As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis
Contents:
- AIR FORCE VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY STILL ENDUR THE STIGMA OF A FELONY RERD
- MILANT GAYS
- LGBT ACTIVISTS: IT'S TIME FOR A GAY CABET MEMBER
- THE STRANGE SE OF THE MISSG GAY DISNEY MOEKETEER AND THE BODY FOUND AT HIS HOME
- VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY ENDUR STIGMA OF FELONY RERD
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
AIR FORCE VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY STILL ENDUR THE STIGMA OF A FELONY RERD
The U.S. ary ed a range of ver charg to target gay and lbian service members for their sexualy, a CBS News vtigatn has found. * militantly gay *
Article 125 of the Uniform Co of Milary Jtice directly crimalized homosexual activy by outlawg "unnatural rnal pulatn, " while other statut like "nduct unbeg an officer, " "cent acts" and "makg a false official statement" were ed as ver charg to dm gay men and women out of the service on the basis of their sexual orientatn. Now the LGBT muny is lookg for the next step: appotg an openly gay person to a bet are two LGBT ndidat that the gay muny touts for high level office--and both of them already serve the Obama Admistratn. ""John is one of the most talented managers ernment, " said Steve Elmendorf, former Deputy Campaign Manager to John Kerry's Printial Campaign and newly elected Chair of the Gay and Lbian Victory Fund.
Come January he will be the first openly gay Congrsman om New York and was the youngt person to serve as Whe Hoe Staff Berry and Hochberg have already survived the Senate nfirmatn procs for their current posns--a pl, should Print Obama nomate one or both of them to higher post.
MILANT GAYS
Last summer Print Obama ma history by announcg his support for gay marriage. * militantly gay *
Around 1960, he me out as bisexual to his acceptg fay and moved out of their Downey, California home to San Francis so he uld “live a cy where the gay muny was more celebrated, ” acrdg to his sister. Attus about gays and lbians, and about same-sex marriage particular, are now changg so fast that Amerin culture is sufferg om gnive dissonance: still prone to habs of homophobia while simultaneoly aware that overt bigotry is no longer acceptable much of the public so you get a para of dramatic ntortns: Comedian Tracy Man performs a self-laceratg apology tour after makg anti-gay jok; major league sports figur, such as Kobe Bryant, face the prospect of six-figure f for yellg anti-gay slurs (pecially if they are ught on vio); and Southwt Airl fights for s reputatn as a progrsive bs after restatg a pilot ught on an open mike makg rogatory ments about gay men and olr the arts world, often seen as a haven for diversy, is beg forced to nont a long rerd of g cultural power to mean, ntrol and hi the ntributns of gay artists. A new book om Oxford Universy Prs, "Art and Homosexualy: A History of Ias, " by Christopher Reed, lays out a broad history of the relatnship between art and sexualy, datg back before the "ventn" of homosexual inty the late 19th century and enpassg such a plex array of same-sex behavrs that Reed clus a chart his troductn to map all the possibili.
As mic (Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernste, Samuel Barber), so too the visual arts (Robert Rschenberg, Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly): Much of what is seen as qutsentially Amerin is the product of gay creators. "While both the exhibn and Reed’s book make a posive se for the often timately entwed histori of homosexualy and art (pecially the 20th century), they also document a lany of shameful events and grievanc, many of them perpetrated by stutns and people who may be forced to nont past bigotry and make Reed monstrat, the “super-macho” ethos of the Amerin abstract exprsnists wasn’t jt about hard livg and womanizg.
LGBT ACTIVISTS: IT'S TIME FOR A GAY CABET MEMBER
50 years ago, the Stonewall Inn beme the center of the gay rights movement after a seri of rts broke out. Its fluence on the artists still reverberat. * militantly gay *
Artists such as Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe found themselv on the outsi of the tablished arts world their early reers large part bee of the overtly homoerotic them their work.
And as the art world begs to memorate the 25th anniversary of Warhol’s ath (there are major exhibns g to Washgton September), ’s hard to fet cric Vivian Gornick’s famoly anti-gay analysis om 1966, dismissg the role of gay culture pop art as “a malic fairy’s joke. As cultural change ntu — the space of six months, gays have earned the right to serve openly the ary and n now marry New York state — stutnal silence on gay them may no longer be seen as an nocuo, "fay iendly" strategy.
"Fay" is now unrstood to clu gay parents, married gay upl and people wh gay children, and the absence of basic rmatn about the role of same-sex sire art history has bee an overt s of speed of change is unbalancg even tablished stutns. Clough's terventn was wily seen as endorsg a rigidly nservative Catholic view of sacrilege agast a eply personal, and inoclastic, gay view of many ways, was the culture that was movg too quickly for the Smhsonian, and the firtorm that epted afterward, severely damagg both Clough’s and the Smhsonian’s credibily, reflected an emergg nsens: that the acceptable level of anti-gay bigotry at an stutn such as the Smhsonian is now may prove paful, and chasteng, as such stutns e to accept that realy and reflect their prentatn of art. Artists who hid their “gay” work (Charl Demuth), or stood to the si of the mastream art world (Marsn Hartley), or are simply fotten (a circle of artists Italy that clud Emma Stebbs, Edmonia Lewis and Harriet Hosmer) may serve new attentn and reckong that fally retablish the legimacy and acplishments of gay artists the morn mm may not be fortable for many artists who intify as gay, eher.
THE STRANGE SE OF THE MISSG GAY DISNEY MOEKETEER AND THE BODY FOUND AT HIS HOME
Reed sketch a recent history of fightg and atrici as a younger generatn mov away om the fns of gay inty that rmed the thkg of artists who worked durg the socially turbulent 1960s and ’70s and the darkt days of the AIDS epimic the ’80s and ’90s. They also refed to allow to be reproduced Reed’s book, acrdg to the lacked the urage to be open about homosexualy may e back to hnt some tablished artists, crics, mm directors and curators.
VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY ENDUR STIGMA OF FELONY RERD
A full acunt, and reckong, of the homophobia at work the “Hi/Seek” ntroversy would probably embarrass (and perhaps te) arts lears far beyond the Smhsonian’s won’t be easy, but will be excg and productive, pecially as gay people and their alli take an active hand challengg mms to be more hont. Alarmgly rtrictive laws ntue to proliferate across much of the Raedle / GettyThe red-state drive to roll back civil rights is enterg a new phase, perhaps bt symbolized by Florida’s passage this week of the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill censorg how schools discs sexual orientatn.
The refal of the Walt Disney Company, one of Florida’s most powerful employers, to publicly cricize Florida’s “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill as moved through the legislature has quickly e to symbolize a retreat om the loud public opposn that many pani exprsed to earlier state iativ rtrictg civil liberti, such as the “bathroom bill” North Carola Republins approved the broad range of socially nservative iativ that Florida’s Republin ernor, Ron DeSantis, and the GOP state legislature have advanced sce 2021, bs has been “silent, silent as fuck, they are so silent, ” says Florida Democratic State Reprentative Anna Eskamani, echog a plat I heard across several stat om Democrats and civil-rights advot this week.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
This clus laws limg accs to abortn, rtrictg votg rights, banng transgenr girls om participatg high-school or llege sports, barrg transn medil treatment for transgenr mors, censorg how teachers n talk about current or historil racial and genr equi, removg licensg requirements to publicly rry firearms, creasg penalti for public protters, and immunizg drivers who h and jure Watch what’s happeng red statFlorida alone has passed almost every em on that list, and this week add the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill rtrictg classroom discsn of sexual orientatn.