The Deviant’s War

I don’t read a lot of non-fiction. Well… that’s not exactly true. I read quite a bit of history and news of present events over the course of every day… but I generally don’t read non-fiction for pleasure in my leisure hours. I love stories that stimulate my imagination. But our Wholesome Queers book club read When Brooklyn Was Queer this month. Though it was a little dry at times, it was also a fascinating deep dive into the US government’s past relationship with the queer community. That book loosely covered the time between 1860 and 1950. It’s an important book for anyone interested in queer history.

On the heels of finishing that book I stumbled on The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual Versus The United States of America by Eric Cervini. It starts in the 1940s and covers the battle for queer rights in the US. It can also be a little dry at times as it minutely covers the slow and painful process of LGBTQ+ folks stepping out of the shadows. But despite the repetitivity, or arguably because of it, I have a much better understanding of what people went through to give me the freedom that I now experience. This is how it was done. When the world considers you mentally ill at best, a criminal at worst, how do you get the government to take you seriously? What was the context for the Stonewall riots? The trial and error, the arguments, the fights within and without, the sheer hell of fighting an uncaring power that can stamp you out, the courage and the pig-headedness… I can see why this book was nominated for the Pulitzer in History. The amount of research that went into this book is remarkable.

I’m a little surprised that the author never referenced J. Edgar Hoover’s homosexuality. Given that the FBI director destroyed so many homosexuals’ lives, it does seem relevant to point out the hypocrisy. Perhaps being responsible, the author could find no first hand proof and erred on the side of caution. Several years ago an older acquaintance (I’ll call him Billy) told me that many, many years ago when Billy was young and beautiful, he was invited to a weekend house party near the beach. Billy ran with a gay crowd that orbited moneyed celebrities. Seems like Billy said it was Laguna Beach but it’s been a few years and I can’t remember for certain. He said that the owner of the house was rather hush-hush about their special guest, who turned out to be J. Edgar Hoover, who came downstairs in drag at the party. This would have been late 50s or early 60s I suspect. When Billy told me about his adventure (around 2008?), I was vaguely aware that Hoover had a history of persecuting homosexuals. But I wish I’d questioned him more on his memories of that weekend. Billy has been dead for a number of years now. But he was adamant that it was J. Edgar Hoover at the party, and that the man was very gay. And that the party lasted for the entire weekend. Quite a bit of alcohol was consumed. At the time, it would’ve not been safe to tell stories about a man who was that powerful. And if you were invited to parties with celebrities, you had to be discreet. There was something Billy said about a car… and I can’t remember that bit of the story. Hoover’s arrival I think. There was a teensy bit of drama about it. Can’t remember those specifics. From that story and other reports, I’m pretty confident that Hoover was a closet case. It is strange that people are still trying to protect Hoover’s straight facade after all these years. Anyhoo… just a minor note on an overall interesting book.

The Deviant’s War put all the craziness that we are experiencing now in 2025 into perspective. The battles now (as daunting as they are) can’t hold a candle to what our community has faced in the past. We will get past this. The Deviant’s War was ultimately an encouraging and an inspiring read.

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