I made this little film about the lie of sexual liberation in the 1970's. It's a fever dream of sexual fantasy and excess. I wrote it in 1978 and recorded it in Waterloo Belgium in 1979. I made the video in NYC a year later.
That was 41 years ago and I have fought the battle of living my truth every day. My book HomoAmerican The Secret Society is a testament to that battle and an unflinching look at the world through that child that I was looking for the man that I would become.
My book is published now but the fight continues daily. My own high school Facebook group banned any posts about my book and although there is not one vulgar word in it ...they lit their torches and were very effective in their rallying the hate in the room.
I recently wore a HomoAmerican t-shirt in rhinestones to an Art opening to celebrate he book and its publication and even here in NYC on Park Avenue everyone pretended not to see until I left the show. My husband Tim stayed behind to collect our coats and an old bigot of guard made a filthy comment to a black couple about my shirt ...who nervously laughed.
Tim never one to back down from a fool jumped in. "What did you say?" he confronted the guard and then turned to the black couple. "Don't think for a minute he doesn't have something to say about you two when your back is turned!" ...and they all stopped laughing.
This past weekend I wore that same shirt to a basketball game at Fordham because my gay nephew is the assistant coach on the visiting team and had to fight again for the right to wear the shirt. I did of course and although the band at Fordham is hard core lesbian, it was another act of defiance simply to be myself. Even after 65 years I'm still a figure of controversy over a t-shirt and a much lauded book.
You see, in my life I am never applauded openly for my many accomplishments, only in secret, there is still a Gentleman's Agreement ...but in my version Gregory Peck is really gay, so he can't move back to Darien with his "normal" new wife and son in the final reel.
I haven't shot my final reel yet, but I intend to remain true to myself and tell my story unflinchingly until the gods yell "Cut ...That's a wrap!"
YOU ARE READING
Gentlemen's Agreement
Non-FictionElia Kazan said of his film that he thought it a cop out to have Gregory Peck be a gentile pretending to be a Jew in his film and although I am a fan of the film I understand having lived my life as a gay man and never having seen an accurate emotio...
