This is apparent in the incredible amount of detail, the vast number of people that Martel spoke to, and his engaging writing style, which does not get bogged down in pedagogy or rhetoric. Yes, there is a fair amount of sociological analysis, but Martel clearly knows the value of the maxim ‘show rather than tell’, which means this book is alive with a rainbow chorus of dispara It is astonishing to contemplate that this book is the result of eight years’ research spent visiting over 50 countries. It is astonishing to contemplate that this book is the result of eight years’ research spent visiting over 50 countries. This English edition has been thoroughly revised and updated.more Global Gay has been adapted into an award-winning television documentary. And around the world, the status of gay rights has become a measure of a country's democracy and modernity. Martel finds that although the "gay American way of life" has created a global template for gay activism and culture, each country offers distinctly local variations. "Homophobia is what Arab governments give to Islamists to keep them calm," one activist tells Martel. Ten countries maintain the death penalty for homosexuals. He tells us that in China, homosexuality is neither prohibited nor permitted, and that much Chinese gay life takes place on social media that in Iran, because of the strict separation of the sexes, it seems almost easier to be gay than heterosexual and that Raul Castro's daughter, a gay rights icon in Cuba, expressed her lingering anti-American sentiments by calling for Pride celebrations in May rather than June. Martel interviews the proprietor of a "gay-friendly" café in Amman, Jordan a Cuban-American television journalist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida a South African jurist who worked with Nelson Mandela to enshrine gay rights in the country's constitution an American lawyer who worked on the campaign for marriage equality an Egyptian man who fled his country after escaping a raid on a gay club and many others. From Saudi Arabia to South Africa, from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv, from Singapore to the United States, activists, culture warriors, and ordinary people are part of a movement. In Global Gay, Frédéric Martel visits more than fifty countries and documents a revolution underway around the world: the globalization of LGBT rights. From Saudi Arabia to South Africa, from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv, from Singapore to the United States, activists, culture warriors, and ordinar A panoramic view of gay rights, gay life, and the gay experience around the world.
A panoramic view of gay rights, gay life, and the gay experience around the world.