The Boys of Boise: Furor, Vice and Folly in an American City

Seemingly out of nowhere, in the late fall of 1955, Page One headlines in Boise, Idaho's afternoon newspaper screamed about three men arrested for molesting [male] minors, and the paper shrilled even louder a little later in an inflammatory editorial that implied a large homosexual menace. It paper urged the populace to demand action--although it was a little vague on exactly what kind of action. No one could have predicted the enormity of what followed. Happily for us, ten years later, in 1965, a TIME magazine reporter, John Gerassi, went to Boise and meticulously researched the background, history and fallout of that astonishing scandal. Ordinarily a 45-year-old book based on a 55-year-old scandal, with some quoted experts relying on psychoanalytic theory discredited today, would not be considered priority reading. But Gerassi's book, THE BOYS OF BOISE, while quite illuminating, is also intense and fascinating, and in this reviewer's opinion deserves to be considered a key work of American journalism. Here are some reasons why, with only a sampling of relevant examples and anecdotes: Witch Hunt and Hysteria: The police started arresting men right and left. Boise and its suburbs went into a virtual lockdown of fear and paranoia. At the height of the hysteria, family men were afraid to ask how the high-school football team was doing, and all-male poker games were cancelled unless a tolerant woman could be found to drink and smoke along with the guys. (Even so, complained one professional, it cut way down on the swearing so the poker sessions weren't nearly as much fun.) In one instance, bizarre today but sadly common at the time, a bachelor teacher received a phone call during breakfast from a friend warning him that police were on the prowl. The young man immediately got up, got packed and got out, relocating to another state, leaving his job behind and his breakfast on the table. In retrospect, he probably did the sensible thing. Morals, Sexology, and Ethics: Though a churchgoing community, Boise was about evenly divided between Mormons and other believers who kept out of each other's way socially. When half the middle class of a big town/small city doesn't know the other half, it makes gossip, speculation and rumor spread, since people tend to demonize those of whom they know least. Sexually speaking, Boise, though a little isolated, was not an atypical blue-collar town of its size. Following Kinsey and the experts Gerassi interviewed, "unnatural acts" and "crimes against nature" under the broadly worded law went on quite naturally and by nice, putatively law-abiding citizens. (Not to mention unlawfulness like playing poker for stakes, wink, or operating an unlicensed bar in the home.) Like any community, Boise had its share of homosexual horseplay among adolescents, circle-jerks and experimental fooling around. This may account for the fact that the male adults of Boise, while not exactly tolerant, were less likely

Gerassi, John G. "The Boys of Boise: Vice & Folly in an American City", University of Wisconsin Press reprint, 2001. A Same-Sex Scandal Amos Lassen In 1955 in Boise, Idaho occurred a scandal that was to mark that town for a long, long time. There were politically motivated arrests and harassment of members of Boise's gay community. Here was orchestrated persecution brought about by community politics with the input and influence of the Mormons there. It was little more than an attempt to grab power by those outside of the main power structure of Boise and it involved the law enforcement agencies of the town. It all began on the morning of November 2, 1955 when the people of Boise saw their newspaper headline. "Three Boise Men Admit Sex Charges". It alleged that a homosexual underground had been operating for a long time in Boise and before long there were arrests and some that were arrested were longstanding members of Boise's community. Sentences from probation to life were handed down. It was a full blown gay panic that made national headlines and gave the judicial system of Idaho the mark of shame. Gerassi originally wrote the book in 1965 and as we see now, it was years ahead of its time. It is important in that it shows the Middle American response to homosexuality and it gives a picture of what America was like before the gay rights movement. We still face some of the same issues and we see the reaction of contemporary society as well as its misunderstanding of it. Gerassi gives a different kind of look at the sexual revolution when homosexuality was not accepted. What happened in Boise can happen anytime and anywhere and that is why we must be prepared to face it.

The Boys of Boise is one of those books that anyone interested in understanding the issues besetting those living an alternative lifestyle must read. John Gerassi writes an editorial history of a series of politically motivated arrests and harrassments of those in the homosexual community in Boise, Idaho in 1955. Gerassi writes from a mid-1960s perspective in the midst of the sexual revolution looking back on a different perspective when homosexuality was even less accepted than it was in the 1960s. The book explores several issues as they impacted a prosecution of a given portion of the homosexual population: community politics, the input and influence of a religous community (in Boise - the LDS), the role of the popular local press, a grab for power by those outside the main community power structure, the role of law enforcement and the courts.Why is this book a must read for understanding issues facing those living alternative lifestyles today? The events covered could happen in any community today - to those who are exploring poly relationships, BDSM, and Gor - as well as to those who continue to simply live within the Gay community. There are laws on our books in each state and locale that could be discriminatively enforced to bring problems to individuals or groups - in violation of protections they believe they have under the Bill of Rights.The only possible negative in the book - and for some it is not a negative - is the amount of space devoted to reproducing the entirety of court dialogs and certain other primary sources. While I personally enjoyed having the sources there - other historians would prefer they be relegated to either appendices or simply referenced and summarized. It should be noted that when Gerassi wrote this book - he was a reporter/editor for a news periodical rather than a university professor.The book definitely belongs in the library of scholars devoted to Urban studies, gay studies, the sociology of alternative lifestyles and the like.

From 1955 to 1957, Boise, Idaho, was caught in the grip of a full-blown Gay panic that made national headlines and gave Idaho's judicial system a black eye. This study of the panic, published in 1965, is both of its time and decades ahead of it. Gerassi brilliantly dissects the (chiefly economic) motives of people involved in promoting and prosecuting the scandal. He also displays a sharp eye for character and incidental detail. _The Boys of Boise_ is a must-read for anyone with an interest in GLBT history and a classic piece of investigative journalism in its own right. (Neil Miller covers a similar scandal in Sioux City, IA, with the somewhat inferior _Sex Crime Panic_.)