"The world looks different from this end of the telescope and this is what it looks like." (Steve Mayes)
Ian Lucas's "OutRage! An Oral History" chronicles the rise of queer direct action in nineties Britain in the words of the activists themselves. Lucas traces OutRage!'s origins in the sporadic protests against homophobia of the eighties, paying homage to its short-lived predecessors and sketching the hostile atmosphere which were the inspiration and reason for its birth. Individual accounts do not flinch from articulating the disputes over priorities and tactics, aims and methods, which were nonetheless to produce the most original and highest profile gay rights organisation ever.
A pandemonium of noise is what OutRage! have created in the straight media and the queer communities over the past decade. From the high-profile outing of MP's and bishops to their attacks on hypocrisy in the Catholic Church or homophobia within the Labour Party, OutRage! campaigns have sparked bitter controversy and debate, massively increasing the public visibility of queer issues. Blowing whistles, banging drums and sporting T-shirts with in-yer-face slogans, these self-styled "Queers with Attitude" have had a profound effect on the culture and politics of the lesbian and gay communities and straight society.
Fierce, funny, camp, sexy, embarrassing but ultimately inspiring, here is the definitive account of the politics and personalities behind this notorious group.
"OutRage! has always sought to articulate a post-equality agenda
which seeks to renegotiate the values, institutions and laws of straight
culture, challenging not just homophobia but the authoritarian and puritanical
nature of social institutions -- our agenda is about transforming society,
not conforming to it." (Peter Tatchell)
"OutRage! An Oral History" by Ian Lucas is published by Cassell, London and New York, 1998; 244pp; ISBN=0304333581 (paperback); ISBN=0304333573 (hardback).
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