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Marc Stein, Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America, Journal of American History, Volume 111, Issue 2, September 2024, Pages 380–381, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaae154
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Extract
At the heart of Queer Career is an important and valuable insight: in certain times, places, and sectors, Lgbtq (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer) workers have been tolerated, accepted, and even desired because they could be exploited without legal consequence, union reaction, or political protest. In the era prior to the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn, in particular, lavender scare civil service purges were only part of the story. In corporate America, Lgbtq workers were harbingers of the future: hired and fired at will, offered wages that would not support a family, and given conditions, schedules, and tasks that others might refuse. In making this argument, Margot Canaday effectively and smartly links Lgbtq history to the history of late capitalism. Queer
Career also succeeds in sharing moving and revealing stories about Lgbtq workers, primarily because of the 150 oral histories that Canaday conducted and the autobiographical stories she includes.