Dear Abby, I'm Gay: Newspaper Advice Columnists and Homosexuality in America

What role did America's newspaper advice columnists play in shaping and forming societal attitudes toward LGBTQ people throughout the 20th century? Advice columns served the important dual function of providing advice and satiating the curious about the people around them. They also often provided the first mention of homosexuality outside of newspaper crime blotters. Their influence could be wide and impactful, as more than 100 million readers regularly read the columns. This book chronicles some of the most popular and widely circulated newspaper columnists between the 1930s and 2000, including Ann Landers, Dear Abby, Helen Help Us , Dr. Joyce Brothers, The Worry Clinic, Dear Meg, Ask Beth, and Savage Love. It examines the ideological function these columns may have served regarding the place and understanding of LGBTQ people in America and what role they may have played in creating a public opinion about the LGBTQ community. From these columns, we learn not only the framework of how straight Americans understood their homosexual brethren, but also how attitudes and feelings continued to evolve.