A film tells the story of Liberace's relatnship wh his lover, but the flamboyant pianist officially stayed the closet all his life. How did he mata this fictn, and what do say about Ameri's rapidly changg attu to gay rights?
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WHAT LIBERACE REVEALS ABOUT THE MARCH OF GAY RIGHTS
* liberachi gay *
How did he mata this fictn, and what do say about Ameri's rapidly changg attu to gay rights? "His grand entrance at New York's Rad Cy Mic Hall April 1984 was as cheerfully, flamboyantly mp as his fans had e to expect om his 50-year mil until his ath 1987, Liberace sisted he was not gay.
Behd The Canlabra, a forthg film starrg Michael Douglas, tells the story of Liberace's long-standg relatnship wh his former chffr, played by Matt morn dienc are faiar wh a diverse range of gay and lbian personali, Liberace rose to promence at a time when mp and homosexualy were monly and erroneoly seen as synonymo. He grew up a nservative, workg-class, Polish-Italian mid-wtern hoehold, at a time when homosexualy was punishable by up to 10 years prison some US a rult, he had good e to fear that exposure of his private self would almost certaly have meant the end of his reer. "But the gay stuff is only one ntext for unrstandg Liberace.
DEBBIE REYNOLDS: WE ALL KNEW LIBERACE WAS GAY
"He prented himself as a girly boy, not a gay man. The Cassandra article might be nsired too homophobic to be published a natnal newspaper today, and the 1959 trial that followed reveals much about the very different social attus of the time - not least the repeated e of the term "homosexualist" durg the se. Unr oath, Liberace ttified that he was not gay and had never taken part homosexual activy.
"I don't thk the trial eher helped the e of gay rights or hred , " says Revel Barker, thor of Cryg All The Way To The Bank, which tells the story of the se. "People like my parents, who were big fans of Liberace, didn't really thk of him as a homosexual before or after - they jt thought he was a great performer. "But the Cassandra trial, upled wh his repeated nials of his homosexualy, was one reason why sectns of the fledglg gay rights movement creasgly viewed Liberace wh 50 by the time the Stonewall rts kicked off the morn fight for gay and lbian rights the US, he displayed snt sire to mand regnn or equaly for the muny even though as time passed "he was livg a glass closet", acrdg to Kopelson.