Queerly Classed: Gay Men & Lesbians Write About Class

by Susan Raffo, Eli Clare (Contributor)

This collection of thoughtful, courageous, and honest essays explores the intersections of class background, social status, and "queerness," challenging the often narrow and rigid definition of gay and lesbian community. Queerly Classed highlights the voices of those whose experiences of class-combined with race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and age to explode stereotypes of queers aspiring to assimilate into the mainstream of the American middle class.

Genres: Queer, LGBT, Nonfiction, Class, Gay, Essays

268 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Thomas Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection, almost 30 years old but still containing some vital and stirring pieces. I particularly enjoyed the pieces by Eli Clare ("Losing Home"), Kennette Crockett ("Putting Down Roots"), and the two chapters written as dialogue. There are also some poems included, which help save this from feeling too academic. There are a lot of recurring themes of course: ideas of "coming out" about one's class position as well as one's sexuality; exploring intersections of class and race and queerness; the need to reach out to other oppressed groups in society and acknowledged a shared struggle. Also, the time and place where most of these chapters were written are uncomfortably resonant: America's ascendant right wing, the precarity of queer rights, all felt a little too close to home.

[Greyskylark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the most personally significant books I've ever read. It fits together the complex web of issues involved in sexuality and class, touching on racism and urban/rural issues and so many other things worth considering.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check that title--as with many anthologies, there are good, thought-provoking pieces and then there are some others.

[B Bissonnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

great opportunity to look through different LGBT lenses on poverty and wealth