The underground
This book explains the birth of gay culture in New York City throughout the 20th century. He shows how although for the most part, the culture has widespread appeal and is well-known today, the truth of its origin is in the hip underground. This was unfortunately due to the homophobia that has pretty much always existed throughout American history. This forced communities of gay people to exist covertly, hanging out in areas of New York where people wouldn't think to look. They were doing life together under the threat of violence; it was against the law to be gay.
Depression as a major hurdle
Because of the covert nature of homosexuality during the mid-century, there was a nearly universal problem of mental health issues among the gay community. Their desire for community brought them together, but still, in the mainstream culture of the times, they were regarded with hatred and shame. This shame often infected their thought life, and the book explains how the secrecy went against their desire to feel proud of who they were. They experienced hopelessness about the future.
Loneliness
Although the book is about the "gay community," the idea of community might not exactly fit, because these people were often seriously separated from one another. It wasn't as easy as going to the neighborhood watering hole. Many people struggled to find a consistent community of friends, and mostly this was due to the constraints placed on them by law and culture. If they were caught, it could mean their life. This made for a great sense of loneliness and a desire to experience emotional connection with a community.
The Gay Rights Movement
In the late 1960's, there was this remarkable, passionate movement on the heels of the Civil Rights movement for the equal treatment of gay people. Nowadays, the law protects people from discrimination for sexual orientation, but in the past, that was very much not the case. These legal changes have their origin in the collective marches and pride movements in the gay community where they banded together and faced tremendous persecution to make their presence known and to clearly say they demanded equal treatment.
The demonization motif
Because of fear and shame, many right-wing advocate groups spread lies and misinformation about gay people. These smear campaigns were so effective that they still shape the views of some closed-minded people in today's America. The ideas were clearly rooted in hatred and dismissiveness. They argued that gay people were also pedophiles, and perhaps that they had sex with animals. The truth was so far from the case, but still, the ideas gained traction, and this has been a shared burden in the community, resisting these attempts to shame and humiliate them.
