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List Price: $18.95 | | Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Salesrank: 1438067
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Editorial Review:
Laud Humphreys (1930–1988) was a pioneering and fearless sociologist, an Episcopal priest, and a civil rights, gay, and antiwar activist. In graduate school during the late 1960s, he conducted extensive fieldwork in public restrooms in a St. Louis city park to discover patterns of impersonal sex among men. He published the results in Tearoom Trade. Three decades later the book still triggers many debates about the ethics of his research methods. In 1974, he was the first sociologist to come out as gay. Laud Humphreys: Prophet of Homosexuality and Sociology examines the groundbreaking work through the life of a complex man and the life of the man through his controversial work. It is an invaluable contribution to sociology and a fascinating record of a courageous life.
Laud Humphreys: Prophet of Homosexuality and Sociology Reviews:
Laud Humphreys 
2009-08-05 - The "Tea Room Trade" was my introduction to Sociology in 1985. However, there was a lot of criticism about his methodology. Critics regarded it as voyeuristic. He was able to obtain the registration numbers of the participants
and in disguise went to their homes and asked them questions.
The interesting point is that most of the participants were married heterosexuals having oral sex on the sly in public toilets.
He was rather unstable going from episcopal priest to gay. He was charged for
being in violent demonstrations during the Vietnam War.
Alvin Gouldner hit him on one occasion.
The times have changed.
This is a "must read" for those interested in Qualitative Methodology 
2007-05-21 - For anyone that has read Tearoom Trade, this biography helps to answer a lot of questions about Laud Humphreys life and work. Extremely well written, deeply insightful and thoroughly researched.
