This child actor's gay days at Disney st him his reer - LGBTQ Natn

Contents:

• WAS WALT WHMAN 'GAY'? NEW TEXTBOOK L SPARK LGBTQ HISTORY BATE
• FACT CHECK: IS WALT NTA GAY? GENR AND SEXUALY
• THIS CHILD ACTOR’S GAY DAYS AT DISNEY ST HIM HIS REER
• WAS WALT WHMAN 'GAY'?

WAS WALT WHMAN 'GAY'? NEW TEXTBOOK L SPARK LGBTQ HISTORY BATE

He lived om 1819 to 1892, a time when “gay” meant ltle more than “happy. A study of poet Walt Whman, seen this undated fileAs California looks to implement the untry’s first LGBTQ-clive curriculum, state tn officials and textbook publishers are grapplg wh how to refer to figur like Whman, who were believed to have been gay, bisexual or transgenr but never me out: Should we label them as such?

9, 1977 fileHMH materials intify Harvey Milk, one of the untry’s first openly gay elected official, as gay, bee Milk publicly labeled himself as such. ”Nurse Florence NightgalePA / PA Wire via APAcrdg to scholars, the term “homosexual” did not enter mon age until the early 20th century, while “gay” beme popular the 1930s and ’40s, and “lbian” emerged the 1970s. "Polly Pagenhart, Our Fay CoalnMcGraw Hill also rejected the California missn’s remendatn to list the poet and Harlem Renaissance lear Langston Hugh as gay, sayg there is no evince to support the claim.

“On some level, many of would argue that there were no gay people or lbians before the terms existed.

FACT CHECK: IS WALT NTA GAY? GENR AND SEXUALY

Walt Nta Gay: Amidst the trigue and speculatn surroundg his personal life, let’s remember that privacy should prevail, rpectg his right to disclose his sexual orientatn when and if he choos. But for the award-wng gay poet Doty, textual analysis of the great Amerin bard required a personal analysis, which necsated this kd of spirual ntact. "Labels like gay, queer, or bisexual were nonexistent Whman's era.

Wh all that’s been wrten about the Walt Disney Company’s embrace of the LGBTQ movement, om affirmg TV shows like When We Rise to movi like Bety and the Beast, om “gay days” at Walt Disney World to out sger Sir Elton John’s mic for The Ln Kg and so on, ’s astonishg that prec ltle has been wrten about Tommy Kirk, Disney’s leadg young male star of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Many a gay boy, myself clud, grew up watchg Tommy mourn his dog Old Yeller (1957), turn to a dog himself The Shaggy Dog (1959), tame the savage wilrns wh his brothers The Swiss Fay Robson (1960) and reluctantly kiss Ante Funicello The Misadventur of Merl Jon (1964). Kirk is gay–which is why he is this lumn the first place–a fact about himself hat he is que open about and willg to talk about his terview:.

THIS CHILD ACTOR’S GAY DAYS AT DISNEY ST HIM HIS REER

“I’m not ashamed of beg gay, never have been and never will be. But Kirk knew that his homosexualy would jeopardize his movie reer, clash wh his All-Amerin Boy image and anger both the homophobic Disney and Kirk’s “strict Baptist parents”. “I knew I was gay, but I had no outlet for my feelgs.

WAS WALT WHMAN 'GAY'?

It wasn’t until the early ’60s that I began to hear of plac where gays ngregated.

Though his film-makg days are behd him, Kirk has sce appeared one rnn show produced by the now-gay-iendly Disney Corporatn.