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"The life stories in this book are fascinating, compelling and often intensely moving. Men reveal some of the hardest times in their lives ... But theirs are also stories of young gay men finding their place, working out how they want to be, and actively building connections with those around them.... These special stories will live on well into the future." (Chris Brickell)
A Queer Existence uses photographic portraiture and oral history to document the life experiences of 27 gay men born since the passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986. Prior to that moment sex between men was technically illegal and punishable by imprisonment. Law Reform serves as a symbolic turning point at which the widespread social condemnation of homosexuality that prevailed in the earlier decades of the 20th century was gradually replaced by increasing degrees of acceptance, exemplified by the Civil Union Act in 2005 and Marriage Equality in 2013 granting legal status to same-sex relationships.
Scroll down for links: reviews, purchase, interviews.
A Queer Existence uses photographic portraiture and oral history to document the life experiences of 27 gay men born since the passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986. Prior to that moment sex between men was technically illegal and punishable by imprisonment. Law Reform serves as a symbolic turning point at which the widespread social condemnation of homosexuality that prevailed in the earlier decades of the 20th century was gradually replaced by increasing degrees of acceptance, exemplified by the Civil Union Act in 2005 and Marriage Equality in 2013 granting legal status to same-sex relationships.
Scroll down for links: reviews, purchase, interviews.
Click here for a sample preview of the book, published by Massey University Press, and click here to order a copy. Here is Mark's interview with Kathryn Ryan on RNZ's Nine to Noon, and here is a link to his appearance at the on-line Going West Writers' Festival Queer Agendas session in September 2021. And here is a link to a podcast interview with Mark on the New Books Network website. Here is a review of the book by David Herkt on Ketebooks and this is a shorter version that appeared in the Sunday Star Times.