The Scott Thorson/Liberace biopic — Behind the Candelabra — premiered last night on HBO, and while it was a sharp looking movie with excellent acting from Matt Damon and Michael Douglas, one could not help but feel the pure terror of Liberace’s life and how his sexuality pinned his desires and did not allow him to be the man he was in private in his public life. That sort of forced hiding creates an internal, ringed, terror and that fear makes men monsters.
Jason Collins stepped out of the dark closet and into the pure light of day to make history as the first Gay professional athlete to “come out” in the four major USA team sports: Football, Basketball, Baseball and Ice Hockey. Some in the New York media have dismissed Jason’s bravery with indifference, “So what if he’s Gay?” they bleat. That sort of false nonchalance is an attempt to undercut Jason’s history-making move by belittling him for being something special when they think he is not.
Continue reading → Did the Supreme Court Wait too Long to Stuff the Gays Back in the Closet?
One of the store clerks in our neighborhood — let’s call him “Eddie” — went missing for over a month. Janna and I always loved seeing Eddie during our weekend shopping outings and he was always warm and friendly and talkative. We also knew Eddie was Gay because of the personal stories he openly shared with us as we shopped.
Greying and testing middle age, we also knew Eddie, a proud Latino, had dedicated the last twenty years of his life to living with, and taking care of, his unwell mother. His daily routine was to wake up, work in the store, and go home to her. He had no social life. He life was “job and mom.”
When Eddie disappeared six weeks ago, we knew something terrible happened and last Sunday our worst fears were confirmed when we finally saw Eddie again, behind his cash register, looking wan and uncomfortably thin. He told us the horrible news with a calm resignation: At 50-years-old, he wasn’t just HIV positive, he had full-blown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Eddie had AIDS.
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