The lust that dare not speak its name.
Silent no more.
At one time of course, the word homosexuality was never spoken in polite conversation, in fact up until the 1950’s the only reference it might have received was limited to novels, the theater, and maybe the court docket or the list of vice arrests published in the local newspaper. Otherwise the topic was rarely if ever discussed, and then only in whispers that wouldn’t permit the speaker to name the vice; rather the perpetrators and what they did came to be identified by more perjorative and descriptive terms, such as fruits, fairies, queers, gay, and other more vulgar appellations. Legal, medical, and religious terms included buggery, sodomy, sodomites, and so on. My point is that it was rare for the subject to be discussed openly as it is today.
Private lives.
In the last year I’ve been reading the lives of important figures in the world of design, fashion, and entertainment. People most of my readers probably have never heard of, but who were influential in my career over the years. Billy Baldwin, a New York designer, Van Day Truex, an important figure from Parsons and later a director at Tiffany’s, Bill Blass, a fashion designer, and the film and opera director, Franco Zeffirelli. Aside from their great artistic talent and achievements which propelled them to the top of their profession, all of these men were homosexuals. The only one to ever publicly reveal the issue was Franco Zeffirelli, and I expect that is because the political climate in Italy and the rest of the western world made it convenient for him to do so. I mention these men because they quietly lived their lives without making a big deal out of their sexuality. (Incidently, Zeffirelli, a Catholic, agrees with Church teaching that homosexual activity is sinful.)
Polite society.
Yes, the discretion exercised by these men was due in part to social restrictions and lack of acceptance, although many of their contemporaries perhaps “knew” about them. Nonetheless, of the three Americans, not one ever lived with a lover, although they had close male and female friends and companions. All of the men were considered bachelors, and gentlemen - socially and professionally. At the time, only the avant-garde, or the members of the artistic community would ever dare to be the least bit open about their sexual preferences, albeit never to the degree that people are today.
After Kinsey.
Anyway - this is a long intro to a few personal observations on the subject of homosexuality. People need to realize the public discussion has only been out there since the mid to late 1960’s, when popular magazines began discussing the sub-culture of homosexuality in various publications, such as Time and Life. I’m sure the Kinsey Report (1948) along with academia, and popular culture (novels, magazines, tabloids, theater, movies) played a role in paving the way for more openess. I do not presume to do a detailed study on the homosexual revolution here, but I do want to note how radically things have changed in society as regards the acceptance of homosexuality as well as the facade being constructed to hide what was once referred to as “the love that dare not speak its name.”
So few influence so many.
I hate long posts so I will conclude here for now. Going forward I want to discuss this subject that seems to dominate the conversation in our culture and the Catholic Church. A fact which should strike everyone as a rather curious phenomenon when one considers we are really only speaking about (in our nation’s case at least) less than 3% of the population of the United States - who just happen to be very vocal. (Some might say, “screamers”. Kidding - I want to keep this light.)
