The theory that HAL ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is gay

Contents:

• HOW SCI-FI GIANT ARTHUR C. CLARKE PREDICTED AN LGBT-FRIENDLY WORLDSEXUAL SEERTHE THOR OF '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' WAS A SAVVY FUTURIST WHO PREDICTED EVERYTHG OM ONLE SHOPPG TO CELLPHONE ADDICTN, BUT HE WAS AT HIS MOST PRCIENT ABOUT SEXUALY.ANDREW BELONSKYUPDATED JAN. 03, 2018 1:38PM EST / PUBLISHED DEC. 09, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY SARAH ROGERS/THE DAILY BEASTSIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE IS REMEMBERED FOR HIS REMARKABLE FORIGHT: THE SCI-FI THOR’S WORKS ACCURATELY PREDICTED ONLE SHOPPG, BMETRIC TECHNOLOGY, SMART PHONE ADDICTN, AND EVEN TARGETED ADVERTISG. A 1945 WIRELS WORLD ARTICLE BY CLARKE, WHO TRAED RADAR TECHNOLOGY DURG WORLD WAR II, HELPED MAKE MUNITNS SATELL A REALY. AND PERHAPS MOST FAMOLY, CLARKE, WHOSE CENTENARY OCCURS THIS MONTH, CREATED A WHOLE NEW FEARSOME TROPE WH HAL, THE MURRO ARTIFICIAL TELLIGENCE AT THE HEART OF THE LATE THOR’S MOST FAMO WORK, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.THE ACPLISHMENTS ARE ALL WELL-KNOWN AND WELL-CELEBRATED AMONG CLARKE AFICNADOS AND CRICS. LS DISCSED ARE THE WAYS CLARKE’S WORKS CHALLENGED HETERONORMATIVE SEXUAL MOR, PARTICULARLY THOSE SURROUNDG MEN WHO WENT FOR MEN. BUT REVIEWG SOME OF CLARKE’S MOST NOTABLE WORKS, ONE SE THE THOR SURVEYG THE CHANGG SEXUAL LANDSPE OF A POST-STONEWALL SOCIETY. TAKEN TOGETHER, THEY PROVI A PANORAMIC VIEW OF A GAY MAN QUTNG THE WORLD WHICH HE LIVED.AND, Y, CLARKE WAS A GAY MAN, OR, AT THE VERY LEAST, QUEER. THOUGH HE MARRIED A WOMAN 1953, THEY SEPARATED SIX MONTHS LATER, AND ’S WELL TABLISHED THAT CLARKE’S ROMANTIC EXISTENCE WAS SPENT MOSTLY WH OTHER MEN. OBSSED WH THE KSEY SLE WHEN FIRST ME OUT, CLARKE NEVER BELIEVED PEOPLE HAD STRICT STRAIGHT OR GAY TENNCI, A BELIEF MA CLEAR A NUMBER OF HIS BOOKS. AUTHOR MICHAEL MOORCK WROTE A 2008 GUARDIAN SAY THAT “EVERYONE KNEW [CLARKE] WAS GAY,” EVEN THE ’50S, WELL AFTER CLARKE MOVED TO SRI LANKA, WHERE HE FOUND THE LACK OF SEXUAL POLICG REHG AFTER LIVG UPTIGHT ENGLAND. CLARKE ALSO SPENT 1964-1965 AT NEW YORK’S FAMOLY LIBERTE CHELSEA HOTEL, ROMPG AROUND TOWN WH ALLEN GSBERG AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, TWO OF THE MOST MALE-LOVG MEN OF THE ERA. AND SIRS ALSO KNOW THAT CLARKE AND A MAN NAMED LLIE EKANAYAKE WERE LOVE; CLARKE SCRIBED LLIE AS “THE ONLY PERFECT IEND OF A LIFETIME,” AND THE THOR WAS BURIED ALONGSI HIM WHEN HE DIED 2008.BUT CLARKE WOULD NEVER ADM HIS LOVE OF MEN. NOT ON THE RERD, AT LEAST. ASKED BY A REPORTER ABOUT HIS BEDROOM ACTIVI, CLARKE MPILY LGHED, “WHY, WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?” HE ONLY ADMTED HIS YEN FOR MEN A FEW TIM: SHEEPISHLY HIS SEMI-TOBGRAPHIL 1963 NOVEL GLI PATH, WHICH THE SEXUALLY EXPERIENCED PROTAGONIST MAK A PASSG REFERENCE TO “A HIGHLY REFED ENUNTER WH THE CLERGYMAN WHO HAD (VERY BRIEFLY) N THE LOL SUT TROOP;” AND OFF-HANDLY 1986, WHEN PLAYBOY JOURNALIST KEN KELLEY ASKED CLARKE WHETHER HE’D HAD BISEXUAL EXPERIENC. CLARKE REPLIED WH A ROUNDG Y: “OF URSE. WHO HASN’T? GOOD GOD! IF ANYONE HAD EVER TOLD ME THAT HE HADN’T, I’D HAVE TOLD HIM HE WAS LYG. BUT THEN, OF URSE, PEOPLE TEND TO ‘FET’ THEIR ENUNTERS.” HE WENT ON, “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO TAIL ABOUT MY OWN LIFE, BUT I JT WANT TO BE NOTED THAT I HAVE A RATHER RELAXED, SYMPATHETIC ATTU ABOUT .” SUCH RETICENCE IS ONLY NATURAL FOR A MAN BORN 1917 AND WHO ME OF AGE DURG THE HEIGHT OF THE PK SRE, WHEN WTERN ERNMENTS BRAND GAY PEOPLE AS CRIMAL SURG, AS SEXUAL CRIMALS. AND ’S EQUALLY LOGIL THAT CLARKE WOULD E FICTN TO EXPLORE SOCIETI THAT HAD EVOLVED PAST SUCH SEXUAL JUDGMENT.    “CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG” THAT’S THE PREDOMANT THEME CLARKE’S WORKS: MAN’S POTENTIAL FOR POSIVE PROGRS, OUR ABILY TO TRANSCEND LIMATNS SELF-IMPOSED AND SCIENTIFIC. CLARKE REFERS TO THIS AS MAN’S PLASTICY: “ONE OF THE TERTG THGS ABOUT THE HUMAN RACE IS S CREDIBLE PLASTICY. THE HUMAN RACE N ADAPT TO ALMOST ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.” A WRER OF “HARD SCIENCE FICTN,” CLARKE DON’T CREATE NEW WORLDS. HE BELIEVED TE SCIENCE FICTN WAS “SOMETHG WHICH WE WOULD LIKE TO HAPPEN AND PROBABLY WILL.” CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG, AND HE THEREFORE ED HIS WORKS TO PREDICT HOW HUMANKD ULD EVOLVE. YET WHILE CLARKE VIVIDLY SE MANKD MOVG PAST S PENNCE ON OIL, OVERG RELIG STRIFE, AND EVEN TACKLG TERPLAARY SPACE TRAVEL, HE’S LS CERTA ABOUT HOW WE’LL NQUER OUR SEXUAL HANG-UPS.THIS TERT PROGRSIVE SEXUAL MOR IS CLEAR HIS FIRST MERCIAL SUCCS, 1954’S CHILDHOOD’S END. MOST OF THE PLOT IS PROPELLED BY AN ALIEN RACE’S ARRIVAL ON EARTH, BUT CLARKE GO OUT OF HIS WAY TO MENTN THAT SEXUAL ETIQUETTE HAD BEEN “ALTERED RADILLY” BY THE VENTN OF FAST AND CHEAP DNA PATERNY TTS AND BY THE ARRIVAL OF A “PLETELY RELIABLE ORAL NTRACEPTIVE.” COMBED, THE VENTNS “SWEPT AWAY THE LAST REMNANTS OF THE PURAN ABERRATN.” AGA, THIS WAS 1954: JT AS THE PILL WAS FIRST BEG EXPLORED AND YEARS AHEAD OF ACTUAL DNA TTG. PREMONORY AS ALWAYS, CLARKE SAW THE FIRST HTS OF SEXUAL REVOLUTN G TO FOC. AND HE LIKED WHAT HE SAW. AND THOUGH CHILDHOOD’S END MAK NO REFERENCE TO SAME-SEX SEX, THE SUBJECT FELY ARIS APLENTY CLARKE’S FUTURE NOVELS, CLUDG 1972’S RENZVO WH RAMA.CLARKE’S FIRST NOVEL AFTER 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY AND S FILM ADAPTATN LNCHED HIS REER, RAMA WAS ALSO HIS FIRST POST-STONEWALL NOVEL, AND THE CHANGG CLIMATE IS EVINT: IN RAMA’S FUTURE, 2130, POLYAMORY AND SAME-SEX LOVE ARE STANDARD, TOTALLY ACCEPTED FARE: TWO ASTRONTS, KARL MERCER AND HIS “SEPARABLE PANN” JOE CALVERT, NOT ONLY SHARE A WIFE, BUT THEIR OWN SEXUAL RELATNSHIP, AS WELL: “NO ONE N PREDICT WHERE LIGHTNG WILL STRIKE, AND YEARS AGO MERCER AND CALVERT HAD TABLISHED AN APPARENTLY STABLE LIAISON. THAT WAS MON ENOUGH.” CLARKE SEEMS MORE SANGUE ABOUT SOCIAL CHANGE AFOOT, MORE NFINT PREDICTG A JUDGMENT EE FUTURE. THAT OPTIMISM, HOWEVER, MT HAVE BEEN SHORT-LIVED, BEE THERE’S FAR LS NONCHALANCE ABOUT SAME-SEX LOVE CLARKE’S NEXT NOVEL, IMPERIAL EARTH.PUBLISHED 1976, JT AFTER MARGARET THATCHER TOOK THE HELM OF BRA’S CONSERVATIVE PARTY, THIS NOVEL POSS A FUTURE THAT IS ED MORE PROGRSIVE THAN OUR PRENT—20TH-CENTURY MONOGAMY IS LIKENED TO “SEXUAL POSSSIVENS”—BUT OLD-SCHOOL SHAMG OVER SAME-SEX LOVE REMAS FULL EFFECT, AS SEEN THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALLY-CLED PROTAGONIST DUNN MACKENZIE AND HIS MORE QUTNG BUT FLEXIBLE ENEMY, KARL HELMERS. SCNS OF TWO PROMENT FAI, THE MEN FOOLED AROUND THEIR TEENS AND TO THEIR TWENTI. DUNN SCRIB THEIR ENUNTERS: “[KARL’S] LOVEMAKG OFTEN LACKED TENRNS AND NSIRATN;” AND THE SEXUAL TENSN FOLLOWED THEM TO ADULTHOOD, AS WHEN KARL MA DUNN STAY BED WH HIM WHILE HE HAD SEX WH A WOMAN (“THEY ENJOYED HAVG ME THERE, JT TO TEASE ME. OR AT LEAST KARL DID.”)ALTHOUGH DUNN IS ALL- ON THIS LTY AFFAIR, KARL IS LS NFINT: HE HAS A BREAKDOWN SOON AFTER THAT “THREOME” AND RETURNS OM AN ASYLUM A BROKEN MAN. (“HE WAS AS BETIFUL AS EVER—PERHAPS EVEN MORE SO … AND HE ULD STILL BE IENDLY … BUT REAL MUNITN WAS MISSG.”). THE MEN KEEP STRAIGHT AND NARROW OM THEN ON, DUNN LARGE PART BEE OF HIS OVERBEARG GRANDFATHER’S MORALISTIC PEP TALK: IF DUNN SUCCEEDS BS, “NO ONE WILL CRICIZE ANY OF YOUR OTHER ACTIVI, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE.” DUNN DON’T BELIEVE “POLARIZED” SEXUALY, HE’S FORCED TO THE CLOSET JT THE SAME. CLARKE WAS OBVLY STILL UNSURE WHETHER SOCIETY WOULD EVER EVOLVE TO THE FUTURE FOR WHICH HE LONGED, AND KARL’S BREAKDOWN IS THE THOR’S WAY OF ILLTRATG HOW TOP-DOWN SEXUAL LIMATNS TAKE THEIR TOLL.CLARKE’S VIEW OF SEXUAL ACCEPTANCE WAS SOMEWHAT ROSIER E 1982, THE YEAR HE PUBLISHED 2010, THE SEQUEL TO 2001 THAT FEATUR SOVIET LOVERS WALTER CURNOW, A BISEXUAL BEAR, AND A YOUNG, VOTED TWK, MAXIM BRAJLOVSKY. INIALLY THIS RELATNSHIP IS ONLY ALLUD TO, BUT ’S MA PERFECTLY CLEAR WHEN AMERIN ASTRONT HEYWOOD FLOYD RAIS HIS BY-BODY NCERNS: “THERE’S A PERSONAL MATTER I’D LIKE TO RAISE,” FLOYD SAYS. “TO BE BLUNT, YOUR BEHAVR WH MAX.” UNPERTURBED, CURNOW REPLI, “ A SOFT YET IMPLABLE VOICE: ‘I WAS UNR THE DISTCT IMPRSN THAT HE WAS MORE THAN EIGHTEEN.’” THERE’S NO ROOM FOR BATE HERE. THE AMERIN SHOULD TAKE HIS MORALISM AND SHOVE . AND HE DO—AND DO HIM SOME GOOD: LATER, HEYWOOD WONRS WHY HE QUTNED WALTER THE FIRST PLACE: “FLOYD SOMETIM EFULLY SPECTED [THAT] WAS NO MORE THAN THE SECRET ENVY THAT NORMAL HOMO OR HETEROSEXUALS FEEL, IF PLETELY HONT WH THEMSELV, TOWARD CHEERFULLY WELL-ADJTED POLYMORPHS.” BUT FLOYD EVENTUALLY EVOLV PAST HIS OWN ISSU: IN 2061, THE 1987 THREEQUEL WHICH HE LIV NEXT TO GEE AND JERRY, THE TWO OLD QUEENS ARE SCRIBED AS THE ASTRONT’S “OLST AND CLOST IENDS.” AND, AS 2010, FLOYD ADMIR THIS UNPLITED MALE-ON-MALE LOVE: “[FLOYD] OFTEN ENVIED THE LONG-TERM STABILY OF THEIR RELATNSHIP, APPARENTLY QUE UNAFFECTED BY THE ‘NEPHEWS’ OM EARTH OR MOON WHO VISED THEM OM TIME TO TIME.”CLARKE IS CLEARLY MENTG ON MANY GAY UPL’ LACK OF SEXUAL POSSSIVENS. (SOME REARS EVEN BELIEVE 2001 SUPER-PUTER HAL WENT PSYCHO BEE WAS JEALO OF SPACEMAN-TURNED-STARMAN DAVE BOWMAN AND FELLOW ASTRONT FRANK POOLE’S BURGEONG LOVE, A THEORY SOMEWHAT BOLSTERED BY THE FACT THAT HAL AND BOWMAN LATER FE TO ONE BEG, AS WELL AS BY POOLE’S MEMORY OF HIMSELF AND BOWMAN TALKG ABOUT THEIR LACK OF SEX DRIVE SPACE, A SOMEWHAT ODD THG FOR TWO “STRAIGHT” MEN TO BE MISSG WHILE SPACE TOGETHER, JT THE TWO OF THEM.)ELSEWHERE, GEE LATER SAYS THAT A FEMALE WRER’S WORK IS “TOO FEMIST.” IT’S UNCLEAR IF CLARKE IS PERPETUATG THE MYTH THAT GAY MEN ARE ANTI-FEMIST, OR POKG FUN AT . BUT HE IS FELY CHALLENGG SOCIAL NORMS ABOUT GAY MEN WHEN GEE OFFERS A LANY OF GAY WARRRS HISTORY: “WE DID KNOW ABOUT HADRIAN AND ALEXANR … RICHARD THE LN HEART AND SALAD … JULI CAAR—THOUGH HE WAS EVERYTHG … AND FRERICK THE GREAT.” CLARKE REVISED THIS TOPIC AGA A SATIRIL LATE ’90S SAY, “THE GAY WARLORDS,” WHICH HE SCRIB CAAR’S “AMBISEXTERONS.”THE THOR’S PERSONAL FEELGS ON—OR HOP FOR—HUMAN SEXUALY ARE PERHAPS MOST CLEAR HIS 1986 NOVEL THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH. HIS SEXIT WORK—ALMOST EVERY CHARACTER IS BED-HOPPG WH ANOTHER, OR HOPG TO—SONGS LAYS THIS SOCIETY’S FEELG OUT THE OPEN WH THIS EXCHANGE BETWEEN TWO MEN AT A HOSPAL: LITENANT HORTON EXPLAS TO HIS ROOMMATE, LOREN LORENSON, THAT HE WAS JURED DURG A SURFG EXPEDN WH A GROUP OF “HAIRY HUNKS” KNOWN FOR THEIR HOMO-SOCIAL WAYS. LOREN IS SURPRISED BY THE REVELATN: “I’D HAVE SWORN YOU WERE NETY PERCENT HETERO.” HORTON REPLI, “NETY-TWO, ACRDG TO MY PROFILE, BUT I LIKE TO CHECK MY LIBRATN OM TIME TO TIME.” THIS PROMPTS LOREN TO RELL THAT “HE HAD HEARD THAT HUNDRED PERCENTERS WERE SO RARE THAT THEY WERE CLASSED AS PATHOLOGIL.” CLARKE’S OLD TERT KSEY’S WORK REMAED UNABATED. HIS ONLY HOPE WAS THE RT OF HUMANY WOULD SEE THGS AS HE DID.CLARKE DIED 2008, THE SAME YEAR NSERVATIV ED PROPOSN 8 TO BEAT BACK MARRIAGE EQUALY CALIFORNIA. HE NEVER LIVED TO SEE THE SUPREME COURT LE FAVOR OF LOVE. NOR DID HE SEE THE SAME WAVE OF PROGRS SWEEP ENGLAND, ATRALIA, BRAZIL, FRANCE, AND SO MANY OTHER LANDS. TODAY, ALMOST A AFTER CLARKE’S ATH, LNS OF PEOPLE LIVE A WORLD WHICH MARRIAGE EQUALY IS A REALY, WHICH TRANSGENR PEOPLE ARE CREASGLY ACCEPTED AND WHICH HETERONORMATIVE NOTNS OF LOVE AND SEXUALY ARE STEADILY ERODG, EVEN THOUGH THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD OF ACCEPTANCE REMAS TENUO, AT BT.THE WORLD OF TODAY IS STILL A FAR CRY OM THE MULTIPLE FUTUR CLARKE IMAGED. BUT IF HE WERE HERE TODAY, HE WOULD NO DOUBT TELL TO KEEP UP THE FIGHT, BEE, A FEW UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS ASI, LIKE FANTASTIL SPACE ELEVATORS, CLARKE BELIEVED THE FUTUR HIS WORKS SCRIBED WERE ATTAABLE. HE WAS, HE SAID 1970, A FUNDAMENTAL OPTIMIST: “I BELIEVE THAT THE FUTURE IS NOT PRETERMED, THAT TO SOME EXTENT WE N TERME OUR OWN STY. BY THKG ABOUT THE FUTURE AND S POSSIBILY, WE DO HAVE A CHANCE OF AVERTG THE MORE DISASTRO ONE.” ANDREW BELONSKY
• THE FASCATG THEORY THAT HAL ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' IS GAY

HOW SCI-FI GIANT ARTHUR C. CLARKE PREDICTED AN LGBT-FRIENDLY WORLDSEXUAL SEERTHE THOR OF '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' WAS A SAVVY FUTURIST WHO PREDICTED EVERYTHG OM ONLE SHOPPG TO CELLPHONE ADDICTN, BUT HE WAS AT HIS MOST PRCIENT ABOUT SEXUALY.ANDREW BELONSKYUPDATED JAN. 03, 2018 1:38PM EST / PUBLISHED DEC. 09, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY SARAH ROGERS/THE DAILY BEASTSIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE IS REMEMBERED FOR HIS REMARKABLE FORIGHT: THE SCI-FI THOR’S WORKS ACCURATELY PREDICTED ONLE SHOPPG, BMETRIC TECHNOLOGY, SMART PHONE ADDICTN, AND EVEN TARGETED ADVERTISG. A 1945 WIRELS WORLD ARTICLE BY CLARKE, WHO TRAED RADAR TECHNOLOGY DURG WORLD WAR II, HELPED MAKE MUNITNS SATELL A REALY. AND PERHAPS MOST FAMOLY, CLARKE, WHOSE CENTENARY OCCURS THIS MONTH, CREATED A WHOLE NEW FEARSOME TROPE WH HAL, THE MURRO ARTIFICIAL TELLIGENCE AT THE HEART OF THE LATE THOR’S MOST FAMO WORK, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.THE ACPLISHMENTS ARE ALL WELL-KNOWN AND WELL-CELEBRATED AMONG CLARKE AFICNADOS AND CRICS. LS DISCSED ARE THE WAYS CLARKE’S WORKS CHALLENGED HETERONORMATIVE SEXUAL MOR, PARTICULARLY THOSE SURROUNDG MEN WHO WENT FOR MEN. BUT REVIEWG SOME OF CLARKE’S MOST NOTABLE WORKS, ONE SE THE THOR SURVEYG THE CHANGG SEXUAL LANDSPE OF A POST-STONEWALL SOCIETY. TAKEN TOGETHER, THEY PROVI A PANORAMIC VIEW OF A GAY MAN QUTNG THE WORLD WHICH HE LIVED.AND, Y, CLARKE WAS A GAY MAN, OR, AT THE VERY LEAST, QUEER. THOUGH HE MARRIED A WOMAN 1953, THEY SEPARATED SIX MONTHS LATER, AND ’S WELL TABLISHED THAT CLARKE’S ROMANTIC EXISTENCE WAS SPENT MOSTLY WH OTHER MEN. OBSSED WH THE KSEY SLE WHEN FIRST ME OUT, CLARKE NEVER BELIEVED PEOPLE HAD STRICT STRAIGHT OR GAY TENNCI, A BELIEF MA CLEAR A NUMBER OF HIS BOOKS. AUTHOR MICHAEL MOORCK WROTE A 2008 GUARDIAN SAY THAT “EVERYONE KNEW [CLARKE] WAS GAY,” EVEN THE ’50S, WELL AFTER CLARKE MOVED TO SRI LANKA, WHERE HE FOUND THE LACK OF SEXUAL POLICG REHG AFTER LIVG UPTIGHT ENGLAND. CLARKE ALSO SPENT 1964-1965 AT NEW YORK’S FAMOLY LIBERTE CHELSEA HOTEL, ROMPG AROUND TOWN WH ALLEN GSBERG AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, TWO OF THE MOST MALE-LOVG MEN OF THE ERA. AND SIRS ALSO KNOW THAT CLARKE AND A MAN NAMED LLIE EKANAYAKE WERE LOVE; CLARKE SCRIBED LLIE AS “THE ONLY PERFECT IEND OF A LIFETIME,” AND THE THOR WAS BURIED ALONGSI HIM WHEN HE DIED 2008.BUT CLARKE WOULD NEVER ADM HIS LOVE OF MEN. NOT ON THE RERD, AT LEAST. ASKED BY A REPORTER ABOUT HIS BEDROOM ACTIVI, CLARKE MPILY LGHED, “WHY, WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?” HE ONLY ADMTED HIS YEN FOR MEN A FEW TIM: SHEEPISHLY HIS SEMI-TOBGRAPHIL 1963 NOVEL GLI PATH, WHICH THE SEXUALLY EXPERIENCED PROTAGONIST MAK A PASSG REFERENCE TO “A HIGHLY REFED ENUNTER WH THE CLERGYMAN WHO HAD (VERY BRIEFLY) N THE LOL SUT TROOP;” AND OFF-HANDLY 1986, WHEN PLAYBOY JOURNALIST KEN KELLEY ASKED CLARKE WHETHER HE’D HAD BISEXUAL EXPERIENC. CLARKE REPLIED WH A ROUNDG Y: “OF URSE. WHO HASN’T? GOOD GOD! IF ANYONE HAD EVER TOLD ME THAT HE HADN’T, I’D HAVE TOLD HIM HE WAS LYG. BUT THEN, OF URSE, PEOPLE TEND TO ‘FET’ THEIR ENUNTERS.” HE WENT ON, “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO TAIL ABOUT MY OWN LIFE, BUT I JT WANT TO BE NOTED THAT I HAVE A RATHER RELAXED, SYMPATHETIC ATTU ABOUT .” SUCH RETICENCE IS ONLY NATURAL FOR A MAN BORN 1917 AND WHO ME OF AGE DURG THE HEIGHT OF THE PK SRE, WHEN WTERN ERNMENTS BRAND GAY PEOPLE AS CRIMAL SURG, AS SEXUAL CRIMALS. AND ’S EQUALLY LOGIL THAT CLARKE WOULD E FICTN TO EXPLORE SOCIETI THAT HAD EVOLVED PAST SUCH SEXUAL JUDGMENT.    “CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG” THAT’S THE PREDOMANT THEME CLARKE’S WORKS: MAN’S POTENTIAL FOR POSIVE PROGRS, OUR ABILY TO TRANSCEND LIMATNS SELF-IMPOSED AND SCIENTIFIC. CLARKE REFERS TO THIS AS MAN’S PLASTICY: “ONE OF THE TERTG THGS ABOUT THE HUMAN RACE IS S CREDIBLE PLASTICY. THE HUMAN RACE N ADAPT TO ALMOST ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.” A WRER OF “HARD SCIENCE FICTN,” CLARKE DON’T CREATE NEW WORLDS. HE BELIEVED TE SCIENCE FICTN WAS “SOMETHG WHICH WE WOULD LIKE TO HAPPEN AND PROBABLY WILL.” CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG, AND HE THEREFORE ED HIS WORKS TO PREDICT HOW HUMANKD ULD EVOLVE. YET WHILE CLARKE VIVIDLY SE MANKD MOVG PAST S PENNCE ON OIL, OVERG RELIG STRIFE, AND EVEN TACKLG TERPLAARY SPACE TRAVEL, HE’S LS CERTA ABOUT HOW WE’LL NQUER OUR SEXUAL HANG-UPS.THIS TERT PROGRSIVE SEXUAL MOR IS CLEAR HIS FIRST MERCIAL SUCCS, 1954’S CHILDHOOD’S END. MOST OF THE PLOT IS PROPELLED BY AN ALIEN RACE’S ARRIVAL ON EARTH, BUT CLARKE GO OUT OF HIS WAY TO MENTN THAT SEXUAL ETIQUETTE HAD BEEN “ALTERED RADILLY” BY THE VENTN OF FAST AND CHEAP DNA PATERNY TTS AND BY THE ARRIVAL OF A “PLETELY RELIABLE ORAL NTRACEPTIVE.” COMBED, THE VENTNS “SWEPT AWAY THE LAST REMNANTS OF THE PURAN ABERRATN.” AGA, THIS WAS 1954: JT AS THE PILL WAS FIRST BEG EXPLORED AND YEARS AHEAD OF ACTUAL DNA TTG. PREMONORY AS ALWAYS, CLARKE SAW THE FIRST HTS OF SEXUAL REVOLUTN G TO FOC. AND HE LIKED WHAT HE SAW. AND THOUGH CHILDHOOD’S END MAK NO REFERENCE TO SAME-SEX SEX, THE SUBJECT FELY ARIS APLENTY CLARKE’S FUTURE NOVELS, CLUDG 1972’S RENZVO WH RAMA.CLARKE’S FIRST NOVEL AFTER 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY AND S FILM ADAPTATN LNCHED HIS REER, RAMA WAS ALSO HIS FIRST POST-STONEWALL NOVEL, AND THE CHANGG CLIMATE IS EVINT: IN RAMA’S FUTURE, 2130, POLYAMORY AND SAME-SEX LOVE ARE STANDARD, TOTALLY ACCEPTED FARE: TWO ASTRONTS, KARL MERCER AND HIS “SEPARABLE PANN” JOE CALVERT, NOT ONLY SHARE A WIFE, BUT THEIR OWN SEXUAL RELATNSHIP, AS WELL: “NO ONE N PREDICT WHERE LIGHTNG WILL STRIKE, AND YEARS AGO MERCER AND CALVERT HAD TABLISHED AN APPARENTLY STABLE LIAISON. THAT WAS MON ENOUGH.” CLARKE SEEMS MORE SANGUE ABOUT SOCIAL CHANGE AFOOT, MORE NFINT PREDICTG A JUDGMENT EE FUTURE. THAT OPTIMISM, HOWEVER, MT HAVE BEEN SHORT-LIVED, BEE THERE’S FAR LS NONCHALANCE ABOUT SAME-SEX LOVE CLARKE’S NEXT NOVEL, IMPERIAL EARTH.PUBLISHED 1976, JT AFTER MARGARET THATCHER TOOK THE HELM OF BRA’S CONSERVATIVE PARTY, THIS NOVEL POSS A FUTURE THAT IS ED MORE PROGRSIVE THAN OUR PRENT—20TH-CENTURY MONOGAMY IS LIKENED TO “SEXUAL POSSSIVENS”—BUT OLD-SCHOOL SHAMG OVER SAME-SEX LOVE REMAS FULL EFFECT, AS SEEN THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALLY-CLED PROTAGONIST DUNN MACKENZIE AND HIS MORE QUTNG BUT FLEXIBLE ENEMY, KARL HELMERS. SCNS OF TWO PROMENT FAI, THE MEN FOOLED AROUND THEIR TEENS AND TO THEIR TWENTI. DUNN SCRIB THEIR ENUNTERS: “[KARL’S] LOVEMAKG OFTEN LACKED TENRNS AND NSIRATN;” AND THE SEXUAL TENSN FOLLOWED THEM TO ADULTHOOD, AS WHEN KARL MA DUNN STAY BED WH HIM WHILE HE HAD SEX WH A WOMAN (“THEY ENJOYED HAVG ME THERE, JT TO TEASE ME. OR AT LEAST KARL DID.”)ALTHOUGH DUNN IS ALL- ON THIS LTY AFFAIR, KARL IS LS NFINT: HE HAS A BREAKDOWN SOON AFTER THAT “THREOME” AND RETURNS OM AN ASYLUM A BROKEN MAN. (“HE WAS AS BETIFUL AS EVER—PERHAPS EVEN MORE SO … AND HE ULD STILL BE IENDLY … BUT REAL MUNITN WAS MISSG.”). THE MEN KEEP STRAIGHT AND NARROW OM THEN ON, DUNN LARGE PART BEE OF HIS OVERBEARG GRANDFATHER’S MORALISTIC PEP TALK: IF DUNN SUCCEEDS BS, “NO ONE WILL CRICIZE ANY OF YOUR OTHER ACTIVI, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE.” DUNN DON’T BELIEVE “POLARIZED” SEXUALY, HE’S FORCED TO THE CLOSET JT THE SAME. CLARKE WAS OBVLY STILL UNSURE WHETHER SOCIETY WOULD EVER EVOLVE TO THE FUTURE FOR WHICH HE LONGED, AND KARL’S BREAKDOWN IS THE THOR’S WAY OF ILLTRATG HOW TOP-DOWN SEXUAL LIMATNS TAKE THEIR TOLL.CLARKE’S VIEW OF SEXUAL ACCEPTANCE WAS SOMEWHAT ROSIER E 1982, THE YEAR HE PUBLISHED 2010, THE SEQUEL TO 2001 THAT FEATUR SOVIET LOVERS WALTER CURNOW, A BISEXUAL BEAR, AND A YOUNG, VOTED TWK, MAXIM BRAJLOVSKY. INIALLY THIS RELATNSHIP IS ONLY ALLUD TO, BUT ’S MA PERFECTLY CLEAR WHEN AMERIN ASTRONT HEYWOOD FLOYD RAIS HIS BY-BODY NCERNS: “THERE’S A PERSONAL MATTER I’D LIKE TO RAISE,” FLOYD SAYS. “TO BE BLUNT, YOUR BEHAVR WH MAX.” UNPERTURBED, CURNOW REPLI, “ A SOFT YET IMPLABLE VOICE: ‘I WAS UNR THE DISTCT IMPRSN THAT HE WAS MORE THAN EIGHTEEN.’” THERE’S NO ROOM FOR BATE HERE. THE AMERIN SHOULD TAKE HIS MORALISM AND SHOVE . AND HE DO—AND DO HIM SOME GOOD: LATER, HEYWOOD WONRS WHY HE QUTNED WALTER THE FIRST PLACE: “FLOYD SOMETIM EFULLY SPECTED [THAT] WAS NO MORE THAN THE SECRET ENVY THAT NORMAL HOMO OR HETEROSEXUALS FEEL, IF PLETELY HONT WH THEMSELV, TOWARD CHEERFULLY WELL-ADJTED POLYMORPHS.” BUT FLOYD EVENTUALLY EVOLV PAST HIS OWN ISSU: IN 2061, THE 1987 THREEQUEL WHICH HE LIV NEXT TO GEE AND JERRY, THE TWO OLD QUEENS ARE SCRIBED AS THE ASTRONT’S “OLST AND CLOST IENDS.” AND, AS 2010, FLOYD ADMIR THIS UNPLITED MALE-ON-MALE LOVE: “[FLOYD] OFTEN ENVIED THE LONG-TERM STABILY OF THEIR RELATNSHIP, APPARENTLY QUE UNAFFECTED BY THE ‘NEPHEWS’ OM EARTH OR MOON WHO VISED THEM OM TIME TO TIME.”CLARKE IS CLEARLY MENTG ON MANY GAY UPL’ LACK OF SEXUAL POSSSIVENS. (SOME REARS EVEN BELIEVE 2001 SUPER-PUTER HAL WENT PSYCHO BEE WAS JEALO OF SPACEMAN-TURNED-STARMAN DAVE BOWMAN AND FELLOW ASTRONT FRANK POOLE’S BURGEONG LOVE, A THEORY SOMEWHAT BOLSTERED BY THE FACT THAT HAL AND BOWMAN LATER FE TO ONE BEG, AS WELL AS BY POOLE’S MEMORY OF HIMSELF AND BOWMAN TALKG ABOUT THEIR LACK OF SEX DRIVE SPACE, A SOMEWHAT ODD THG FOR TWO “STRAIGHT” MEN TO BE MISSG WHILE SPACE TOGETHER, JT THE TWO OF THEM.)ELSEWHERE, GEE LATER SAYS THAT A FEMALE WRER’S WORK IS “TOO FEMIST.” IT’S UNCLEAR IF CLARKE IS PERPETUATG THE MYTH THAT GAY MEN ARE ANTI-FEMIST, OR POKG FUN AT . BUT HE IS FELY CHALLENGG SOCIAL NORMS ABOUT GAY MEN WHEN GEE OFFERS A LANY OF GAY WARRRS HISTORY: “WE DID KNOW ABOUT HADRIAN AND ALEXANR … RICHARD THE LN HEART AND SALAD … JULI CAAR—THOUGH HE WAS EVERYTHG … AND FRERICK THE GREAT.” CLARKE REVISED THIS TOPIC AGA A SATIRIL LATE ’90S SAY, “THE GAY WARLORDS,” WHICH HE SCRIB CAAR’S “AMBISEXTERONS.”THE THOR’S PERSONAL FEELGS ON—OR HOP FOR—HUMAN SEXUALY ARE PERHAPS MOST CLEAR HIS 1986 NOVEL THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH. HIS SEXIT WORK—ALMOST EVERY CHARACTER IS BED-HOPPG WH ANOTHER, OR HOPG TO—SONGS LAYS THIS SOCIETY’S FEELG OUT THE OPEN WH THIS EXCHANGE BETWEEN TWO MEN AT A HOSPAL: LITENANT HORTON EXPLAS TO HIS ROOMMATE, LOREN LORENSON, THAT HE WAS JURED DURG A SURFG EXPEDN WH A GROUP OF “HAIRY HUNKS” KNOWN FOR THEIR HOMO-SOCIAL WAYS. LOREN IS SURPRISED BY THE REVELATN: “I’D HAVE SWORN YOU WERE NETY PERCENT HETERO.” HORTON REPLI, “NETY-TWO, ACRDG TO MY PROFILE, BUT I LIKE TO CHECK MY LIBRATN OM TIME TO TIME.” THIS PROMPTS LOREN TO RELL THAT “HE HAD HEARD THAT HUNDRED PERCENTERS WERE SO RARE THAT THEY WERE CLASSED AS PATHOLOGIL.” CLARKE’S OLD TERT KSEY’S WORK REMAED UNABATED. HIS ONLY HOPE WAS THE RT OF HUMANY WOULD SEE THGS AS HE DID.CLARKE DIED 2008, THE SAME YEAR NSERVATIV ED PROPOSN 8 TO BEAT BACK MARRIAGE EQUALY CALIFORNIA. HE NEVER LIVED TO SEE THE SUPREME COURT LE FAVOR OF LOVE. NOR DID HE SEE THE SAME WAVE OF PROGRS SWEEP ENGLAND, ATRALIA, BRAZIL, FRANCE, AND SO MANY OTHER LANDS. TODAY, ALMOST A AFTER CLARKE’S ATH, LNS OF PEOPLE LIVE A WORLD WHICH MARRIAGE EQUALY IS A REALY, WHICH TRANSGENR PEOPLE ARE CREASGLY ACCEPTED AND WHICH HETERONORMATIVE NOTNS OF LOVE AND SEXUALY ARE STEADILY ERODG, EVEN THOUGH THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD OF ACCEPTANCE REMAS TENUO, AT BT.THE WORLD OF TODAY IS STILL A FAR CRY OM THE MULTIPLE FUTUR CLARKE IMAGED. BUT IF HE WERE HERE TODAY, HE WOULD NO DOUBT TELL TO KEEP UP THE FIGHT, BEE, A FEW UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS ASI, LIKE FANTASTIL SPACE ELEVATORS, CLARKE BELIEVED THE FUTUR HIS WORKS SCRIBED WERE ATTAABLE. HE WAS, HE SAID 1970, A FUNDAMENTAL OPTIMIST: “I BELIEVE THAT THE FUTURE IS NOT PRETERMED, THAT TO SOME EXTENT WE N TERME OUR OWN STY. BY THKG ABOUT THE FUTURE AND S POSSIBILY, WE DO HAVE A CHANCE OF AVERTG THE MORE DISASTRO ONE.” ANDREW BELONSKY

Clarke, worried that Kubrick might reject further llaboratn wh him bee he was gay, one day mtered the nerve to nont the issue head on. Choosg his moment, he abptly announced durg one of their meetgs, “Stan, I want you to know that I’m a very well-adjted homosexual.

Taken together, they provi a panoramic view of a gay man qutng the world which he, y, Clarke was a gay man, or, at the very least, queer. Obssed wh the Ksey Sle when first me out, Clarke never believed people had strict straight or gay tennci, a belief ma clear a number of his books.

Author Michael Moorck wrote a 2008 Guardian say that “everyone knew [Clarke] was gay, ” even the ’50s, well after Clarke moved to Sri Lanka, where he found the lack of sexual policg rehg after livg uptight England. ” Such reticence is only natural for a man born 1917 and who me of age durg the height of the Pk Sre, when wtern ernments brand gay people as crimal surg, as sexual crimals. Published 1976, jt after Margaret Thatcher took the helm of Bra’s Conservative Party, this novel poss a future that is ed more progrsive than our prent—20th-century monogamy is likened to “sexual posssivens”—but old-school shamg over same-sex love remas full effect, as seen the relatnship between homosexually-cled protagonist Dunn Mackenzie and his more qutng but flexible enemy, Karl Helmers.

THE FASCATG THEORY THAT HAL ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' IS GAY

And he do—and do him some good: Later, Heywood wonrs why he qutned Walter the first place: “Floyd sometim efully spected [that] was no more than the secret envy that normal homo or heterosexuals feel, if pletely hont wh themselv, toward cheerfully well-adjted polymorphs.

”Clarke is clearly mentg on many gay upl’ lack of sexual posssivens.

” It’s unclear if Clarke is perpetuatg the myth that gay men are anti-femist, or pokg fun at . But he is fely challengg social norms about gay men when Gee offers a lany of gay warrrs history: “We did know about Hadrian and Alexanr … Richard the Ln Heart and Salad … Juli Caar—though he was everythg … and Frerick the Great. ” Clarke revised this topic aga a satiril late ’90s say, “The Gay Warlords, ” which he scrib Caar’s “ambisexterons.