Based on rigorous research and more than 150 interviews the gay revolution tells this unfinished story not through dry facts but through dramatic accounts of passionate struggles with all the sweep depth and intricacies only an award winning activist scholar and novelist like lillian faderman can evoke. The gay revolution begins in the 1950s when law classified gays and lesbians as criminals the psychiatric profession saw them as mentally ill the churches saw them as sinners and society. The gay revolution begins in the 1950s when gays and lesbians were criminals psychiatrists saw them as mentally ill churches saw them as sinners and society victimized them with hatred against. The gay revolution the story of the struggle is a 2015 book by lillian faderman chronicling the struggle for gay lesbian bisexual and transgender rights in the united states from the 1950s to the early 21st century it was called the most comprehensive history to date of americas gay rights movement in a review by the economist