Coming Out, Moving Forward

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Wisconsin’s Recent Gay History

R. Richard Wagner

This second volume in a groundbreaking study of LGBTQ history in Wisconsin explores the post-Stonewall period from 1969 to 2000.

632 pages, 6 x 9, 122 b&w photos
Hardcover: $28.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-927-7
Ebook: $15.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-928-4
Publication Date: 9/22/2020

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Front cover of Coming Out, Moving Forward

Description

Coming Out, Moving Forward, the second volume in R. Richard Wagner’s groundbreaking work on gay history in Wisconsin, outlines the challenges that LGBT Wisconsinites faced in their efforts to right past oppressions and secure equality in the post-Stonewall period between 1969 and 2000. During this era, Wisconsin made history as the first state to enact a gay rights law prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. It also became the first state to elect three openly gay/lesbian persons to Congress.

In this volume, R. Richard Wagner draws on historical research and materials from his extensive personal archive to not only chronicle an important movement, but also to tell the stories of the state’s LGBT pioneers—from legislators and elected officials to activists, businesspeople, and everyday citizens. Coming Out, Moving Forward documents the rich history of Wisconsin’s LGBT individuals and communities as they pushed back against injustice and found ways to live openly and proudly as themselves.

Coming Out, Moving Forward is a continuation to the first volume in this series, We’ve Been Here All Along.

Author Bio

Scholar and activist R. Richard Wagner was the first openly gay member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, where he served for fourteen years. In 1983, he co-chaired the Wisconsin Governor’s Council on Lesbian and Gay Issues—the first such council in the nation. And in 2005, he joined the board of Fair Wisconsin to fight the constitutional amendment against marriage equality.

Thank goodness for R. Richard Wagner’s careful documentation and historic recounting of the push for LGBT rights in Wisconsin. Otherwise, it would be difficult to comprehend, by today’s standards, the depth and breadth of the prejudice. Wisconsin was on the forefront, albeit with fits and starts, of the fight for equal rights, thanks to the tenacity and hard work of people like Wagner. I am proud to have been a chapter in this movement.

Anthony S. Earl

Governor of Wisconsin, 1983–1987

“The book you are about to read records and shares an important chapter in our state’s history. Like me, you will learn that progress is not swift. Progress happens only when a set of common values provide the foundation for courageous people to move forward in ways that make our world a better place for those who follow.”

—US Representative Steve Gunderson

“This two-volume work reflects a lifetime of meticulous research and a sensitivity to reading between the lines in public sources. Dick Wagner makes our state’s history more complete by including our part in shaping it. He also presents the opportunity for young people growing up all over Wisconsin and the Midwest in this century to know that they are not alone and that they stand on the shoulders of people who came before them and paved the way for the progress we have made in recent years.”

—US Senator Tammy Baldwin