Contents:
IN “THE ALIENIST,” A GAY PROSTUTN RG CREAT SNDAL TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY NEW YORK
Gay and lbian life 19th century Ameri meant readg between the l, latchg on to known words to lote a muny buried ep unr the mastream. While you n’t tst police blotters and moraly csars to give an accurate pictn of what The Sli was tly like, an attempt to peel back the hyperbole provis a sight that would rival the bawdit gay bars of today’s Hell’s Kchen. Homosexual behavr of any stripe would have been nmned this era.
The person the police arrt for the crime is Henry Wolf, a gay man wh syphilis, who starts htg on Le Evans’ character, John Moore, settg off more red flags. It’s not even clear whether they’re supposed to be gay boys or genrqueer.
The filmmakers had the choice to ame the rts as beg forced to do the actns unr durs, but they opted to go the tired, lazy method of g male homosexualy for shock value. ” It’s jt the way they went about prents the show as homophobic, transphobic, hypocril garbage that don’t leave me pelled to keep watchg the hope that they’ll eventually do better.