John Mitzel
John Mitzel
Life
Mitzel was the founder of Calamus Bookstore in Boston, Mass., and long-time manager of Glad Day Bookshop in Boston. He died in his sleep on October 4, 2013.
John Mitzel helped organize the first Gay Pride March in Boston and co-founded Fag Rag in 1971. He opened Calamus after Glad Day was forced to close in 2000 when the the store’s lease came up and the new owner of the building wanted to turn it into luxury condominiums.
Works
Mitzel wrote several books, including the short story collection Last Gleamings about friends lost to AIDS, which was just released through the store’s Calamus Publications imprint. The store also published his Boston Sex Scandal, Doubly Crost, Inferno Heights, and a collection of poetry, Some Poems.
Importance to the BoyLove Movement
His book, THE BOSTON SEX SCANDAL (1980, Glad Day Books, 22 Bromfield Street, Boston, MA 02108) [NOTE: Now in preparation as a .PDF file, and soon to be made available for on-line access -- watch this space! :-)] describes in detail the persecution in Boston of a number of BoyLovers which led to the foundation of the Boston/Boise Committee (B/BC), and, shortly afterward, to NAMBLA.
It is an excellent read. It describes in detail the political persecution of BLs, and demonstrates police tactics used to out, persecute, and destroy BLs -- just as the Azov prosecutions are doing now.
Reviews of the book:
- "In his irreverent, hilarious and hard-hitting prose, Mitzel reveals the hypocrisy and cynicism that underlie the current crusade against intergenerational love. This book is a detailed look at the often banal, always ambiguous truth that the sex scandal headlines have masked. I predict that children's liberation will be the next great social movement in North America. This book will serve as a major document in what will turn out to be the most violent and radical debate on human rights we shall witness."
- EDMUND WHITE
- "Mitzel's book is a brilliant and disturbing piece of investigative journalism. Brilliant because it meticulously documents and spotlights a witchhunt that might otherwise have appeared little more than isolated and accidental incidents. Disturbing because it reveals the ease with which many people — thirty years after McCarthyism — still allow themselves to be seduced by yellow journalism, government inspired hysteria, and antisexual foolishness into turning the victim into the criminal, and the criminal into the victim. This book is a welcome addition to the arsenal not only of men and boys who love each other, but of all those who wish to put an end to the tyranny of fear, stupidity, and the arrogance of the state. Mitzel touches a raw nerve."
- DAVID THORSTAD
See also
For a more comprehensive review of Boston Sex Scandal (and several other important BL publications) see:
