served on the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Wisconsin Humanities Committee, the Board of Downtown Madison Inc., the Madison Plan Commission, the Madison Urban Design Commission, the Madison Landmarks Commission, Historic Madison, the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation, the Board of the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, and the Board of the Friends of UW Libraries.

Richard Wagner holds a PhD in American History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
 

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Wisconsin Gone Wilde 5

2 Visible Vice and Its Punishments 29

3 "Down on the Farm" 82

4 Wisconsin Fairy Networking 118

5 Acting Jam in World War II 170

6 Who Needs a Doctor? 204

7 Witch Hunts and the Fairy Deal 255

8 Finding Ourselves 301

Epilogue: Emerging From the Shadows 359

Acknowledgments 361

Notes 364

Index 415