Lord of the Rg Taps a Gay Archetype - The Gay & Lbian Review

Contents:

• AN ILLTRATED GUI TO REGNIZG YOUR GAY STEREOTYP
• THE PORTRAYAL OF GAY MEN MEDIA
• LORD OF THE RG TAPS A GAY ARCHETYPE
• 15 STEREOTYP THAT LIM OUR PERCEPTNS OF GAY MEN

AN ILLTRATED GUI TO REGNIZG YOUR GAY STEREOTYP

In the spir of batg stereotyp by reclaimg and celebratg them, BBDO NY Art Director Jam Kuczynski and illtrator Pl Tuller have created a “Gui to Gay Stereotyp, ” a seri of silk screened imag pturg the sence of your neighborhood gay posters, released this week as we head to Pri season, celebrate the recent Supreme Court cisn on DOMA. The posters are available for $18 each, and some of the proceeds will go to the “Thk B4 You Speak” mpaign, which supports LGBT teens and rais awarens about homophobia and the e of terms like “That’s so gay, ” “Dyke” and “Faggot. In a 2001 survey of “Canadian Perceptns of Homosexualy, ”[i] people across the untry were asked, “In your opn, are homosexuals the same as everyone else?

THE PORTRAYAL OF GAY MEN MEDIA

” The notn that homosexuals are the same as everyone else (save for the unimportant ltle fact of who we love) was first advanced by queers search of tolerance.

LORD OF THE RG TAPS A GAY ARCHETYPE

[v] There is a vast and dangero divi between the notn that queer people are the same as everyone else, and acceptance of the social and cultural difference that is homosexualy. Genr is one space of great unease for ntemporary society, which we are nonted wh the homophobic stereotyp of the big, butch, man-hatg lbian and the swishy, effemate gay man. If we keep our rponse to homophobic stereotyp at the level of stereotypil rpons, we valorize genr nformy and “straight-lookg, straight-actg” gays and lbians.

But if we reach through the homophobic stereotyp to embrace the submerged archetyp, we will fd godss who pot to women’s pacy for anger and vengeance, like Msa (Ancient Greece), Sedna (Inu), and Camunda (India). A host of homophobic stereotyp fall unr this bric – that we are unstable and immature, that we have dysfunctnal, impermanent relatnships, that we unrme the fay.

But we abdite the powerful cultural meangs that here our relatnships when we unter homophobic stereotyp by claimg adherence to heteronormative valu. Will Rose not that the archetype of iatn lks gay experience wh the shaman’s journey, which also volv submissn, a shatterg of the ego, and a return. [x] We n see homosexuals as the nocent victims of unjt stereotypg, and simultaneoly follow the stereotyp as maps that lead to buried treasure – the cultural meangs and social power of homosexualy.

15 STEREOTYP THAT LIM OUR PERCEPTNS OF GAY MEN

In 1894 Edward Carpenter wr, “[It] is possible that the Uranian [(homosexual)] spir may lead to somethg like a general enthiasm of Humany, and that the Uranian people may be sted to form the advance guard of that great movement which will one day transform the mon life by substutg the bond of personal affectn and passn for the moary, legal and other external ti which now ntrol and nfe society. ”[xiii] The Gay Liberatn Front, found New York followg the Stonewall uprisg of 1969, tied gay liberatn to peace, racial equaly, and a generalized crique of palist society. The radil current gay activism seems to persist brilliant but short-lived bursts that are quickly subsumed by a stronger current propellg to seek acmodatn wh the domant culture.

Gary Ksman not that homosexualy is anized relatnship to all other forms of opprsn and domance, so that class, race and police opprsn are maniftly queer issu. See also Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force Policy Instute Anti-Gay/Lbian Vlence, Victimizatn and Defamatn at and a Canadian study by the 519 Communy Centre Toronto for the Department of Jtice lookg at the issue of vlence the LGBT muny. Supreme Court cisn endorsg the right of gay and lbian upl to marry says that “refg marriage would amount to a massive human experiment” and adm a terrifyg disorr to social relatnships.

There is also an unrcurrent of possible homosexual relatns this tale, In one part of the story Gawa mak a pact wh his host, Bercilak who is really the Green Knight disguise. After much searchg, I did stumble upon two books that might – The Path of the Green Man: Gay Men, Wic, and Livg a Magil Life by Thomas Michael Ford and The Secret Lore of Garng by Graham Jackson. While I wasn’t able to fd out much about the first book, I did fd a few good reviews on the Secret Lore of Garng that shed some light on the Green Man archetype wh gay life.