The mid- to late-20th-century period in American history , particularly following the Stonewall uprising , brought to the forefront of our collective consciousness a new and liberating image of gay men and lesbians , no longer content to cower in closets, willing to perpetuate the pitiful caricatures society had relegated us to. These stories and verses are just one person's fictional, real, or a little of both account of living as a gay man through those times.