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Synopsis

Based on the work of seventy researchers in fifteen countries, The Dictionary of Homophobia is a mammoth, encyclopedic book that documents the history of homosexuality, and various cultural responses to it, in all regions of the world: a masterful, engaged, and wholly relevant study that traces the political and social emancipation of a culture.

The book, which includes Canadian contributors and issues, is the first English translation of Dictionnaire de L'Homophobie, published in France in 2003 to world-wide acclaim. The Dictionary includes over 175 essays on various aspects of gay rights and homophobia as experienced in all regions in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the South Pacific, from the earliest epochs to present day. Subjects include religious and ideological forces such as the Bible, Communism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam; historical events such as AIDS and Stonewall, personalities such as J. Edgar Hoover, Matthew Shepard, Oscar Wilde, Pat Buchanan, Joseph McCarthy, Pope John Paul II, and Anita Bryant; and other topics such as coming out, adoption, deportation, ex-gays, lesbiphobia, and bi-phobia.

In a country where gay marriage, while legalized, remains a hot-button political issue, and in a world where adults and even teens are still being executed by authorities for the "crime" of homosexuality, The Dictionary of Homophobia is a both a revealing and necessary history lesson for us all.