Even as substantial legal and social victories are being celebrated within the gay rights movement, much of working-class America still exists outside the current narratives of gay liberation. In Steel Closets, Anne Balay draws on oral history interviews with forty gay, lesbian, and transgender steelworkers, mostly living in northwestern Indiana, to give voice to this previously silent and invisible population. Through the powerful voices of queer steelworkers, Steel Closetsprovides rich insight into an understudied part of the LGBT population, contributing to a growing body of scholarship that aims to reveal and analyze a broader range of gay life in America. Among its many honors, Steel Closets is a 2015 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and won the 2014 Sara A. Whaley Prize from the National Women’s Studies Association.
Anne Balay is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Haverford College and the current holder of the Yale LGBT Studies Research Fellowship. She has also worked as a car mechanic and a truck driver. She received a PhD from the University of Chicago.