John Mitzel
John Mitzel (1948-October 4, 2013) was Boston writer, publisher, book seller and gay community and cultural activist.[1]
Early activistm
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio and educated at Boston University he was one of the organizers of Boston's first gay pride parade in 1971.[2][3] Mitzel was a founding member of the Fag Rag collective in 1971 which published Fag Rag and he helped found the Good Gay Poets collective in 1973.[4] He wrote numerous articles for Gay Community News (Boston) and had a column in Philadelphia Gay News in the 1970s and 1980s.[1][5] As a publisher, he started Manifest Destiny Press in the 1970s and Calamus Books in 2002.[6]
Boston-Boise Committee
In December 1977, Mitzel with other members of the Fag Rag collective organized the Boston-Boise committee largely in response to the police entrapment of Boston gay men.[7][8] And in April 1978 through Mitzel's acquaintance with him Gore Vidal spoke at a fund-raiser for the committee and the controversy that followed the event led to the resignation of a Massachusetts Supreme Court judge and the founding of GLAD and NAMBLA.[9][10][11]
Glad Day and Calamus
Mitzel operated the Boston branch of Toronto's Glad Day Bookshop for some fifteen years until about 2000.[12] Mitzel then opened Calamus Books.[13][14][15]
Works and publications
- Myra and Gore : a new view of Myra Breckinridge and a candid interview with Gore Vidal : a book for Vidalophiles. Manifest Destiny. 1974.
- John Horne Burns : an appreciative biography. Manifest Destiny. 1974. ISBN 978-0914852018.
- A short history of modern capitalism through its ladies. Manifest Destiny. 1975.
- Sports and the macho male. Fag Rag. 1976.
- Mitzel's skylines : a memoir. Manifest Destiny. 1976.
- Some short stories about nasty people I don't like. Manifest Destiny. 1977. ISBN 978-0914852032.
- The Boston sex scandal. Glad Day. 1980. ISBN 978-0915480159.
- Doubly crost. Calamus. 2009. ISBN 978-0914852193.
- Some poems. Calamus. 2011. ISBN 978-0914852155.
References
- 1 2 Bronski, Michael. "John Mitzel : a remembrance".
- ↑ Quinn, Garrett. "Governor Deval Patrick named grand marshal of Boston Gay pride pride".
- ↑ "Boston Pride names governor Deval Patrick and the Sister of Perpetual Indulgence as grand marshals for 2014 parade".
- ↑ "Writer and LGBT bookstore owner John Mitzel, 65, has died".
- ↑ Hoffman, Amy (2007). An army of ex-lovers : my life at Gay Community News. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1558496217.
- ↑ Bronski, Michael (January 2014). "John Mitzel : writer, bookseller, Boston institution". The Gay and Lesbian Review. Boston.
- ↑ Shand-Tucci, Douglass (2003). The crimson letter : Harvard, homosexuality, and the shaping of American culture. St. Martins's. ISBN 978-0312198961.
- ↑ Cohen, Art. "The Boston/Boise affair".
- ↑ Kaplan, Fred (1999). Gore Vidal : a biography. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385477031.
- ↑ Vidal, Gore (2006). Point to point navigation : a memoir. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385517218.
- ↑ Grzesiak, Rich (Feb 17, 1983). "Boston's darling brat of gay liberation". The Advocate.
- ↑ Moldenhauer, Jerald. "About".
- ↑ Krone, Mark. "John Mitzel isn't going anywhere".
- ↑ Gardner, Jan. "John Mitzel's Calamus bookstore newsletter a local gem".
- ↑ "Obituary : bookseller John Mitzel".
Further reading
- Altman, Dennis (1982). The homosexualization of America : the Americanization of homosexuality. St Martin's. ISBN 978-0312388881.
- Altman, Dennis (2005). Gore Vidal's America. Polity. ISBN 978-0745633626.
- Margolick, David (2013). Dreadful : the short life and gay times of John Horne Burns. Other Press. ISBN 978-1590515716.
External links
- Fag Rag videos
- Interview with John Mitzel by Mark Krone
- The talented Mr. Mitzel
- Mitzel's column in The Guide