Victor Navasky, the New York Tim and a key moment gay history | Books | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE LBIAN WRER AND HER FLAMBOYANT GAY HBAND
• GAY LERATURE IS OUT OF THE CLOSET. SO WHY IS DECEPTN A BIG THEME?
• MICHAEL DENNENY, 80, DI; EDOR CREATED OUTLETS FOR GAY LERATURE
• VICTOR NAVASKY, THE NEW YORK TIM AND A KEY MOMENT GAY HISTORY
• ROXANE GAY
• HOW THE TIM GAVE ‘GAY’ ITS OWN VOICE (AGA)

THE LBIAN WRER AND HER FLAMBOYANT GAY HBAND

Once, the middle of wter Washgton Square Park, I watched him unbutton his at and drape across the shoulrs of a dnk who had jt lled him a homophobic slur.

I was an ex-Christian and newly out lbian fleeg the vlent homophobia of the late 1990s Jamai, still wearg the fury of beg attacked by a dozen boys and sexually asslted Kgston. We often lled each other to remisce about Peter, to reunt the sorcery of him, to bask the shared memory of his, when I beme antic wh the sire to start a fay — chasg gay men at hoe parti, beggg sperm om strangers on plan — I broke down and wept for what felt like the too-early ath of my hband.

GAY LERATURE IS OUT OF THE CLOSET. SO WHY IS DECEPTN A BIG THEME?

I wanted to be the badass lbian wrer, wh the flamboyant gay hband, raisg four children a ramblg old hoe that ed to be a church, two blocks om the beach Far one nversatn wh CJ, he terpted to ask if there was a way he uld stand for Peter, by givg me his sperm. His brothers, their wiv, Peter’s grandmother, his father, me, my non-monogamo partner and a betiful hort of ordary folks, misfs, artists, preachers, wrers, activists, gay, straight, nonbary. Tatjana PrenzelApril 26, 2020Near the begng of Jam Baldw’s 1956 novel “Gvanni’s Room, ” the narrator, David, rells the moment at which he beme nsc of his homosexualy.

MICHAEL DENNENY, 80, DI; EDOR CREATED OUTLETS FOR GAY LERATURE

“Li are the natural food of boyhood, and he had eaten greedily, ” Forster wr of Mrice, who pledg no longer to feign an attractn to women, regnizg honty as his only chance for much of the 19th and 20th centuri, om Dorian Gray to Tom Ripley, the lie of the closet was the hge upon which queer lerature would pivot, reflectg what were then the often judicial or mortal sts of beg openly gay. Inscery, “merely a method by which we n multiply our personali, ” as Dorian Gray put , was the mo of ngrs gay men had been tght to adopt for the sake of self-prervatn; manifted self as a kd of characterologil tradn, a means by which the psychologil theater of the closet uld be dramatized, om Dorian Gray’s rhetoril fabritns to Tom Ripley’s serialized the most part, the closet now is not the potentially termal fate once was, but rather a layover the long journey to the self, an enclosure om which tth emerg. In much recent queer fictn are morn, mostly openly gay characters for whom self-nial and even outright ceptn have bee a way of is the guidg prciple of Peter Kispert’s new story llectn, “I Know You Know Who I Am, ” which gay men twist the tth by force of hab, often pursu of a mascule ial that feels otherwise out of reach.

And when ’s eventually rebuffed, his self-loathg be an enge for the novel’s up grâce, an act of treachery that leraliz the notn of the closet as a place perpetually at risk of “Apartment, ” Jam Gregor’s 2019 novel “Gog Dutch” volv a graduate stunt wh an aversn to honty: Richard is openly gay, but when an unassumg classmate, Anne, helps him wre his dissertatn, eventually takg over the project entirely, he enjoys the plagiaristic nvenience of her pany too much to tell her he’s attracted to men.

Consir Brandon Taylor’s but novel, “Real Life, ” about Wallace, a black, gay graduate stunt adrift among his sensive, all-whe hort of fellow doctoral ndidat.

VICTOR NAVASKY, THE NEW YORK TIM AND A KEY MOMENT GAY HISTORY

Instead, Taylor illtrat the psychic burns of racism, homophobia and abe wh extraordary nuance, craftg a portra of a plited and whholdg narrator who regards the sympathy of others as “a kd of ventriloquism” and speaks to his iends wh glib ambivalence.

In “Mentor, ” the openg story, Greenwell’s unnamed narrator — the same gay, expat English profsor Bulgaria we met his prev novel, “What Belongs to You” — has ffee wh a stunt, G., at a fe Sofia. Brg on the a certa class of extremely onle gay man, explic photos are the go-to gift for iends and David MackMorn LoveOut of the Closet and Into the GarnMy Jamain mother’s hop for life Ameri did not clu my beg gay.

ROXANE GAY

By Mark HarrisReport on Anti-Gay Slur Could Put Lol News Se Out of BsWhen a north-central Wisns news se reported that a bsman had uttered a homophobic slur, he sued, claimg famatn.

HOW THE TIM GAVE ‘GAY’ ITS OWN VOICE (AGA)

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIn a largely closeted era, he was a founr of a magaze voted to gay and lbian wrg and an imprt voted to L. Michael Denneny was the rare openly gay edor a publishg dtry which many gay and lbian edors were still ManMichael Denneny, an openly gay edor at a major New York publisher who started a pneerg imprt that was voted to L. Denneny and Chuck Ortleb started Christopher Street, a monthly magaze that would publish fictn and nonfictn by gay wrers for the next 19 years.

Denneny, the rare openly gay edor a publishg dtry which many gay and lbian edors were still before the first issue was published, several top gay men publishg, who were not out, “took me out for lunch and subtly threatened to end my reer if my name appeared the magaze, ” he told the New York newspaper Gay Cy News 2004. Denneny was fired when Maclan’s chief executive disvered that he had acquired “The Homosexuals, ” by Alan Ebert, which featured terviews wh 17 gay men.