New York Adult Entertainment: History boy
But much of that activism, says Carter, was soon swept away. “Americans have been pretty complacent since the 1980s with the resurgence of the far-right wing,” he says. “They’re trying to destroy the progress that has been made in American society. I feel like I’m maybe the only one in a room of 10,000 that says this is horrible.”
By the mid-nineties, Carter undertook a decade-long research project on the Stonewall Riots that resulted in his 2004 book about the events. In Stonewall, Carter uncovers some surprising history, including details about the bar’s shady owner, Ed Murphy, a gay man who, according to Carter, blackmailed gay people, ran a prostitution ring and was connected with several deaths. “He used the Stonewall Inn to blackmail and murder gay people,” Carter says his sources for the book told him. “Later, he announced himself one of the leaders of the Stonewall Riots.”