Richard Goldstein (born June 19, 1944)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Richard Goldstein (born June 19, 1944) is an American journalist and writer. He wrote for the Village Voice from June 1966 until 2004, eventually becoming executive editor. He specializes in gay and lesbian issues, music, and counterculture topics.

Goldstein was born to Jack and Mollye Goldstein. He was raised in the Bronx in the Parkside Houses. His father was a mail carrier, his mother a homemaker. He attended Hunter College for his undergraduate degree. Goldstein graduated from Columbia University School of Journalism in 1966, and joined the Village Voice in June of that year. He published his first book 1 in 7: Drugs on Campus in 1966. Goldstein covered the emerging worlds of pop and rock music in his "Pop Eye" column, establishing him one of the first rock critics. He also wrote pieces for Vogue, Mademoiselle, Travel and Camera, The Saturday Evening Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times. Asked to write The Times's review of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Goldstien wrote a negative appraisal. This unleashed a backlash from Beatles fans, many of whom were unaware of Goldstein's previous work praising the band. Goldstein has since shifted his opinion on the album. He left the Village Voice in 1968, but he returned in the early 1970s in an editorial role. He has issued two collections of his work, Reporting the Counterculture and Goldstein's Greatest Hits. He also released a collection of rock lyrics interspersed with psychedelic illustrations, The Poetry of Rock. This book has been taught in literature classes in a number of secondary schools and universities.

Goldstein, who came out in the 1970s, has been a champion of gay rights and issued early calls for attention to the AIDS epidemic. Since, he has tackled the cutting-edge topic of gay power politics with two books published in the early 2000s (decade): The Attack Queers and Homocons. He famously issued a call in The Nation for Eminem to duel with him, taking exception to the controversial rapper's homophobic lyrics. Goldstein is a GLAAD-award winner for his contributions to the gay community.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Goldstein_(writer_born_1944)


Richard Goldstein, 1993, by Robert Giard (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/brbldl_getrec.asp?fld=img&id=1123803)

American photographer Robert Giard is renowned for his portraits of American poets and writers; his particular focus was on gay and lesbian writers. Some of his photographs of the American gay and lesbian literary community appear in his groundbreaking book Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, published by MIT Press in 1997. Giard’s stated mission was to define the literary history and cultural identity of gays and lesbians for the mainstream of American society, which perceived them as disparate, marginal individuals possessing neither. In all, he photographed more than 600 writers. (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/giard.html)

Further Readings:

Homocons: The Rise of the Gay Right by Richard Goldstein
Paperback: 108 pages
Publisher: Verso (November 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1859844146
ISBN-13: 978-1859844144
Amazon: Homocons: The Rise of the Gay Right

An analysis of how conservatives became the loudest gay voices in the mainstream media.

For most of its history, the American gay movement has been part of the democratic Left. Gay liberation's founders were Communists, and its activist core is still overwhelmingly progressive. But in recent years, a more affluent group of gay men has begun to make its mark. Though they are a minority in the queer community (which includes people of all races, classes and genders), conservatives have become the loudest gay voices in the mainstream media. With their withering contempt for feminism and radical politics, these 'gayocons' are changing the movement's public image. Unless their rise is met by a persuasive critique, they may also alter its heart and soul.

Homocons offers such a critique. It describes how the gay Right agenda differs from the one the queer community has long embraced. Never abandoning its analysis of the complex relationship between homosexuals and liberal society, the book examines the conflict between liberationists and assimilationists that has raged since the Stonewall era, and explores how political success tipped the balance and facilitated the rise of the gay Right. Finally this book offers an alternative to gay conservatism grounded in queer humanism, a distinct sensibility that has been a major force in progressive thought for more than a century.

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices