01/13/2020
In this expansive and deeply sourced inquiry into the 21st-century LGBTQ rights movement, South African journalist Gevisser (Lost and Found in Johannesburg) profiles gay and transgender people around the world living in “the Pink Line”—“a borderland where queer people work to reconcile the liberation and community they might have experienced online or on TV or in circumscribed places, with the constraints of the street and the workplace, the courtroom and the living room.” Gevisser’s subjects include a transgender woman from Malawi, a gay Ugandan refugee living in Vancouver, and a lesbian couple running a café in post–Arab Spring Cairo. He alternates these portraits with discussions on how “nativist nationalist politicians” in Russia and Eastern Europe demonize European Union laws protecting LGBTQ rights, the spread of antihomosexual laws from Victorian England to the British colonies, the courting of “pink-dollar tourists” in Mexico City and Buenos Aires, the recent shift of public attention from gay issues to transgender ones, and the Vatican’s longstanding advocacy against the concept of gender as a social construct. Though the book at times feels more like a collection of magazine profiles rather than a cohesive whole, Gevisser’s non-Western point-of-view and exhaustive research provide essential perspective on the threads connecting gay, lesbian, and transgender communities worldwide. This impressive work is a must-read for anyone invested in social justice and LGBTQ rights. (May)
"Extraordinary . . . a hugely ambitious and exceptional work of long-form journalism . . . [The Pink Line] is a work of clear-eyed analysis and exceptional reporting, and it deserves a wide and non-LGBT readership that wishes to understand these frontiers. What elevates the book is Gevisser’s poetic and queer gaze, his searching language about why he has dedicated almost a decade of his life to understanding a generational transformation." —Bilal Qureshi, The Washington Post
"This is a valuable book not only for the quality of Gevisser’s analysis and the scope of his research, but because he spends a good deal of time with the people on whose lives he focuses . . . He hangs out with them, enjoys their company; he renders them in all their complexity. Gevisser is also alert to the connection between gay freedom and other forms of liberty." —Colm Tóibín, The Guardian
"Gevisser approaches his subjects with empathy, seeking to record their stories in their words. Moreover, these interactions push Gevisser to reexamine his own beliefs, adding nuance . . . [Gevisser's] introspection gives the book its intellectual scope, enacting a kind of critique and corrective to gay imperialist rhetoric . . . Gevisser is not just after equality, but rather mutual intelligibility and empathy. Perhaps these are the bedrock on which to build a new queer activism for the whole world." —Samuel Huneke, The Baffler
"Through a series of personal narratives—lesbians seeking parental rights in Mexico, a third-gender community in Kerala—Gevisser explores how globalization, the Internet, and international development have brought clashing ideals of gender and sexuality into new configurations." —The New Yorker (Briefly Noted)
"Ambitious, beautifully narrated." —Stephanie Burt, The Times Literary Supplement
"Gevisser clearly shows the impact of large, sweeping tides of complex histories on specific people. This is where the strength of this book lies: letting people speak out for themselves against the wider political and social backdrop that Gevisser paints for the reader. Long after finishing the book, it’s the individual stories of the likes of Pasha in Moscow, or Michael, the Ugandan refugee in Nairobi, that will stick with you . . . a meticulously researched book." —Andrew McMillan, The Observer
"[Gevisser] approaches [his] task with bravura, care and deliberation . . . a virtue of The Pink Line is [Gevisser's] determination to let individuals speak for themselves and, critically, to respect the labels they choose." —Richard Canning, Literary Review
"A masterful book-length study that offers one of the broadest and most insightful surveys yet of queer struggles around the world . . . The strength of Gevisser's work lies in the power of his reportage . . . an addictive and compelling read, a literal page-turner that conveys in full measure the rich and, in many ways, beautiful lives of its protagonists." —Rhea Rollmann, PopMatters
"Gevisser’s monumental effort in this global deep-think of a text outlines how much work remains ahead. This necessary, timely, intelligent book belongs in every library, the world over."—Booklist (starred review)
"The Pink Line makes impressive strides in chronicling distant and recent LGBT history and progress across the world. . . the humanity and tension with which Gevisser portrays his subjects keeps the prose engaging alongside his incredible and seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of LGBT world history. . .this work moves the observation of the evolution of LGBT life and culture to the global scale and is a must-read for all interested in gender studies."—Library Journal, (starred review)
"Fascinating . . . a thoroughly researched picture of some very brave people around the world who are dealing with permutations of sexual identity in societies that feel threatened by gay liberation, not to mention the refusal of the male-female binary." —Andrew Holleran, Gay and Lesbian Review
"[An] expansive and deeply sourced inquiry . . . Gevisser’s non-Western point-of-view and exhaustive research provide essential perspective on the threads connecting gay, lesbian, and transgender communities worldwide. This impressive work is a must-read for anyone invested in social justice and LGBTQ rights." —Publishers Weekly
"In his expansive new undertaking, South African journalist Gevisser offers sharp insights into queer cultures throughout the world. . . Gevisser’s journalistic acumen and breadth of research are impressive. [A] solidly researched, important addition to queer studies." —Kirkus
"In this masterful recounting of sexuality and identity around the globe, Mark Gevisser achieves an almost shocking empathy. His accounts are riveting, brilliantly researched, liberal, and forthright. He talks to people with and without privilege, of every race and of every nationality, limning the aspects of queer experience that are universal and those that are local. In intimate, often tender prose, he brings to life the complex movement for queer civil rights and the many people on whom it bears. Whether recounting suffering or triumph, Gevisser is a clear-sighted, fearless, and generous guide." —Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
“Mark Gevisser's The Pink Line is a book I've been waiting a long time for: a global geography of queer struggle, a wide-ranging, open-hearted, beautifully told account of the radically various state of LGBTQ rights in the world. This is a book that should be very widely read—and not only read, but acted upon.” —Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You and Cleanness
"The Pink Line traces a planet-spanning fissure that runs through the most intimate dimensions of life, documenting the sometimes literally war-torn rift zones where so-called 'traditional values' are being mobilized by states to combat trans, queer and feminist social movements. A smart and sobering book for our times." —Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution
“Mark Gevisser's sensitive yet firmly broad book coheres the concept of a 'pink line': the difference between the wish of queer individuals for autonomy, versus the increased manipulations of gay and trans identities to shore up power systems. His book is both enlightening and disturbing in a world where the wish to be understood can become a commodity of domination.” —Sarah Schulman, author of The Cosmopolitans
“No one understands queerness from an armchair — and few have captured that truth better than Mark Gevisser. The Pink Line is a vital exploration of queerness around the globe, searching and intimate but also expansive in its scope. Like all the best writing about LGBTQ lives, this book clearly changed its author. It would be impossible not to be transformed by the reading of it.” —Samantha Allen, author of Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States
"The Pink Line is a deep diagnostic account of the ways in which queer lives and queer loves cross the fraught frontiers of race, rights, discrimination, and denigration to transition from agony to agency, and isolation to community. Mark Gevisser has given us a rare piece of writing in which the quotidian confrontations and consolations of everyday life build into an encyclopedic vision of the global frontiers of the queer condition. This is politics and poetry all at once. Gevisser occupies the front-lines of sorrow and struggle with his informants who, in becoming his friends and comrades, together define an activism of defiant desire unafraid of the ambivalences and contradictions of the human condition. The Pink Line is a remarkable narrative of resilience, romance and realism." —Homi K. Bhabha, author of The Location of Culture
★ 03/01/2020
Gevisser (Dispatcher) compiles stories of LGBT people on the front lines of fighting for legal, social, and cultural rights and acceptance. Taking on a massive project to understand how and why the world is changing in regards to LGBT people and culture, and how the people and culture themselves are changing, Gevisser acknowledges the ambitious scope of the content prior to diving into the stories of people across the world, noting that no one story is everyone's story; thus, no book with an aim such as Gevisser's can possibly be considered exhaustive. Still, The Pink Line makes impressive strides in chronicling distant and recent LGBT history and progress across the world, punctuating overviews of specific countries every other chapter with intimate stories with LGBT people living in those countries The relative comprehensiveness can at times be tedious, but the humanity and tension with which Gevisser portrays his subjects keeps the prose engaging alongside his incredible and seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of LGBT world history. VERDICT For readers who appreciated the New York Public Library's The Stonewall Reader, this work moves the observation of the evolution of LGBT life and culture to the global scale and is a must-read for all interested in gender studies. [See Prepub Alert, 11/11/19.]—Abby Hargreaves, District of Columbia P.L.
For a book several years in the making, South African journalist Mark Gevisser interviewed LGBTQ individuals around the world to investigate “the pink line” drawn across various cultural, political, and socioeconomic phenomena. Narrator Vikas Adam’s assured tone focuses listeners on the people who share their lived experiences in Malawi, Palestine, Mexico, Uganda, the United States, and elsewhere. Throughout, Adam’s somber performance conveys respect for Tiwonge “Aunty” Chimbalaga, Pasha, Liam, and other central figures. Essential explorations of past and present events involving gender identity and sexuality illuminate their struggles for equality and acceptance amid legal and social persecution. The production is bookended by an author’s note and epilogue. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
For a book several years in the making, South African journalist Mark Gevisser interviewed LGBTQ individuals around the world to investigate “the pink line” drawn across various cultural, political, and socioeconomic phenomena. Narrator Vikas Adam’s assured tone focuses listeners on the people who share their lived experiences in Malawi, Palestine, Mexico, Uganda, the United States, and elsewhere. Throughout, Adam’s somber performance conveys respect for Tiwonge “Aunty” Chimbalaga, Pasha, Liam, and other central figures. Essential explorations of past and present events involving gender identity and sexuality illuminate their struggles for equality and acceptance amid legal and social persecution. The production is bookended by an author’s note and epilogue. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
2020-03-01
A global exploration of LGBTQ issues in the 21st century in relation to public policy, human rights, and economic pursuits.
In his expansive new undertaking, South African journalist Gevisser offers sharp insights into queer cultures throughout the world. Early on, he defines the titular pink line: “between those places increasingly integrating queer people into their societies as full citizens, and those finding new ways to shut them out now that they had come into the open.” In the current century, writes the author, “new battlegrounds [are] opening up new frontiers of the culture wars.” Traversing across a diverse selection of countries, Gevisser shares stories from either side of the line, reflecting a broad sweep of gay and transgender human rights and cultural challenges. These include a newly partnered gay male couple (Israeli and Palestinian) exploring their relationship in gay-friendly Tel Aviv, tested by the social intolerance directed toward Palestinians; a lesbian couple in Cairo struggling to keep their gay-leaning cafe afloat after the Arab Spring; a transgender woman in Moscow and another in Malawi, each caught up in her country’s bureaucratic restrictions. In alternating chapters, the author expands on emerging themes. He explores gender ideology and fluidity and how trans-related concerns have gained prominence. He examines the sociopolitical and economic motivations of these countries regarding their level of LGBTQ support, and he reports on anti–LGBTQ laws that expand and contract in response to right-wing or religious influence. Gevisser’s journalistic acumen and breadth of research are impressive. While he offers an unprecedented scope, however, the densely packed text lacks a unifying narrative flow, reading more like a series of articles (several of the chapters were derived from previously published pieces). Consequently, sometimes the author’s capable storytelling skills take a back seat to what often feels like an excessive overflow of reporting.
Not fully compelling but a solidly researched, important addition to queer studies.
