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Start giftingCommunists in Closets
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Learn moreThe Communist Party banned lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from membership beginning in 1938 when it cast them off as "degenerates." It persisted in this policy until 1991. During this sixty-year ban, gays and lesbians who did join the Communist Party were deeply closeted within it, as well as in their public lives as both queer and Communist. By the late 1930s, the Communist Party had a membership approaching 100,000 and tens of thousands more people moved in its orbit through the Popular Front against fascism, anti-racist organizing, especially in the south, and its widely read cultural magazine, the New Masses. Based on a decade of archival research, correspondence, and interviews, Bettina Aptheker explores this history, also pulling from her own experience as a closeted lesbian in the Communist Party in the 1960s and '70s. Ironically, and in spite of this homophobia, individual Communists laid some of the political and theoretical foundations for lesbian and gay liberation and women's liberation, and contributed significantly to peace, social justice, civil rights, and Black and Latinx liberation movements.
This book will be of interest to students, scholars, and anyone interested in political history, gender studies, and the history of sexuality.
Bettina Aptheker is Distinguished Professor Emerita, feminist studies department, University of California, Santa Cruz, United States. She is the author of: Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech and Became A Feminist Rebel (2006); and The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis (1976; second edition 1999).
As a seasoned performer, singer, voice actor, and narrator, Ann Sprinkle's voice has been described as warm, clear, friendly, fun, engaging, soulful, uplifting, and "sunshine in a voice." Her years of training as an opera singer, voice teacher, yoga instructor, speech language pathologist, and in medical education, along with her love of comedy, psychology, biographies, and personal growth and development, make her the perfect fit for nonfiction, self-help/personal development, health and wellness, mystery/thriller, comedy, fiction, or children's books. Ann received a Master of Music degree in voice from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Science in speech language pathology. Her storytelling credits include narration of multiple audiobooks, VO, film, and leading and supportive roles in opera, musical theater, and theater in venues across the United States. Her background has given her a breadth of experience, knowledge, and a variety of characters and styles that contribute to her audiobook narration skills. She is most at home with comedic characters, playing the evil villain, teaching new skills, or when providing a voice of inspiration to others in the personal growth genre. Ann is also the owner and founder of Viable Voice & Speech, LLC. She provides voice and speech therapy services, including transgender and gender affirming voice services, professional speaking and coaching services, speech sound disorders (articulation and phonology), fluency/stuttering therapy, accent modification/English pronunciation services, and more to clients in Nevada and California. More information is available at viablevoice.com. When not in her home audio recording booth narrating or working with clients to help them to find their own, unique voice, you might find her hiking, listening to music, doing yoga, or puzzling.