Laud Humphreys

Prophet of Homosexuality and Sociology

John F. Galliher, Wayne Brekhus, David P. Keys

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN:
  9780299203139
• Print ISBN:
  9780299203146
  9780299203108
• Subtopic: Political Biographies

Laud Humphreys (1930–1988) was a pioneering and fearless sociologist, an Episcopal priest, and a civil rights, gay, and antiwar activist. In graduate school during the late 1960s, he conducted extensive fieldwork in public restrooms in a St. Louis city park to discover patterns of impersonal sex among men. He published the results in Tearoom Trade. Three decades later the book still triggers many debates about the ethics of his research methods. In 1974, he was the first sociologist to come out as gay. Laud Humphreys: Prophet of Homosexuality and Sociology examines the groundbreaking work through the life of a complex man and the life of the man through his controversial work. It is an invaluable contribution to sociology and a fascinating record of a courageous life.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• Introduction
• 1. Birth and Beginnings
• 2. Becoming an Instant Icon
• 3. Historical and Intellectual Context of Tearoom Trade: The 1960s and Washington University
• 4. Published Criticism and Use of Tearoom Trade
• 5. Upward Professional Mobility and Continuing Activism
• 6. The Long (and Rapid) Road Down
• 7. The Legacy of Laud: Politics, Substance, and Professional Ethics
• Epilogue
• Appendix A: Laud Humphreys’s Vita
• Appendix B: Laud Humphreys’s FBI File
• Appendix C: Poster from the Washington University Bulletin Board
• Appendix D: Systematic Observation Sheet
• Appendix E: Data Sources and Methods
• References
• Index