I Thought People Like That Killed Themselves: Lesbians, Gay Men, and Suicide

by Eric Rofes

Book by Rofes, Eric E

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Eric Rofes was a gay activist, educator, and author. He was a director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in the 1980s. In 1989, he became executive director of the Shanti Project, a nonprofit AIDS service organization. He was a professor of Education at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, and served on the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He wrote or edited twelve books. One of his last projects was co-creating "Gay Men's Health Leadership Academies" to combat what he saw as a "pathology-focused understanding of gay men" in safe-sex education.

Reviews

[Ai Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting, especially now as an artifact of a different era. I'm not sure how relevant is is for folks actually looking for answers today, and some of the citations are just WILD (there's a citation from 1844 that makes a claim that is completely contradictory to a lot of current work,) but it is super interesting if you read it as a primary source!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though very dated, still some excellent scholarship here for anyone interested in gay history in the late 1970s and early 1980s ... and things haven't really changed all that much in the Red States.