Political columnist Linda Hirshman recounts the long roads that led to these victories, viewing the gay rights movement within the tradition of American freedom as the third great modern social-justice movement, alongside the civil rights movement and the women's rights movement.

Successful social movements are always extraordinary, but these advances were something of a miracle. The armed services stopped enforcing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, ending a law that had long discriminated against gay and lesbian members of the military. Four decades later, in June 2011, New York legalized gay marriage-the most populous state in the country to do so thus far. When the modern struggle for gay rights erupted-most notably at a bar called Stonewall in Greenwich Village-in the summer of 1969, most religious traditions condemned homosexuality psychiatric experts labeled people who were attracted to others of the same sex 'crazy' and forty-nine states outlawed sex between people of the same gender. A Supreme Court lawyer and political pundit details the enthralling and groundbreaking story of the gay rights movement, revealing how a dedicated and resourceful minority changed America forever.

Victory by Linda R. Hirshman