"Out of the Closets: The Sociology of Homosexual Liberation is the long-awaited book that Colin Williams of Indiana University's Institute for Sex Research praises as a beautifully written, provocative book on the contemporary homosexual scene. In this compelling and illuminating history of one of America's most radical social movements, Laud Humphreys, winners of the C. Wright Mills award for his book Tearoom Trade, tells the complete story of the birth and growth of gay liberation. From the organization of the first homosexual leagues over forty years ago to the 1970s, when gay men and women by the thousands are leaving the closets and taking to the streets, Humphreys gives a gull account of the evolution of gay lib's aspirations and goals, its search for internal unity, and its growing militancy. The life story of the homophile movement, told here with an all-too-rare blend of sympathy and objectivity, offers the readers the insight he needs to understand one of the most urgent pleas ever made for personal freedom." -- back cover.