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The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. The United States of America, with Author Eric Cervini-7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

This is a Zoom discussion with author and historian Eric Cervini on his NYT bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. The United States of America. The discussion will be moderated by Jasmine Allen of PBS NH. The book is currently being adapted into an Amazon limited series .

 A New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, The Deviant's War uncovers the secret history of the fight for gay rights that began a generation before Stonewall, told through the life and unprecedented legal efforts of astronomer Franklin Edward Kameny. 

About the author: Eric Cervini is an award-winning historian of LGBTQ+ culture and politics. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar. The Deviant’s War is his first book.

About the book: In 1957, Frank Kameny, a rising astronomer working for the U.S. Defense Department in Hawaii, received a summons to report immediately to Washington, D.C. The Pentagon had reason to believe he was a homosexual, and after a series of humiliating interviews, Kameny, like countless gay men and women before him, was promptly dismissed from his government job. Unlike many others, though, Kameny fought back.

Based on firsthand accounts, recently declassified FBI records, and forty thousand personal documents, Eric Cervini's The Deviant's War unfolds over the course of the 1960s, as the Mattachine Society of Washington, the group Kameny founded, became the first organization to protest the systematic persecution of gay federal employees. It traces the forgotten ties that bound gay rights to the Black Freedom Movement, the New Left, lesbian activism, and trans resistance. Above all, it is a story of America (and Washington) at a cultural and sexual crossroads; of shocking, byzantine public battles with Congress; of FBI informants; murder; betrayal; sex; love; and ultimately victory.

THIS PROGRAM IS VIRTUAL VIA ZOOM ONLY-Registration required for ZOOM link. register by clicking HERE: