Tom Hanks Explas Why He Wouldn't Play a Gay Man Now

Contents:

• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY
• HE TRAVEL – GAY TRAVEL TOURS, GAY ADVENTURE TRAVEL, ACTIVE VATNS
• GAY ANGLINS THE ACNA
• TOM HANKS EXPLAS WHY HE WOULDN’T TAKE ANOTHER GAY ROLE: ‘WE’RE BEYOND THAT NOW’
• IS DOLPH LUNDGREN GAY? – WHO HAS HE DATED?
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PROVIS A RAW, UNPROMISG LOOK AT THE PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN EAST GERMANYLOVE IS LOVEFILMMAKER SEBASTIAN MEISE’S LATT IS A GUT-WRENCHG DRAMA ABOUT GERMANY’S HISTORIL CELTY AGAST GAY MEN, LED BY AN OUTSTANDG TURN OM ACTOR FRANZ ROGOWKSI. NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICUPDATED MAR. 05, 2022 4:18AM EST / PUBLISHED MAR. 05, 2022 12:53AM EST CANN FILM FTIVAL/FREIBTERFILM_ROHFILMGREAT FREEDOM TAK S TLE OM THE NAME OF A NIGHTCLUB THAT HANS HOFFMANN (TRANS’S FRANZ ROGOWSKI) ATTENDS 1969 AT THE NCLN OF SEBASTIAN MEISE’S WRENCHG DRAMA (OUT NOW THEATERS)—AN TABLISHMENT OF UNHIBED HOMOSEXUALY, NOW THAT GERMANY’S ANTI-GAY PARAGRAPH 175 STATUTE HAS BEEN RELAXED. NOHELS, TE EEDOM IS A TRICKY AND PLITED MODY THE DIRECTOR’S LONG-AWAED FOLLOW-UP TO 2011’S STILL LIFE, PECIALLY FOR HANS, WHO’S REPEATEDLY RCERATED OVER S UNR THE AFOREMENTNED LAW FOR THE CRIME OF WANTG TO BE WH OTHER MEN. A PORTRA OF LIBERATN FLOURISHG UNEXPECTED PLAC, PULS WH QUIET ANGUISH, LONGG AND FIANCE, LED BY A ROGOWSKI PERFORMANCE THAT NVEYS ASTONISHG PTHS MIMALIST GTUR.HANS IS TRODUCED AN OPENG MONTAGE OF 16MM FILM CLIPS SHOT OM BEHD A TTAGE’S BATHROOM SK MIRROR; EACH SNIPPET, HE ENGAG A SEXUAL ACT WH A STRANGER, TH MAKG CLEAR HIS PROCLIVI. THIS SURREPTLY RERD MATERIAL IS EVINCE A 1968 URT SE AGAST HIM, WHICH ENDS WH A SWIFT NVICTN AND A SENTENCE OF 24 MONTHS. IN EAST GERMANY, PARAGRAPH 175 OUTLAWS SUCH BEHAVR, AND HANS IS SENT OFF TO PRISON, WHERE HE GO THROUGH AN ADMTANCE PROCS LIKE A SEASONED PRO. JT AS THE THORI’ MERA STARED AT HIM WHILE HE PLEASURED HIS PARAMOURS, SO TOO DO GUARDS NOW STAND BY AND WATCH AS HANS STRIPS OUT OF HIS CLOTH AND SPREADS HIMSELF FOR SPECTN, UNRLG HOW SOCIETY SYSTEMATILLY GAZ AT HIM (OFTEN THE NU, AS WHEN HE’S LATER THROWN TO SOLARY NFEMENT), AND DAMNS HIM FOR WHAT SE. HANS OPERAT A SEWG MACHE THE LNDRY ROOM, AND ’S THERE THAT HE NOTIC LEO (ANTON VON LUCKE), ONE OF THE MEN WH WHOM HE’D PREVLY SHARED SOME BATHROOM-STALL TIMACY AT THE TTAGE. THOUGH HANS MAY BE THE OBJECT OF EVERYONE ELSE’S NMNATORY SCTY, HE’S A MAN WHOSE OWN EY ARE TENSELY GEY AND NFINT, SENDG D MSAG THROUGH SMALL, SLY LOOKS AND LIKEMD EXPRSNS, SUCH AS THE SE THAT SOMETIM CREEPS, ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLY, TO THE RNER OF HIS MOUTH. ROGOWSKI’S TURN IS MARVELO FOR BEG SO ILED AND YET SO MUNITIVE, AND NO MATTER HANS’ PERSECUTN AND MONIZATN—CLUDG OM FELLOW MAT WHO OBJECT TO HIS HOMOSEXUALY—HE RRI HIMSELF WH UNFLAPPABLE NFINCE. HE’S A MAN WHO KNOWS WHO HE IS, WHAT HE WANTS, AND HOW HE N GET , EVEN A PLACE WHERE THE NCRETE WALLS AND HUMORLS GUARDS ARE TERMED TO KEEP HIM ALONE AND ALIENATED OM ANY SPARK OF JOY.THOUGH HANS HAS EY FOR LEO—A TIMID TEACHER WHO’S SPENDG HIS FIRST STT BEHD BARS, AND WHO ULTIMATELY FDS HANS A RELIABLE PROTECTOR AND PARTNER—HIS LASTG RELATNSHIP IS WH VIKTOR KOHL (GE FRIEDRICH), WHO 1968 IS A JUNKIE ON THE VERGE OF A NEW PAROLE HEARG. HANS AND VIKTOR’S NNECTN IS THE NARRATIVE THROUGH-LE OF GREAT FREEDOM, WHICH SOON LEAPS BACKWARD TIME TO 1945 TO WNS HANS FIRST ENTERG THE SAME PRISON AS A MTACHE-EE YOUNGER MAN. A RECENT RINT OF A NAZI NCENTRATN MP, HANS HAS TRAD ONE TENTN CENTER FOR ANOTHER, AND HE’S IMMEDIATELY PLACED A CELL WH VIKTOR, WHO’S DISGTED AT HAVG TO SHARE SPACE WH A HOMOSEXUAL MAN. NEVERTHELS, UPON HEARG ABOUT HANS’ WWII ORAL, HE OFFERS TO TATTOO SOMETHG OVER THE PERMANENT INTIFITN NUMBERS LG HANS’ FOREARM, THEREBY IATG A BOND THAT WILL VELOP OVER THE ENSUG YEARS. BETWEEN VIKTOR’S TATTOO NEEDLE PIERCG HANS’ SK, HANS’ STRAW POKG HOL A BIBLE ORR TO TRANSM A SECRET MSAGE TO A LOVER, THE CIGARETTE THAT’S PERPETUALLY BETWEEN HANS’ LIPS, A STIRRG PAT BSH, AND A MAN BLOWG FURLY TO A SAXOPHONE, PHALLIC AND SEXUALIZED IMAGERY ABOUNDS GREAT FREEDOM, ALBE WH A SUBTLETY THAT’S ENMIC TO THE PROCEEDGS. MEISE OFTEN LEANS HEAVILY ON SILENCE AND LAMENTG TMPET TO ADD WEIGHT AND SORROW TO HIS DRAMA, AS WELL AS OPPRSIVE DARKNS THAT AT TIM SEEMS TENT ON SWALLOWG HANS WHOLE. IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .IN A 1957 PASSAGE, HANS SUFFERS JAIL WH BOYIEND OSKAR (THOMAS PRENN), WHO ARTICULAT HOW MUCH HE ADMIR HANS FOR HIS FEARLSNS, A QUALY WHICH OSKAR SAYS HE LACKS. GREAT FREEDOM IS A FILM ABOUT LIVG AND LOVG NO MATTER THE HIGH ST, AND THE PA, MISERY AND TRAGEDY THAT DOG SO N ENTAIL. HANS IS TRAPPED BETWEEN BEG HIMSELF AND SOMEONE WHO N SAFELY SURVIVE A NATN THAT SPIS HIM, AND THE PATH HE CHARTS IS A JAGGED ONE, MARKED BY PFALLS HE DON’T FOREE OR DON’T RE TO HEED. HIS RAPPORT WH VIKTOR IS SIARLY RAGGED, WH VIKTOR FALLG TO SUBSTANCE ABE AND PENNCE AT THE SAME TIME THAT HE DRAWS CLOSER TO HANS. THEIR UNN IS FED THROUGH BLUNT SEXUAL ACTS OF NEED, POWER AND SIRE, AND MEISE SHOOTS THEM—AND THE RT OF HIS TRYSTS—WH AN EXPLICNS THAT’S TUNE WH THE OVERARCHG ROUGHNS AND LDNS OF HIS STORY’S I. “IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .” IN A LATE SCENE, HANS AND VIKTOR WATCH NEIL ARMSTRONG TAKE HIS MOMENTO FIRST STEPS ON THE MOON, TO WHICH VIKTOR MENTS, “I THOUGHT WOULD BE MORE EXCG.” HAPPS, HOWEVER, DISCREET FORMS MEISE’S FILM, SUCH AS VIA HANS’ EFFORTS TO HELP VIKTOR SHAKE HIS DG HAB BY FIRST KNEELG BI HIM AS HE VLENTLY P TO A TOILET, AND AFTERWARD CRADLG HIM A WARM EMBRACE. GREAT FREEDOM SUGGTS THAT THERE’S EEDOM GIVG AND RECEIVG SELFLS LOVE, AND TH ’S THE SIGHT OF VIKTOR CRAWLG TO BED TO SPOON WH HANS (ON THE NIGHT FOLLOWG THE NSUMMATN OF THEIR RELATNSHIP) THAT ROUNDS THE LOUST, EXUDG AN ACHG TENRNS THAT’S FAR MORE PROFOUND THAN THE PRR RNALY DULGED BY EHER MAN.MEISE’S HAB OF SPYG ON HIS CHARACTERS DOORWAYS AND WDOWS, AS WELL AS THROUGH OTHER VISUAL AM, SPEAKS TO HANS AND VIKTOR’S STATE OF NSTRICTG NFEMENT. YET DURG THE FALE, HANS DISVERS THAT EMANCIPATN ISN’T AS CLEAR-CUT AS SEEMS, AND THAT PERHAPS THE PLACE WHERE ONE FEELS MOST EE HAS LTLE TO DO WH WALLS, BARS, OR L. GREAT FREEDOM RAIS SUCH QUTNS BUT WISELY REF TO OFFER PEDANTIC ANSWERS, STEAD CHOOSG TO ACCEPT—AS HANS DO—THE MSY AMBIGUY OF MORN LIFE. NICK SCHAGER
• GAY MARRIAGE ISN’T ABOUT JTICE, IT’S ABOUT SELMA ENVY

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY

” Victor (Ge Friedrich) stammers disbelief, more to himself than to Hans (Franz Rogowski) fictnal character of Hans, liberated om a Nazi ncentratn mp at the end of World War II only to be sent directly to prison, is based on a chillg and often overlooked chapter German postwar is repeatedly arrted unr Paragraph 175, a law crimalizg sex between men that the Nazis expand jt a uple of years to their regime, and which was kept on the books for s law was ed, sometim wh elaborate stg operatns, to nvict up to 50, 000 gay men Wt Germany between 1945 and 1994 — roughly as many as were arrted durg the which the Nazis ed . “For gay men, the Nazi era did not end 1945, ” said Peter Rehberg, the archivist of Schwul Mm, a gay cultural stutn Sebastian Meise, the director of “Great Freedom, ” read about the men who went om the ncentratn mps to prison bee of their sexualy, “really changed my unrstandg of history, ” he said a telephone terview om Vienna.

But for many s, postwar Germany’s treatment of gay men was also neher liberal nor 1935, the Nazis strengthened Germany’s law crimalizg homosexualy, which was origally troduced the 1870s. This allowed the regime to crimalize not jt gay sex, but almost any behavr that uld be seen to n afoul of heterosexual norms, cludg lookg at another man.

HE TRAVEL – GAY TRAVEL TOURS, GAY ADVENTURE TRAVEL, ACTIVE VATNS

Bermbach spent four weeks jail and was fed 5, 000 marks — a hefty sum at the he paid off the fe, he beme one of the thoands of gay and bisexual men who fled Paragraph 175. He moved to Paris 1960 search of more and his wrg partner Thomas Reir llected many stori om Bermbach’s generatn of gay men durg the six years they spent rearchg and wrg the script for “Great Freedom, ” visg the archiv at the Schwul Mm and the Magn Hirschfeld Foundatn, which llects terviews wh men affected by the, Paragraph 175 did not stop gay culture om evolvg Wtern Germany; the German tle of the film, “Grosse Freihe, ” is a nod to a venerable gay bar Berl where the penultimate scene tak place. A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn C, Page 3 of the New York edn wh the headle: The Long Shadow of Germany’s Anti-Gay Law.

Rictor Norton, an thor who foc on LGBTQ lerary history, noted his 1998 book "My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters Through the Centuri, " that the story of Anrsen's life was reflected "The Ltle Mermaid. SliThe Ft Gay Travel ToursAdventure, culture, leisure or luxury, HE Travel is the lear gay travel tours and gay adventure travel today and for the last 40 years. Our Founr Hanns Ebensten ran the first exclively gay adventure tour down the Grand Canyon 1973 and we most recently acquired OutQut Global Adventur, brgg even more gay travel tours to gay men, lbians & their iends.

Our gay vatn group tours are ial both for sgle gay men and lbians to meet new iends, and also for upl to enjoy the mararie of explorg new plac wh other gay and lbian travelers. GMongolia Gay Cultural Vistas TourThe vast open stepp, serts, and hills of Mongolia beckon to explore their secrets on our gay Mongolian tour.

GAY ANGLINS THE ACNA

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Vis rabow-ftooned waterfalls, watch adorable545--japan-tenryuji-temple-300× gay Japan tour starts morn Tokyo, then spends two nights the Japane Alps. GPuglia Villa Culary Experience Gay Travel ItalySavor the bounty of the rich tradns of Italy’s Adriatic astal regn of Puglia. A Tribute to Doug MayberryA Tribute to Doug MayberryWe mourn the passg of our brother, uncle, and iend Douglas Gayle Mayberry, known to his fay and iends as Doug.

Taste of ItalyPlant A Tree ProgramSPLASH Grand Canyon Gay Raftg AdventureHE Travel Heads to Machu PicchuHE Travel Prents EcuadorHE TRAVEL KAUAI ADVENTURE TOURHE Travel Prents Pengus of South AiHE Travel’s Galapagos AdventureGay travel huntg Santiago, Chile. SliYour vatn should be a once--a-lifetime experienceLet show you the world’s bt llectns of gay tours and statns and help you pick between them. Still, he had an effect: a few liberal-md lleagu accepted his notn of an nate gay inty, and a Bavarian official privately nfsed to siar yearngs.

TOM HANKS EXPLAS WHY HE WOULDN’T TAKE ANOTHER GAY ROLE: ‘WE’RE BEYOND THAT NOW’

The tle of the chapter, “The German Inventn of Homosexualy, ” telegraphs a prcipal argument of the book: although same-sex love is as old as love self, the public disurse around , and the polil movement to w rights for , arose Germany the late neteenth and early twentieth centuri. This msage may surprise those who believe that gay inty me of age London and New York, sometime between the Osr Wil trials and the Stonewall rts.

IS DOLPH LUNDGREN GAY? – WHO HAS HE DATED?

The btal reprsn of gay people durg the Nazi perd largely erased German gay history om ternatnal nscns, and even om German memory. Beachy, a historian who teach at Yonsei Universy, Seoul, ends his book by notg that Germans hold gay-pri celebratns each June on what is known as Christopher Street Day, honor of the street where the Stonewall prott unfold. Ulrichs, sentially the first gay activist, enuntered censorship and end up gog to exile, but his ias very gradually took hold.

” In the eighteen-eighti, a Berl police missner gave up prosecutg gay bars and stead stuted a policy of bemed tolerance, gog so far as to lead tours of a growg mimon.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PROVIS A RAW, UNPROMISG LOOK AT THE PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN EAST GERMANYLOVE IS LOVEFILMMAKER SEBASTIAN MEISE’S LATT IS A GUT-WRENCHG DRAMA ABOUT GERMANY’S HISTORIL CELTY AGAST GAY MEN, LED BY AN OUTSTANDG TURN OM ACTOR FRANZ ROGOWKSI. NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICUPDATED MAR. 05, 2022 4:18AM EST / PUBLISHED MAR. 05, 2022 12:53AM EST CANN FILM FTIVAL/FREIBTERFILM_ROHFILMGREAT FREEDOM TAK S TLE OM THE NAME OF A NIGHTCLUB THAT HANS HOFFMANN (TRANS’S FRANZ ROGOWSKI) ATTENDS 1969 AT THE NCLN OF SEBASTIAN MEISE’S WRENCHG DRAMA (OUT NOW THEATERS)—AN TABLISHMENT OF UNHIBED HOMOSEXUALY, NOW THAT GERMANY’S ANTI-GAY PARAGRAPH 175 STATUTE HAS BEEN RELAXED. NOHELS, TE EEDOM IS A TRICKY AND PLITED MODY THE DIRECTOR’S LONG-AWAED FOLLOW-UP TO 2011’S STILL LIFE, PECIALLY FOR HANS, WHO’S REPEATEDLY RCERATED OVER S UNR THE AFOREMENTNED LAW FOR THE CRIME OF WANTG TO BE WH OTHER MEN. A PORTRA OF LIBERATN FLOURISHG UNEXPECTED PLAC, PULS WH QUIET ANGUISH, LONGG AND FIANCE, LED BY A ROGOWSKI PERFORMANCE THAT NVEYS ASTONISHG PTHS MIMALIST GTUR.HANS IS TRODUCED AN OPENG MONTAGE OF 16MM FILM CLIPS SHOT OM BEHD A TTAGE’S BATHROOM SK MIRROR; EACH SNIPPET, HE ENGAG A SEXUAL ACT WH A STRANGER, TH MAKG CLEAR HIS PROCLIVI. THIS SURREPTLY RERD MATERIAL IS EVINCE A 1968 URT SE AGAST HIM, WHICH ENDS WH A SWIFT NVICTN AND A SENTENCE OF 24 MONTHS. IN EAST GERMANY, PARAGRAPH 175 OUTLAWS SUCH BEHAVR, AND HANS IS SENT OFF TO PRISON, WHERE HE GO THROUGH AN ADMTANCE PROCS LIKE A SEASONED PRO. JT AS THE THORI’ MERA STARED AT HIM WHILE HE PLEASURED HIS PARAMOURS, SO TOO DO GUARDS NOW STAND BY AND WATCH AS HANS STRIPS OUT OF HIS CLOTH AND SPREADS HIMSELF FOR SPECTN, UNRLG HOW SOCIETY SYSTEMATILLY GAZ AT HIM (OFTEN THE NU, AS WHEN HE’S LATER THROWN TO SOLARY NFEMENT), AND DAMNS HIM FOR WHAT SE. HANS OPERAT A SEWG MACHE THE LNDRY ROOM, AND ’S THERE THAT HE NOTIC LEO (ANTON VON LUCKE), ONE OF THE MEN WH WHOM HE’D PREVLY SHARED SOME BATHROOM-STALL TIMACY AT THE TTAGE. THOUGH HANS MAY BE THE OBJECT OF EVERYONE ELSE’S NMNATORY SCTY, HE’S A MAN WHOSE OWN EY ARE TENSELY GEY AND NFINT, SENDG D MSAG THROUGH SMALL, SLY LOOKS AND LIKEMD EXPRSNS, SUCH AS THE SE THAT SOMETIM CREEPS, ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLY, TO THE RNER OF HIS MOUTH. ROGOWSKI’S TURN IS MARVELO FOR BEG SO ILED AND YET SO MUNITIVE, AND NO MATTER HANS’ PERSECUTN AND MONIZATN—CLUDG OM FELLOW MAT WHO OBJECT TO HIS HOMOSEXUALY—HE RRI HIMSELF WH UNFLAPPABLE NFINCE. HE’S A MAN WHO KNOWS WHO HE IS, WHAT HE WANTS, AND HOW HE N GET , EVEN A PLACE WHERE THE NCRETE WALLS AND HUMORLS GUARDS ARE TERMED TO KEEP HIM ALONE AND ALIENATED OM ANY SPARK OF JOY.THOUGH HANS HAS EY FOR LEO—A TIMID TEACHER WHO’S SPENDG HIS FIRST STT BEHD BARS, AND WHO ULTIMATELY FDS HANS A RELIABLE PROTECTOR AND PARTNER—HIS LASTG RELATNSHIP IS WH VIKTOR KOHL (GE FRIEDRICH), WHO 1968 IS A JUNKIE ON THE VERGE OF A NEW PAROLE HEARG. HANS AND VIKTOR’S NNECTN IS THE NARRATIVE THROUGH-LE OF GREAT FREEDOM, WHICH SOON LEAPS BACKWARD TIME TO 1945 TO WNS HANS FIRST ENTERG THE SAME PRISON AS A MTACHE-EE YOUNGER MAN. A RECENT RINT OF A NAZI NCENTRATN MP, HANS HAS TRAD ONE TENTN CENTER FOR ANOTHER, AND HE’S IMMEDIATELY PLACED A CELL WH VIKTOR, WHO’S DISGTED AT HAVG TO SHARE SPACE WH A HOMOSEXUAL MAN. NEVERTHELS, UPON HEARG ABOUT HANS’ WWII ORAL, HE OFFERS TO TATTOO SOMETHG OVER THE PERMANENT INTIFITN NUMBERS LG HANS’ FOREARM, THEREBY IATG A BOND THAT WILL VELOP OVER THE ENSUG YEARS. BETWEEN VIKTOR’S TATTOO NEEDLE PIERCG HANS’ SK, HANS’ STRAW POKG HOL A BIBLE ORR TO TRANSM A SECRET MSAGE TO A LOVER, THE CIGARETTE THAT’S PERPETUALLY BETWEEN HANS’ LIPS, A STIRRG PAT BSH, AND A MAN BLOWG FURLY TO A SAXOPHONE, PHALLIC AND SEXUALIZED IMAGERY ABOUNDS GREAT FREEDOM, ALBE WH A SUBTLETY THAT’S ENMIC TO THE PROCEEDGS. MEISE OFTEN LEANS HEAVILY ON SILENCE AND LAMENTG TMPET TO ADD WEIGHT AND SORROW TO HIS DRAMA, AS WELL AS OPPRSIVE DARKNS THAT AT TIM SEEMS TENT ON SWALLOWG HANS WHOLE. IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .IN A 1957 PASSAGE, HANS SUFFERS JAIL WH BOYIEND OSKAR (THOMAS PRENN), WHO ARTICULAT HOW MUCH HE ADMIR HANS FOR HIS FEARLSNS, A QUALY WHICH OSKAR SAYS HE LACKS. GREAT FREEDOM IS A FILM ABOUT LIVG AND LOVG NO MATTER THE HIGH ST, AND THE PA, MISERY AND TRAGEDY THAT DOG SO N ENTAIL. HANS IS TRAPPED BETWEEN BEG HIMSELF AND SOMEONE WHO N SAFELY SURVIVE A NATN THAT SPIS HIM, AND THE PATH HE CHARTS IS A JAGGED ONE, MARKED BY PFALLS HE DON’T FOREE OR DON’T RE TO HEED. HIS RAPPORT WH VIKTOR IS SIARLY RAGGED, WH VIKTOR FALLG TO SUBSTANCE ABE AND PENNCE AT THE SAME TIME THAT HE DRAWS CLOSER TO HANS. THEIR UNN IS FED THROUGH BLUNT SEXUAL ACTS OF NEED, POWER AND SIRE, AND MEISE SHOOTS THEM—AND THE RT OF HIS TRYSTS—WH AN EXPLICNS THAT’S TUNE WH THE OVERARCHG ROUGHNS AND LDNS OF HIS STORY’S I. “IN SUCH A BLEAK ENVIRONMENT, HANS’ MATCH PROVI THE ONLY FLICKER OF LIGHT—AN UNRSTATED VISUAL METAPHOR FOR HIS TERNAL ATTEMPTS TO KEEP HIS TE SELF ALIVE A WORLD THAT SEEKS TO ANNIHILATE .” IN A LATE SCENE, HANS AND VIKTOR WATCH NEIL ARMSTRONG TAKE HIS MOMENTO FIRST STEPS ON THE MOON, TO WHICH VIKTOR MENTS, “I THOUGHT WOULD BE MORE EXCG.” HAPPS, HOWEVER, DISCREET FORMS MEISE’S FILM, SUCH AS VIA HANS’ EFFORTS TO HELP VIKTOR SHAKE HIS DG HAB BY FIRST KNEELG BI HIM AS HE VLENTLY P TO A TOILET, AND AFTERWARD CRADLG HIM A WARM EMBRACE. GREAT FREEDOM SUGGTS THAT THERE’S EEDOM GIVG AND RECEIVG SELFLS LOVE, AND TH ’S THE SIGHT OF VIKTOR CRAWLG TO BED TO SPOON WH HANS (ON THE NIGHT FOLLOWG THE NSUMMATN OF THEIR RELATNSHIP) THAT ROUNDS THE LOUST, EXUDG AN ACHG TENRNS THAT’S FAR MORE PROFOUND THAN THE PRR RNALY DULGED BY EHER MAN.MEISE’S HAB OF SPYG ON HIS CHARACTERS DOORWAYS AND WDOWS, AS WELL AS THROUGH OTHER VISUAL AM, SPEAKS TO HANS AND VIKTOR’S STATE OF NSTRICTG NFEMENT. YET DURG THE FALE, HANS DISVERS THAT EMANCIPATN ISN’T AS CLEAR-CUT AS SEEMS, AND THAT PERHAPS THE PLACE WHERE ONE FEELS MOST EE HAS LTLE TO DO WH WALLS, BARS, OR L. GREAT FREEDOM RAIS SUCH QUTNS BUT WISELY REF TO OFFER PEDANTIC ANSWERS, STEAD CHOOSG TO ACCEPT—AS HANS DO—THE MSY AMBIGUY OF MORN LIFE. NICK SCHAGER

By the begng of the twentieth century, a non of gay lerature had emerged (one early advote ed the phrase “Stayg silent is ath, ” nearly a century before aids activists ed the slogan “Silence = Death”); activists were bemoang negative pictns of homosexualy (Thomas Mann’s “Death Venice” was one target); there were bat over the ethics of outg; and a schism opened between an clive, mastream factn and a more rto, anarchistic wg. In 1929, the Reichstag moved toward the crimalizatn of homosexualy, although the chaos ed by that fall’s stock-market crash prevented a fal did all this happen Germany? The towerg legacy of German ialism and Romanticism, which helps to expla why the gay-rights movement took root Germany, has self bee somewhat obscure, pecially outsi the German school system.

GAY MARRIAGE ISN’T ABOUT JTICE, IT’S ABOUT SELMA ENVY

The episo suggts the gree to which the German cultural and tellectual tradn, particularly the Romantic age, which stretched om Goethe and Schiller to Schopenher and Wagner, embolned those who me to intify themselv as gay and lbian. Lerary figur pursued a cult of iendship that borred on the homoerotic, although most of the time the fervid talk of embrac and kiss remaed jt talk.

”) Schopenher proceed to expound the dub theory that nature promoted homosexualy olr men as a way of disuragg them om ntug to surprisgly, Karl Herich Ulrichs seized on Schopenher’s cur piece of advocy when he began his mpaign; he quoted the philosopher one of his g-out letters to his relativ. Ulrichs might also have mentned Wagner, who, “Die Walküre” and “Tristan und Isol, ” picted illic passns that many late-neteenth-century homosexuals saw as allegori for their own experience.

Magn Hirschfeld, his 1914 book “The Homosexualy of Men and Women, ” noted that the Wagner ftival Bayrth had bee a “favore meetg place” for homosexuals, and quoted a classified ad, om 1894, which a young man had sought a handsome pann for a Tyrolean bicyclg expedn; was signed “Numa 77, general livery, Bayrth. The most revelatory chapter of Beachy’s book ncerns Leopold von Meerscheidt-Hüllsem, a Berl police missner the Wilhelme perd, who, perhaps more than any other figure, enabled “gay Berl” to blossom.