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When Freud Went to the Movies [David] Thomson – author of Sleeping with Strangers – has an inviting writing style, but many of his observations will seem almost quaint to the LGBT reader who loves movies, who has long known that much of what was intended to be queer on screen was censored and thus has to be deciphered ... Did you know that screenwriter Gore Vidal and star Charlton Heston had a feisty debate about whether or not there was a gay subtext to the chariot race in Ben Hur?
The Riots: Before, During, and After The plight of transgender and non-binary people is also well documented in these pages. Christine Jorgensen recounts her sex-change operation and the media brouhaha that followed. Similarly, Virginia Prince, an early transgender activist, describes her journey toward self-acceptance. Mario Martino, who started the first counseling service for trans men in New York, recounts his ordeal with a series of “insensitive, cruel, and crude” lawyers when he sought to have his birth certificate reflect his gender identity.
The Greek Inspiration for Modern Dance THERE IS much truth to the adage “everything old is new again,” as demonstrated by the exquisite exhibit Hymn To Apollo: The Ancient World and the Ballets Russes at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. This show explores how archaic and classical arts inspired the innovative and often radical creations of the Ballets Russes from the time of its founding by impresario Sergei Diaghilev in 1909.
Cyrano’s Sodomitical Circle THIS YEAR marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of Cyrano de Bergerac, but not the one you have in mind. Edmond Rostand’s hit play of 1897 invented an ultra-Romantic Cyrano, a magniloquent swashbuckler with a promontory of a nose. Hopelessly in love with his cousin Roxane, he sacrifices himself so she may wed the man she loves, ghost-writing his rival’s amorous declarations. This Cyrano—master duelist, improvisatory poet, independent spirit—has entered the popular imagination and spawned scores of imitations.
‘The sapphic is far from a site of silence.’ The G&LR talks with the author of The Sexuality of History, Susan S. Lanser, professor emerita of English, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Comparative Literature at Brandeis University, and a specialist in 18th-century European literature, with a focus on women writers and issues related to gender and sexuality.
The Paris Cruising Scene in 1750 IF YOU HAVE VISITED Paris in the last five years, you may have seen a plaque embedded in the pavement in the pedestrianized blocks of rue Montorgueil that commemorates Bruno Lenoir and Jean Diot, the last men executed for sodomy (not homosexuality, as the inscription indicates) in France, on 6 July 1750. This plaque has undoubtedly provoked not only horror and sorrow but also questions in the minds of natives and tourists alike.

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July 7, 2019

Secret Penises at the Met

PENISES IN ART are a bigger theme than you might think. After all, what is the number one question people ask in the Greek and Roman collection of any…More

June 26, 2019

Rat Rage

The biggest LGBT story of this cycle had to be the marriage of Mr. Ratburn to another “man” on the animated PBS show Arthur. Launched in 1996, Arthur is…More

June 12, 2019

Transcending Generations: AIDS and the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall

Within a period of a week, two seemingly unrelated articles were published that speak directly to the ideas I’m about to present. The first, in HIV-Plus magazine, was a dialogue between…More

May 20, 2019

Never Can Say Goodbye

We hinted in last issue’s BTW that this would be our last waltz with former U.S. Congressman Aaron Schock (R–Illinois). So we lied! Aaron is back in the…More

May 14, 2019

LGBTQ+ Pride Author Talk in Boston

Author of, most recently, the novel The Off Season & contributor to In Search of Stonewall, Amy Hoffman; author of, most recently The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ…More

May 13, 2019

Celebrate Pride in NYC w/The G&LR

Celebrate a quarter century of the pioneering magazine of LGBTQ history, culture, & politics with this event to honor the release of the commemorative book, In Search of Stonewall. Authors…More

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Essays

Cyrano’s Sodomitical Circle

THIS YEAR marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of Cyrano de Bergerac, but not the one you have in mind. Edmond Rostand’s hit play of 1897 invented an ultra-Romantic Cyrano, a magniloquent swashbuckler with a promontory of a nose. Hopelessly in love with his cousin Roxane, he sacrifices himself so she may wed the man she loves, ghost-writing his rival’s amorous declarations. This Cyrano—master duelist, improvisatory poet, independent spirit—has entered the popular imagination and spawned scores of imitations.

Features

‘The sapphic is far from a site of silence.’

The G&LR talks with the author of The Sexuality of History, Susan S. Lanser, professor emerita of English, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Comparative Literature at Brandeis University, and a specialist in 18th-century European literature, with a focus on women writers and issues related to gender and sexuality.

Essays

‘Warm Brothers’ in 18th-century Berlin

Briefe über den Galantieren von Berlin, a travelogue by an anonymous Austrian officer published in Vienna in 1782, might make it into such an anthology, albeit in a different section. For this eyewitness account of sexual mores observed during a sojourn of fifteen months in Berlin is far from lyrical in its praise.

Essays

Rev. Bentley’s Man of Curious Habits

Rev. William Bentley’s diaries constitute a record of life in Salem between 1784 and 1814. The fact that Gibaut came to his attention, first as protégé and later as a close friend and companion—plus his artfully revealing references to Gibaut’s unusual “habits”—is thus of some note.
Blog
1. July 7, 2019 Secret Penises at the Met
2. June 26, 2019 Rat Rage
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