WE SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE

The autobiography of a co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front.

On June 28, 1969, Shelley was giving two gay Bostonians a tour of Greenwich Village in New York City when they “came upon a group of men throwing things at cops.” When the women asked what was going on, Shelley answered, “It’s just a riot…we have them all the time.” It was only later that she realized that the women had passed through the famous riot at the Stonewall Inn that marked a major transition in the movement for gay rights. A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and the City College of New York, Shelley was a tough, precocious New Yorker who began to identify as a lesbian after having an affair with a woman she met in a judo class. At a young age, the author was confident enough in her sexuality to become a public speaker for the New York chapter of a “lesbian organization” called Daughters of Bilitis, a role she wore proudly despite having to hide it from her employer. “Although I was out as spokesperson for the DOB, I couldn’t be out at work,” she writes. “I was still living a double life.” It was through this organization and its male counterpart—the Mattachine Society—that Shelley helped found the radical Gay Liberation Front, a group famous for organizing the march that alchemized the ire of the Stonewall riot into a decadeslong movement. Shelley’s frank, conversational tone, wry sense of humor, and keen eye for detail make the text feel like an intimate conversation with a radical friend. At times, her rapid-fire introduction of characters and stream of narration are confusing, but the book is a well-paced, highly informative page-turner about a history that is rarely told.

A gay rights activist's funny and thoughtful memoir.