Queer Ko: 1970s and ‘80s Gay German Arthoe Cema - Kospe

Contents:

• ERNST RöHM, THE HIGHT-RANKG GAY NAZI
• SUBS LOOKG FOR DOMS (GAY MEN ONLY)
• QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA
• DOM LEATHER BULL’S FAG FEEDMY TWEETSSURRENR
• SHRIEN DEWANI’S GAY LOVER ‘THE GERMAN MASTER’ WHO WAS KEY WNS HONEYMOON MURR TRIAL FOUND HANGED
• GAY LIFE BERL IS STARTG TO ECHO A DARKER ERA
• GAY GERMANY
• SHRIEN DEWANI'S 'GAY LOVER' AND WNS HONEYMOON MURR TRIAL FOUND HANGED
• GAY BERL

ERNST RöHM, THE HIGHT-RANKG GAY NAZI

As Eleanor Hanck explas, Röhm, his face srred om war wounds, strsed a hyper-masculy to unteract ntemporary views of homosexualy as feme.

His open homosexualy may have threatened the psychologil secury of some other Natnal Socialists, creatg a form of ‘male homosexual panic. '” She go further, wonrg if “the purge of the SA and the killg of Röhm reprented the leral objective rrelative for the supprsn and reprsn of the homosexual sir their own Nazism?

SUBS LOOKG FOR DOMS (GAY MEN ONLY)

Even before Ernst Röhm was murred, the Nazis had begun crackg down on homosexualy, banng anizatns, burng books, and arrtg the first of some 100, 000.

QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA

Around 15, 000 gay people were sent to ncentratn mps, where some were experimented upon bizarre efforts to fd a “cure” for sexual orientatn, a forhadowg of Amerin psychologil and later fundamentalist efforts to try the same thg. Its programmer, filmmaker Wieland Speck, says that “qutng our parents’ generatn, the war generatn, had a strong impact on the velopg gay movement, pecially the first femist ceast.

DOM LEATHER BULL’S FAG FEEDMY TWEETSSURRENR

Speck scrib the attu among German gay men at the time was ma: “every possible STD was ridiculed as the vcibily of the gay psyche ma s first appearance history. ” He adds: “This high time was met hard by the ‘gay ncer’ which ma s way to the nscns of German society about 1986 — an awarens spearhead by Arthur J. Rosa von Prnheim’s nontatnal It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society Which He Liv (1971) has been creded wh spirg the German gay liberatn movement, although Speck scrib this tone as “already strag at the leash.

Prnheim regnized the danger stemmg both om the vis self and the rurgence homophobia led to, envisng a near-future versn of a leper lony.

SHRIEN DEWANI’S GAY LOVER ‘THE GERMAN MASTER’ WHO WAS KEY WNS HONEYMOON MURR TRIAL FOUND HANGED

Collectively wrten, stars the director as a bathhoe owner who profs om allowg his gay ctomers to have unsafe sex while stgglg wh AIDS and his own homophobia. The film juggl several narrative l, cludg an edor who spreads misrmatn her tabloid paper and a woman who fetishiz sex wh gay men, endg up a dystopian 1987, where 70% of German prisoners are HIV-posive and the ernment has ma HIV tts mandatory.

30 years later, the narrative of Heer Carow’s Comg Out (1989) seems a b basic: Philipp (Matthias Freihof), who is married to a woman, realiz that he’s gay after beg attracted to Matthias (Dirk Kummer). It avoids the mon impulse of queer cema towards tragedy, spe the openg scene’s pictn of Matthias gettg his stomach pumped after a suici attempt driven by self-hatred about his gayns.

GAY LIFE BERL IS STARTG TO ECHO A DARKER ERA

Afterwards, he embraced munism and remas satisfied by — he says, “we stopped mankd’s exploatn by mankd” — but plas that ignored the problems of gays. (Gay men were eer legally East Germany than the Wt after World War II, where the Nazi law that crimalized homosexualy stayed on the books until 1969.

) The novelty of s gay subject matter may have gotten more attentn than other East German films of the ‘80s, but genuely feels like a precursor to Andrew Haigh’s Weekend (2011).

The fact that AIDS killed off half a generatn of gay men, while the closet renred many of the survivors visible, meant that our imag of gay life the ‘70s and ‘80s are domated by that tragedy, which wiped out filmmakers like Marlon Riggs, Bill Sherwood, Derek Jarman, and Arthur J. The gay prostute who had sexual enunters wh Shrien Dewani says the fay of sla bri Anni treated him like a long-lost son when he met them as the 34-year-old lnaire faced a murr charge over the ath of his wife. 'After graduatg, Dewani traed as an acuntant and worked for Delote before jog his brother the fay bs as a fancial his early 20s, he had joed a gay datg webse lled Gaydar, g the name ‘asiansubguy’ – thought to be a reference to the fact that he liked to be submissive durg sex wh men.

GAY GERMANY

Later that night, Anni was shot ad after their r was hijacked a township outsi Cape Town, apparently on a sight-seeg tour bee, acrdg to Dewani, she wanted to see ‘the real Ai’ after her body was found, police found Dewani had logged on to Gaydar, the gay datg se, om the luxury hotel where they had been stayg Cape Hdocha, the uncle of Anni, told the Mail: ‘We uldn’t re ls if someone is gay or not.

SHRIEN DEWANI'S 'GAY LOVER' AND WNS HONEYMOON MURR TRIAL FOUND HANGED

Here, 11 gay movi, om the dramatic to the edic, om the absurd to the touchg, om the Weimer Republic to unified Berl, straight out of Germany. Madchen Uniform ("Girls Uniform"), 1931: While homosexualy was simply allud to the aforementned flicks, was on full display Madchen Uniform, the tale of a boardg school girl who falls for her teacher.

GAY BERL

Anrs als du und Ich ("Different From You and Me"), 1957: Not to be nfed wh the siarly gay 1919 movie Anrs als die Anrn ("Different om the Others"), this mid-20th Century narrative revolv around rich kid Kls's affair wh a lower-class peer named Maned. And drama also ensued when the picture me out -- not only were nservativ displeased wh the gay ntent, early gay activists were livid over an endg which, spoiler alert, Kls is "cured" of his homosexualy. Nicht r Homosexuelle ist pervers, sonrn die Suatn, r er lebt ("It Is Not The Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But The Society In Which He Liv"), 1971: Perhaps one of the most ntroversial gay featur ever to e out of Germany, or anywhere else, this mouthful of a movie and s portrayal of gay men as shallow, fashn-obssed, limp wristed weaklgs created such a stir that the viotaped cricisms om gay activists nstute their own short.

Fstrecht r Freihe ("Fox and His Friends"), 1975: Inic New Cema filmmaker Raer Werner Fassbr directed, wrote, and starred this story of a gay man who falls for a wealthy heir.

Taxi zum Klo ("Taxi to the John", or "Taxi to the Toilet"), 1981: Frank Ripploh's semi-tobgraphil drama about a prim and proper school teacher wh a hardre after-hours sex life was groundbreakg and sensatnal for s time, and ed remas a cult classic (and one of the sexit gay films acrdg to director John Cameron Mchell). Lola und Bilidikid (Lola and Billy The Kid), 1999: Wrer/Director Kutlug Ataman had hoped to film this story of a young man tryg to rencile his homosexualy wh Islam Turkey, the ma character's fay's homeland, but he uldn't shore up enough support. Instead, Sherry Hormann's rom- tackl homophobia sports by stg Maxiian Bckner as Ecki, a closeted soccer player who back strong after beg booted om his team for beg gay.