Bronski Beat - "Smalltown Boy"

A real-life anthem from back in the day!

Sometimes music was the only outlet available to  young (or old!) people
coming to terms with self and discovering who they were. Dynamic, out,
proud, and inspirational, these folks cut across all the problems!

Bands like Bronski Beat, the Pet Shop Boys, Boy George, Morrissey
(The Smiths,) Richard Barone, Marc Almond, Dead of Alive, and the
like served a vital, life-saving mission for Family.

Even the visibility of (ridiculously) closeted folks like Marc Anthony,
George Michaels, Ricky Martin, and such (Girl, pleez...who you think
you was fooling!?!) and honorary gay groups like Depeche Mode and
Tears for Fears were of great assistance in the hard, dark days of the
Reagan-era AIDS-rampant 1980s.

And the day hasn't come when we don't need every bit of support we
can get. Enjoy.

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What Lies Beneath: Gore Vidal, 1925-2012

Gore Vidal passed away recently.

It's been a bad time for the entertainment and arts industries

all the way around, considering losses.

But, Vidal had a long, prosperous, and effective life

and career, and that's the best thing you can

say when someone has ceased breath.

If you were not aware, Vidal was a longtime,

preeminent writer, contrarian, essayist,

and (in a fashion,) activist.

His first novel was published in 1946, when

Gore was only 20 years old, and in some capacity

or another he continued to be prominent and

vocal ever since.

His third novel, "The City and the Pillar," was one

that revolutionized the public idea of homosexuality, set off

a firestorm of controversy, and cemented Vidal in

the public mind as two things; a great writer who

did not avoid controversy, and someone who would

never gain public office in his lifetime.

Vidal was one of only a handful, really, of 'openly

gay' writers (given the disproportionately high

number of writers who are gay!) in a time

when writing was still a talent, a calling, an esteemed

profession, a distinguished and noble path.

Back when evidence of one's orientation was

not openly discussed, even in fields such

as theatre, literary circles, and celluloid.

Vidal had a notion of homosexuality that reflected the

times he grew up in, despite his outspokenness

and courage. The one thing I will always recall

is how he articulated the final days of his partner

of 50 years, Howard Austen, in his memoirs

("Point to Point Navigation") where Vidal plainly

states that he kissed Howard on the lips as he lay on

what was to become his deathbed, and this was the first

time he had ever done so.

Fifty years of companionship and love, and even

in the privacy of their home, the two never

gave the most intimate reflection of devotion

or affection.

This man who crusaded, broke barriers, dared to

speak freely, who told mostly-all....and even he

was still a made man, unable to fully embrace his

true self.

This is the nature of what the world does to us;

building cages that we carry around ourselves.

Vidal had a view of homosexuality not as identity,

but based on actions. In ways, I agree with such a fluid,

more easily-promoted view....but I question the

validity of parts of it. It doesn't diminish his impact

to say that this seems a rather disingenuous claim

by someone trying to assert his 'normalcy' a

bit too loudly perhaps. Someone immersed in disconnect.

In the entire world wide web, I could not find one

picture of the two men, partners for some five decades,

together as a couple.

That isn't coincidence.

It's condemnation of a world that has failed to move

forward, and our complicity in those transgressions.

Official Gore Vidal Website

****

Clarity

We spend so much time seeking to stop other

people's assault on our humanity because

of their limited scope and definition of us,

it is easy to get caught up in pigeon-

holing and limiting our lives.

Just a reminder.

Be whole.

Be happy.

Be you.

***

(Check out "Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook"

and "Georgia Unity" on facebook today!)

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