$6.95 US, $7.95 Canada March-April 2024 SITES OF SAN FRANCISCO GLRk IGNACIODARNAUDE Figures of the Bay Area WILLIAMBENEMANN The City Called to Yone Naguchi CHLOE SHERMAN Capturing Women at the Millennium EMILYL.QUINT FREEMAN November 1978: The Agony & the Irony JIMVANBUSKIRK 100 Years of Togetherness
The Gay & Lesbian Review March–April 2024 • VOLUME XXXI, NUMBER 2 The Gay & Lesbian Review/WORLDWIDE®(formerlyThe Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 1994-1999) is published bimonthly (six times per year) by The Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational corporation located in Boston, Mass. Subscription rates: U.S.: $41.70 per year (6 issues). Canada and Mexico: $51.70(US). All other countries: $61.70(US). All non-U.S. copies are sent via air mail. Back issues available for $12 each. All correspondence is sent in a plain envelope marked “G&LR.” ISSN: 1077: 6591 © 2024 by Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc. All rights reserved. POEMS &DEPARTMENTS Figures of the Bay Area 12 IGNACIODARNAUDE The gay artists who stormed the Abstract Expressionist ramparts Butterflies Caught in a Web 15 WILLIAMBENEMANN San Francisco called to Yone Naguchi, a 19th-c. artist from Japan “Outcasts and artists flocked to the city.” 20 CHLOE SHERMAN Hilary Holladay queries a San Francisco photographer One Hundred Years of Togetherness 23 JIMVANBUSKIRK A chronicle of San Francisco LGBT firsts and bests, 1869–1969 Lesbians Against Incarceration 27 CAIT PARKER A late-century campaign to end to the prison system as we know it Carson McCullers’ “Imaginary Friends” 30 ANDREWHOLLERAN That was her husband’s term for the many women in her life CONTENTS FEATURES REVIEWS GUEST OPINION—How Russian Media Demonize LGBT People 5 DIANASADRETDINOVA CORRESPONDENCE 6 INMEMORIAM—Three People Who Made a Difference 7 RICHARDSCHNEIDERJR. INMEMORIAM—Amber Hollibaugh, Human Rights Activist 8 JOHND’EMILIO BTW 10 RICHARDSCHNEIDERJR. HISTORY MEMO— November 1978: The Agony and the Irony 18 EMILYL. QUINT FREEMAN POEM— “Pleasure” 22 AMEENANIMASHAUN POEM— “While I Slept” 26 JOANLARKIN POEM— “Miriam Searches Me Clean with Mediterranean Vowels” 32 ASHLEYSOPHIA CULTURAL CALENDAR 47 ART MEMO—Ciao! Magazine: The GayDolceVitaof the ’70s 49 FRANKSERAFINO KazRowe—Liberated: The Radical Art and Life of Claude Cahun 33 HANKTROUT Lois W. Banner —Ideal Beauty: The Life and Times of Greta Garbo 34 CASSANDRALANGER Assotto Saint —Sacred Spells: Collected Works 36 DALE BOYER Elyssa Maxx Goodman —Glitter and Concrete 37 VERNONROSARIO BRIEFS 38 Nick Mauss and Angela Miller —Body Language 40 ALLENELLENZWEIG Andrew Sutherland —Queer Opera 41 PHILIP GAMBONE Stephen M. Silverman —Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy 43 ROBERTALLENPAPINCHAK Richard Blanco —Homeland of My Body: New and Selected Poems 44 ALANCONTRERAS Hannah Levene —Greasepaint 45 ALLISONARMIJO Darius Stewart —Be Not Afraid of My Body: A Lyrical Memoir 45 CHARLES GREEN Lucas Hilderbrand —The Bars Are Ours 46 MATTHEWHAYS Lost Boys: Amos Badertscher’s Baltimore (art exhibition) 48 STEVENF. DANSKY Bradley Cooper, director —Maestro(film) 50 COLINCARMAN WEBSITE: www.GLReview.org • SUBSCRIPTIONS: 847-504-8893 • ADVERTISING: 617-421-0082 • SUBMISSIONS: Editor@GLReview.org Editor-in-Chief and Founder RICHARDSCHNEIDER JR. Literary Editor MARTHAE. STONE Poetry Editor DAVIDBERGMAN Associate Editors SAMDAPANAS PAULFALLON JEREMYFOX MICHAELSCHWARTZ Contributing Writers ROSEMARYBOOTH DANIELA. BURR COLINCARMAN ANNE CHARLES ALFREDCORN ALLENELLENZWEIG CHRIS FREEMAN PHILIP GAMBONE MATTHEWHAYS HILARYHOLLADAY ANDREWHOLLERAN IRENE JAVORS JOHNR. KILLACKY CASSANDRALANGER ANDREWLEAR FELICE PICANO JAMES POLCHIN JEANROBERTA VERNONROSARIO Contributing Artist CHARLES HEFLING Publisher STEPHENHEMRICK Webmaster BOSTONWEBGROUP WebEditor ALLISONARMIJO ______________________________ Board of Directors ART COHEN(CHAIR) EDUARDOFEBLES ROBERT HARDMAN STEPHENHEMRICK HILARYHOLLADAY DAVIDLAFONTAINE JIMJACOBS ANDREWLEAR RICHARDSCHNEIDER, JR. (PRESIDENT) THOMAS YOUNGREN(TREASURER) STEWARTCLIFFORD(CHAIR EMER.) WARRENGOLDFARB(SR. ADVISOR EMER.) WORLDWIDE The Gay & Lesbian Review® PO Box 180300, Boston, MA 02118 Sites of San Francisco WORLDWIDE March–April 2024 3
4 TheG&LR move in search of adventure or opportunity. That would describe one Yone Noguchi, who arrived from Japan in 1893 and, as told here by William Benemann, went on to become a significant poet in his own right and an inspiration for writer Charles Warren Stoddard, with whom he carried on a torrid long-distance affair for many years. (It was eventually consummated.) Our next stop is the art scene in the postwar era, when San Francisco was a hotbed of alternative artists and movements— alternatives, that is, to the Abstract Expressionism that ruled New York. Ignacio Darnaude presents two artists who spearheaded the Bay Area Figurative Movement, Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown, whose paintings of recognizable human figures included many male nudes. San Francisco itself is a constant presence in their work, which is full of watery backdrops. Decades later, the women of San Francisco were the target of photographer Chloe Sherman’s lens. In an interview, she tells of “the queer cultural renaissance” of the 1980s and ’90s. Finally, there’s a History Memo by Emily L. Quint Freeman titled “The Agony and the Irony.” The agony refers to the heart-wrenching assassination of Harvey Milk in late November 1978. The irony is that earlier that month the state of California had roundly defeated the infamous Briggs Amendment, which would have barred LGBT teachers from public schools. Milk had joined in the euphoria, and now this. RICHARDSCHNEIDER JR. WHAT’S SURPRISING is that we haven’t done a “San Francisco” issue before this in light of the city’s centrality to LGBT history and culture. I believe the only other “city” theme we’ve done was an issue on New York (JulyAug. 2015), which I always intended to balance with one on San Francisco. I say “balance” because there has always been a lively rivalry between NYC and the West Coast over the origins of the LGBT movement, with San Francisco making a legitimate claim to harboring a vibrant gay culture and an incipient political movement long before Stonewall. Some pieces in this issue underscore this point, presenting moments in San Francisco’s past going back to the 19th century. I think “moments” is the right word, as the best we can do here is to zero in on a few episodes in the city’s genuinely long and storied past as an LGBT mecca, art colony, sex paradise, gay rights cauldron, and possibly even the “epicenter” of LGBT life in America, as one source claimed. In any case, San Francisco was a hotbed of gay activity soon after the Gold Rush as all those ’49ers piled into the area, and its rapid rise as a seaport made it a bazaar for commerce of all kinds. In his spotlight history of the city, Jim Van Buskirk reports that there was already a Tenderloin District in 1869, and the city’s first gay bar, The Dash—featuring cross-dressing waiters performing sex acts in booths—opened in 1908. By then, San Francisco was an international port of call for people on the Springtime in the City: ‘Sites of San Francisco’ FROM THE EDITOR KENNE Charles Busch MakingGa Beyond succeed Beyond Ridiculous “As ‘one who was there,’ Ell ETH ELLIOTT York 1980 in ay Theatre with Ridiculous sNewY lliott’s dson reis d nd ity t o , es Charles Busch in 1980s New York y Theatre with MakingGa 35 00pap $ Awardw actor and com resonate today fraught decade t in the 1980s, a wi artistic landscape also illuminates the work and Theatre-inof playwright Charles hensive and entertainin multiple levels. It offers MACA median, four y sacompr ing analysi sBusch’s n-Limbo, and e economic an e of New York C wildly creative but e that continues to y.”—Julie Halston, r-time winner per original 210 page ELLIOTT KENNETH f wher IOWA e University of order toll-free800.621 wph & 12b 35.00pap 273 Iowa great re at writing begins I aPress 1.2 36. uipress.uiowa.edu per original, 210 page photos,2b&wimages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
prohibited medical support for transgender transition. In response to criticism, the bill was tightened. The final version stripped transgender people of the right to adopt or have custody of children and annulled marriages performed by transgender people. Shortly before this law was passed, federal stations began broadcasting news of a discriminatory nature, and they have continued. The tone of these stories is always the same: sneeringly incredulous, denying the possibility of the existence of such people in Russian society and in nature in general. The argument is always the same: that women and men have certain primary sexual characteristics, full stop. They find a few scientific-sounding experts, i.e., conservative foreigners with opinions about transgender people, and cite a few sources like The New York Post or Newsmax. The padding of the plot is always queerly exaggerated: clips of gay pride parades to create the effect that these parades happen every day in the U.S. and Europe. The only thing we can hope for is that the media don’t make too many stupid mistakes, and that the work of Putin’s propaganda machine doesn’t hurt too many innocent people. Fortunately, the times we live in still give LGBT people in Russia access to alternative online media and to very important information that cannot be found in the vacuum inside the country. Diana Sadretdinova is a freelance journalist and volunteer for the Coming Out group. DIANASADRETDINOVA IN THE 1990s and 2000s, there was something queer about Russian television. Images of LGBT people were nothing out of the ordinary on Russian TV or other pop culture media. There were clips of Shura, the programFull Fashion with Sergey Zverev, songs by the bands Nochnye Snaipery and Reflex. Transvestite culture was also extremely popular, albeit in a humorous context. At its peak was the almost sacred figure of Verka Serduchka, a Ukrainian artist. Evening shows dealt with issues such as the lives of transgender people and male prostitution. Since 2014, however, Russian TV has turned LGBT people into the regime’s main enemy. Viewers are fed a steady stream of political talk shows with guests espousing hate group ideologies from morning to night. After the ban against “homosexual propaganda” was enacted in 2013, discussion of LGBT issues was largely silenced. A phrase borrowed from American conservatives, “traditional values,” started to be used as a way to separate certain groups of people. Following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the discussion of LGBT issues became part of an effort to divert attention from the war. Gay content that was once frowned upon began to flow from all of the state channels. Vladimir Putin himself entered the discussion, referring to transgender people as “transformers.” The statistics show that suicide is several times more frequent for LGBT people than for straight people. Stories that go beyond the bounds of reason have become the norm on federal stations. Take the summary of one of the news stories: “Russian special forces destroyed a ‘dangerous gang of Ukronazi terrorists.’” Among the weapons they found were satanic cult items and LGBT attributes. This claim would be manifestly ridiculous if it were not reported on one of the main stations of the country as serious news. One of Russia’s best-known propagandists, Yevgeny Kiselyov, suggests burying gay men’s hearts in the ground after a traffic accident, so that they don’t go to those in need of transplants. In the programBesogon, Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov compares gay parades to those of zoophiliacs. It is hard to find a more eloquent speaker in the art of insulting people than the popular favorite Vladimir Solovyov. He tries to shine in this field, following and commenting on every event in the life of the global LGBT community, all the while chanting holy scriptures with dexterity. Or there are the statebacked journalists Margarita Simonyan and Olga Skabeeva, women who could have become respected journalists, but who now promote “family values” and condemn the gay community. The most important issue at the moment is still the transgender ban that was enacted last summer. It prohibits necessary medical procedures for transgender people, even those who fall under internationally recognized standards of care. The law also authorizes surgery on intersex children without their consent or medical necessity. The law has been widely criticized by human rights advocates, LGBT activists, and the medical community. Human Rights Watch described it as a violation of human rights. The original version of the Transgender Transition Ban How Russian Media Demonize LGBT People GUEST OPINION / INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM March–April 2024 5
TheBoys’ Long March to Broadway To the Editor: In the Nov.-Dec. 2023 issue, the photograph on page 33 is labeled: “A scene from the original Broadway production (1970) of The Boys in the Band.”However, the play did not run on Broadway until 2018. The 1970 production played OffBroadway at Theater Four for 1001 performances. That was a long time ago, but I didn’t want a phalanx of young queers to be thinking that in 1970 Broadway had the imaginative room to accommodate such a ground- breaking play, when in reality no one with a wallet wantedto make that happen or believed Broadway could support it. Their assumptions of super knowledge kept them from making the fists-ful of money that the OffBroadway investors ultimately reaped (some ofwhomare still living off that money). Craig Lucas, Putnam Valley, NY Fantasy of a Pubic Sculpture To the Editor: Regarding the BTW item titled “An Eye for an Anus” in the Nov.-Dec. 2023 issue: as a professional artist and sculptor, what I observe in Phillip K. Smith’s sculpture is the unique, cheerful design of this wonderful, inviting piece. Of all places, one would not expect hip Palm Springs to host such a ridiculous controversy, forcing the artist to change the design! Throughout my career, some of my sculptures have been subjected to headshaking comments suggesting that something sexual was going on (always news to ne). For example, my stone-and-gold leaf sculpture The Wisdom Seeker was created to be a unisex spiritual entity and was selected for display at Capitol Grounds in Olympia, Washington. It wasn’t until the suits from the government strolled through the park and brought it to the attention of the Parks Art Department that anyone questioned it. Standing at the back side of the sculpture, one of the suits asked the art director: “Tell me what you see?” “A Robed figure,” she replied. “You don’t see the giant penis?” he asked. Her reply was priceless: “Giant penis? I suppose you also see Mickey Mouse in the clouds.” Praise her for being an intelligent art director and for demanding that the sculpture remain in place. She spared me a lawsuit had they taken it down. Leon White, Seattle, WA Ten Years Later, VictiminaBTWSurfaces To the Editor: My name is Jeff White, and I am the subject of one of your articles. The article was written by one Richard Schneider and was published in 2014 [Nov.-Dec. issue, a BTW item] and titled “Putting the X in Ex-Gay Therapy.” I was not aware of this article until today, nearly ten years later. That said, I just wanted to send a thank you to Mr. Schneider for his words. As the victim mentioned in the article [having been raped weekly by the perpetrator], the events surrounding my childhood were very difficult. As well, the events surrounding the lawsuit [against Steven Barnes] were also difficult, but in different ways. A quick update: the case was eventually dismissed by the Mississippi Supreme Court, citing a lack of evidence. While that may be true, I can say that there was DNA found in his former office. While I am under the impression that that DNA did belong to me, it was never stated in the affirmative that this was the case. Although he did not go to prison for what he did, he will deal with the things that he did to me in different ways. Steven Barnes and his family—his wife Sherry, their daughter Makaela, and their son Colin—were all permanently relocated to Guam. There they have been living their lives as missionaries, preaching the gospel or whatever the hell it is that they do. They’re not allowed to come back to the U.S. They will never be given a chance to live the privileged life that they once had. It may not be prison, but close enough. After I stepped forward and told my story about Steven Barnes, the church that was attached to my school was permanently fractured and split into two churches. The new church, led by a childhood friend of mine named Rev. Greg Hill, was founded because they believed that what I said was true. They were formed to create a safe place for people of their denomination. I was not the first child to come forward for that place, and I probably will not be the last. While no one did officially come forward to report Steven Barnes as I had, there were other victims. I know because they reached out to me. For a variety of reasons, they weren’t able to go public in the way that I did. Whether they were protecting their mothers who were still church members or worried that coming forward would disrupt the lives they had built, I understand and respect their decisions. I am very appreciative to Mr. Schneider for what he said and simply for reporting this story. I’m grateful for finding this after ten years of perspective have opened up. It’s little write-ups such as this that help to affirm victims and survivors that coming forward can result in a positive response. That should be enough to help a majority of survivors to step forward. Jeff White, Northern Mississippi Correspondence FOR ITINERARIES, DATES, &PRICES Visit: OscarWildeTours.com Look for site on Facebook / Instagram All trips designed and led by Prof. Andrew Lear, founder of Oscar Wilde Tours. $200DISCOUNT FOR G&LRREADERS! 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in the Bible Belt, albeit one who was destined for college and a life far away from there. Second, she was an early Boomer who came of age in the era of antiwar protests and countercultural tides and especially feminism and LGBT liberation, two movements of the 1970s that greatly influenced her life and work. That was the decade in which Pratt came out as a lesbian and left her husband and two children to pursue a career as a writer and activist. In 1977, she cofounded WomanWrites, a conference for feminist writers, and, in 1984, she cofounded LIPS, a lesbian affinity group based in Washington, D.C. Her first book of poetry, The Sound of One Fork, came out in 1981, followed by several others, includingCrime Against Nature in 1990. She also wrote a steady stream of essays on issues of gender, same-sex love, and LGBT liberation. Her 1995 bookS/HE explored her intense, twenty-year relationship with novelist Leslie Feinberg (Stone Butch Blues). A poem by Pratt that ran inTheG&LR(March-April 2007) is about a suburban married man who carries on a secret gay life in the city, which begins: “Nail polish off, PATH jacket on, he’s ready to leave behind/ the clothes that fit his secret self, the people who know him weekends.” Her poem in March-April 2004 mourns the loss of gay men to AIDS, switching the focus from the U.S. to Africa, where she sees an “Anglo-American/ conglomerate chief executive watching men’s bodies piled/ on one side of the scales, the price of gold rising on the other.” CHARLES SILVERSTEIN, who died on January 30, 2023, at the age of 87, was a psychiatrist who became an activist after the Stonewall Riots and used his professional standing to make a difference when it counted. In the early 1970s, homosexuality was still listed as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association, which sanctioned the use of cruel and invasive methods for “curing” homosexuals. Dr. Silverstein was among a handful of professionals who spoke out against the APA’s position, notably at a 1973 national conference that became a watershed for change. By the following year, homosexuality had been delisted from the APA’s all-important Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Of the many books that he published, the first was co-authored with Edmund White: The Joy of Gay Sex, in 1977, an illustrated guide to sexual positions and possibilities. His other books include Man to Man: Gay Couples in America (1982) and Gays, Lesbians and Their Therapists: Studies in Psychotherapy (1991). In 1976, he was the founding editor-inchief of the Journal of Homosexuality, the first scholarly journal on this topic in the U.S., which is still going strong. Dr. Silverstein was a friend of this magazine who occasionally offered advice and counsel on psychiatric issues. He was interviewed for the March-April 2012 issue, whose theme was LGBT psychology, in a piece titled “Stopping the Madness.” In it, he discussed the strategies that allowed a small group of gay psychiatrists to shame the APA into ending its policy of stigmatizing LGBT people as mentally ill. In later years, he helped guide the APA to a position of actively opposing “therapies” aimed at changing people’s sexual orientation. Remembering Three Who Made a Difference RICHARDSCHNEIDERJR. WE CONTINUE here a G&LR tradition, namely Martha E. Stone’s annual tribute to notable LGBT people who died during the previous year. But rather than try to do justice to the many noteworthy individuals who left us in 2023, let me focus on three who were figures of national importance and renown: Minnie Bruce Pratt, Ned Rorem, and Charles Silverstein—all three of whom contributed to this magazine at various points over the years. Please note that this issue also includes an obit for Amber Hollibaugh, and previous issues have run expanded obits for Michael Denneny, Doris Grumbach, Robert Patrick, and Urvashi Vaid. NED ROREM, who died on November 18, 2022, at the age of 99, was an American composer whose œuvre includes operas and orchestral works, though he was best known for his songs, of which there are over 500. While not a fan of Modernism and atonal music—he assailed its exponents as the “serial killers”—his music was highly inventive in its own right. For example, his AirMusic, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1976, limited each movement to a specific combination of instruments. His best-known opera was a 2005 rendition of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Of his three numbered symphonies, the Third, from 1958, is still performed. Unlike many composers, Rorem was also a wonderful writer, producing treatises on music history and an impressive output of memoirs. We may wrestle with the question of whether instrumental music can be “gay,” but Rorem’s writings remove all doubt and provide an amazingly honest account of the life of a sexually active gay man long before Stonewall, much of it spent in Paris as a young man before his return to the U.S. in 1957. The books of memoirs spanned forty years, starting withParis Diary in 1966 and ending withFacing the Night in 2006. (The title of his Final Diary of 1974 proved premature.) For all his sexual explorations, he spent most of his adult life with his partner James Holmes, with whom he lived in New York City and Nantucket. In the year 2000, Ned Rorem wrote three original articles for The G&LR—quite a coup for this magazine!—which ranged across a huge swath of musical history and culture. The subheadings of the first essay make this point: “What does Music Mean?”; “Music and Politics”; “American Song at the Millennium”; and “Aaron’s Songs at the Centennial.” The second essay, titled “Music and Society,” considered the position of women and minorities in classical music and the state of composition at that time. Among the many issues covered in the third essay is a meditation on whether a “gay sensibility” can be discerned in music and the other arts. MINNIE BRUCE PRATT, known primarily as a poet, left us on July 2, 2023, at the age of 76. She was born in Selma, Alabama, in 1946—two facts that underscore the accident of time and place. First, she came from the Deep South—Selma, no less— and all that that implied for a middle-class white girl growing up IN MEMORIAM March–April 2024 7
Words flowed out of Amber, and her message was clear: “You have a right to be angry,” she shouted. “What happened was a miscarriage of justice. ... Let me see your rage!” The crowd began to explode. Windows in City Hall were smashed, and soon a row of police cars went up in flames. The rest of that night is a blur for me. I returned to the Castro. The police followed and the violence they unleashed was terrifying. But through it all, I remember thinking: “That woman was amazing. I want her in my life.” Our paths kept crossing. I visited Modern Times for snippets of conversation. The Lesbian and Gay History Project launched that summer, and we were both at several meetings. They organized a public forum on the history of the queer community’s relationship with police, and Amber and I were on the roster. The event’s title was “Spontaneous Combustion” and, when Amber spoke, it felt like the packed auditorium might act out the title! Finally, after many encounters in public settings, we planned a Saturday breakfast together. We ate and talked. Leaving the restaurant, we kept talking. Hours later, we were still talking as Amber walked backward down the hill, the physical distance growing, until we were finally out of earshot. Those ten hours of conversation launched a friendship that continued for over forty years. We overlapped in New York in the early 1980s and then again for two glorious years in the 2000s, when Amber Hollibaugh, Human Rights Activist JOHND’EMILIO IFIRST MET Amber Hollibaugh in 1979, when I spent several months in San Francisco doing research for what became Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities. My first weekend there I was on a panel on gay and lesbian history organized by the Radical History Network. Such events were rare in 1979. One of those in the audience was a tall, imposing blonde named Amber. She told me she worked at Modern Times, a bookstore run by a left-wing collective, and that I should come by. The bookstore was not far from the Castro, and a few days later, when I walked in, she was at the counter reading Jeffrey Weeks’ pioneering book Coming Out, one of the first LGBT narrative histories. We talked for a bit, but customers needed her attention, so I left. The following Monday, the verdict came down in the trial of Dan White for the assassination of Harvey Milk and George Moscone. He received the lightest possible sentence for two cold-blooded murders, and the call immediately went out to assemble at City Hall to protest. The plaza in front of it was packed when I arrived. Speakers addressed us—the two I remember were Harry Britt and Sally Gearhart—and all, without exception, urged us to stay calm. Harvey would want us to be peaceful, they said. And then this tall, imposing blonde came to the podium. IN MEMORIAM 8 TheG&LR
March–April 2024 9 she plunged into the fight against it. She worked for the NYC Commission on Human Rights combatting AIDS discrimination and for Gay Men’s Health Crisis, where she created the first lesbian AIDS project. She was a staffer at the National LGBTQTask Force. She advanced queer aging issues at Chicago’s Howard Brown Health Center. For years, she directed Queers for Economic Justice—one of the few LGBT organizations that recognized the impact of class oppression on the lives of many queer people. Amber always managed in her activism to “say out loud what everyone had agreed not to notice.” She constantly called for a “new revolution” that included the sexual desires that so many experience with shame and feel forced to keep secret. She insisted that we embrace “our most dangerous desires” and “fight for a world that values human sexual possibility without extracting a terrible human price.” She strove “to create a movement willing to live the politics of sexual danger in order to create a culture of human hope.” I, and so many others, will never forget her bold, daring, and inspiring work and the smile, laughter, and hugs that kept spirits high even in times that seemed desperate. Rest in power, Amber Hollibaugh. John D’Emilio, author of Queer Legacies: Stories from Chicago’s LGBTQ Archives, is professor of history at the Univ. of Illinois, Chicago. Amber worked in Chicago. But mostly it was a long-distance relationship, connecting at national conferences like Creating Change and on my trips to my hometown of New York. Through these decades, our conversation never ended. That Saturday in San Francisco, a major topic was the Briggs Initiative which, the year before, had launched the biggest organizing campaign that queer folks had seen. Amber described making her way through the small communities of northern California and the Central Valley, engaging in conversation with countless individuals who had never met a lesbian before. For this guy who had lived his whole life in NY and had a large queer community around him, I was awed by the courage of this remarkable dyke. We discussed many other things as well, topics that we never stopped talking about. We talked about the state of the left in our ever-more conservative political environment; about our movement’s evolution from lesbian and gay intoLGBTQand the tendency toward respectability that drove us both crazy; about the increasingly conservative sexual politics of what once was a liberation movement; and about the class and racial boundaries that many movement organizations refused to acknowledge. Through all these years, Amber remained a bold and tireless activist, translating talk into working for social justice. Arriving in New York just as AIDS began devastating our community, Amber Hollibaugh. Courtesy Nat’l LGBTQTask Force. “ vention of poetic in d Trojan Hoar heart-catching iceless, Plain Sight pr is a t d.” s . . . DAVID BERGMAN PLAIN SIGHT new VAMP UNTIL READY james magruder ve the world andmo ft of grace able to lif e acts these poems ar ve t o o poet c on available fro passager books & amaz mp s| age $18 er| y ft cov 106 p | poetr so david bergman Award winner Lambda Book A and G&LR Poetry Editor from
his position of leadership in the ex-gay hierarchy (is it literally a pyramid scheme?). Graves was an uber leader in the movement with a devoted following—until he was stripped of his license to practice by Colorado’s State Board of Registered Psychotherapists for sexually assaulting a client. Doubtless this was only the tip of the iceberg; reports have surfaced of Graves’ seductive manner when treating clients, his use of “touch therapy” in his practice, not to mention his penchant for posing shirtless. One can easily see how the position of head shrink for a troop of gay youths struggling with their sexuality could provide the ideal setup for a not-so-ex-gay narcissist like Graves. Patients have been forming crushes on their elderly analysts since Freud, so imagine the personal dynamic when both parties have a history of samesex attraction and the therapist is actually quite hot. Whether Graves ever “cured” anyone of homosexuality by this method is unknown; presumably he got his paycheck either way. Straight Porn and Reality The Daily Wire’s right-wing superstar Michael Knowles advanced his war on porn by charging that Pornhub is actively trying to turn cisgender, straight men into gay and trans people. “Stop looking at porn, if for no other reason than the senior writers here are saying they want to make you gay and trans,” he stated flatly. We won’t ask the age-old BTW Revelation Fact: Lesbians in the U.S. earn twenty percent more on average than do heterosexual women. However unexpected the news, this disparity goes back quite a few years and has never been fully explained. Sure, lesbians are less likely than straight women to have children, who can be a drag on women’s careers. Feminists have always maintained that men are the problem, as they contribute much less to household maintenance than do their female partners, and studies show that lesbian couples do tend to divide the housework much more equally. Nevertheless, even after controlling for these factors, according to researcher Aria Velz, lesbians still come out ahead. It turns out lesbians are better educated than their straight sisters, and they’re more likely to live in cities. While shattering any lingering stereotype of a lesbian as someone who drives a pickup in the exurbs, this fact challenges the narrative of lesbians as an oppressed minority, or turns it into one of overcoming barriers. Money for Nothing Wayne Besen is back with new research on an old exposé, one of many in which he exposed “conversion therapy,” aka the “ex-gay movement,” as a cultic, money-making operation that attracts “the shadiest of charlatans.” This one goes back to 2009, when one Jayson Graves was forced out of 10 TheG&LR Jayson Graves
March–April 2024 11 question of how much porn Knowles would have had to watch to know that this was going on. Come to think of it, it’s not entirely clear what is going on. The closest he comes to explaining his theory is a soundbite: “EXCLUSIVE: Top Pornhub staff admits to inserting ‘gay’ and ‘trans’ themes into mainstream porn to ‘convert’ straight men.” So… that’s all it would take? Again one is amazed by the fragility of heterosexuality. But the problem here is a deeper one: by its nature heterosexual porn for men includes a male sexual organ in full flagrante. Presumably the viewer can avert his eyes or perhaps fantasize that the appendage is his own. And yet, there it is, stubbornly thrusting away, surely an object of interest if not of arousal. The absurdity of Knowles’ claim is that nothing could possibly be “inserted” into the scene that isn’t already there. If hetero porn can turn straight men gay, it’s only because they like what they see. There Goes the Neighborhood There could be any number of reasons for painting your apartment building to look like a gay flag. Realtor Ryan Basye of Omaha claims he did it at the behest of his three daughters, though he admits his next-door neighbor’s homophobic jokes and slurs may have had something to do with it. But whether his motive was revenge or happy kids, Basye says he hasn’t had any complaints. Still, this could be one of those times when politics and æsthetics collide. It’s wonderful that in Omaha you’re free to paint your building to look like a gay pride parade (here in Boston’s South End the color of our shutters is legally restricted); whether one should do so is another matter entirely. You be the judge. Tick, Tick... Two stories of collapse deserve a brief mention: CPAC (CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE)—or more correctly its parent the American Conservative Union (ACU)—is reportedly “imploding” due to accusations of sexual harassment against ACU chair Matt Schlapp. Three men have reported a sexual overture by Schlapp, including one who stated: “Matt Schlapp grabbed my junk and pummeled it at length.” Schlapp may still be hanging on, but multiple ACU board members have resigned, and the org. is described as “a shell of its former commanding presence.” THE POWERFUL MOMS FOR LIBERTY organization seems to be on the eve of destruction following revelations that its founder, and her husband, are involved in interlocking sex scandals. The group has spearheaded efforts to take over school boards across the country and to purge LGBT books from school libraries, so its collapse would be big news. Founder Bridget Ziegler has resigned under a cloud, though it’s her husband Christian Ziegler who stands accused of rape and faces prison time. As luck would have it, Christian is, or was, the Chairman of the Republican Party in Florida, which is described as demoralized following his departure. Meanwhile, Bridget has admitted that she, her husband, and her husband’s accuser were involved in three-way sex over a year ago. Wow.
ATRAVELING EXHIBITION titledBreaking theRules, now at Memphis’ Dixon Museum, presents an enlightening narrative about the groundbreaking work of two remarkable gay artists, Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown, who ignited an artistic flowering known as the Bay Area Figurative Movement from their Berkeley studio. Wonner and Brown, whose 56-year relationship was forged during the McCarthy era, did break many rules, but they paid a high price for it. Their tendency to focus on the male figure discouraged critical attention and commercial success. Only now, through this retrospective, is their artistic contribution being duly recognized. Paul Wonner (1920–2008) and William “Theophilus” Brown (1919–2012), despite being recognized as Bay Area artists, hailed from Tucson, Arizona, and Moline, Illinois, respectively. They met in 1952 while both were pursuing a master’s degree in art at UC-Berkeley, and the rest is history. And yet, they had very different personalities. Wonner, who was shy and soft-spoken, thought the gregarious Brown was a bit of a snob, and he had a point. Brown graduated from Yale and had mingled with influential cultural figures like Picasso and Stravinsky during the postwar years, when Elaine and Willem de Kooning took him under their wing. It wasn’t love at first sight. It took six weeks for Wonner to invite Brown to his apartment for lunch, a simple gesture that catalyzed a profound personal and artistic partnership that lasted five and a half decades. Living openly as a gay couple during the perilous climate of 1950s America posed significant personal and professional risks. A 1953 executive order barred homosexuals from employment in the federal government, resulting in numerous dismissals and the outing of thousands without legal recourse. These prosecutions had a chilling impact on the art world, forcing most gay artists to abandon homoerotic imagery and figurative art altogether. Queer artists had to adopt strategies of concealment during this period to survive. This is when Abstract Expressionism was the dominant American school, and it provided a convenient outlet. Artists like Ellsworth Kelly and Agnes Martin avoided scrutiny by living discreetly and creating exclusively abstract works. When Bay Area artist Richard Caldwell Brewer dared to create explicit homoerotic imagery, he paid the ultimate critical price: complete erasure of his work. Another San Francisco artist, Bernice Bing (1936–1998), had ESSAY Figures of the Bay Area IGNACIODARNAUDE Ignacio Darnaude, an art scholar, lecturer, and film producer, is currently developing the docuseries Hiding in Plain Sight: Breaking the Queer Code in Art. three strikes against her as a queer Asian woman; only now is she getting the recognition she deserves. Wonner and Brown shared a studio in Berkeley that became the nerve center for an artistic revolt against the repression of the times. It all started the day the artist Richard Diebenkorn, who also had a studio in their building, showed up freezing at Wonner and Brown’s door, asking if they had a heater. Wonner and Brown’s studio was large, and they invited him in. It was around this time (1955) that Diebenkorn and other artists—such as Elmer Bischoff, David Park, James Weeks, and Nathan Oliveira—began to gather for drawing sessions centered on the human figure at Wonner and Brown’s studio. Brown relished these sessions because he experienced a camaraderie very different from the vibe in New York, where he felt only rivalry among the up-and-coming artists. This creative association gave birth to what came to be known as the Bay Area Figurative Movement, which challenged the dominance of Abstract Expressionism and offered an alternative path. David Park was the first to break away when he trashed his abstract canvases at San Francisco’s city dump in 1949. His painting Kids on Bikes (1950), depicting two male figures, set the tone for what was to come: a resurgence of figurative art in place of abstraction. In 1957, The Oakland Museum mounted a groundbreaking show titledContemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting, which put the movement and these painters on themap. The title of the current exhibition, Breaking the Rules, also refers to Wonner and Brown’s frequent depiction of male nudes, despite galleries’ reluctance to “sell anything with a penis.” Brown persisted because “his mission was to bring parity to female and male nudity in galleries and museums.” His male nudes, including his daring self-portraits, are the most overt manifestation of his sexuality, but—perhaps because few of them depicted male-to-male contact—critics sidestepped their homoerotic implications. Joint exhibitions of Wonner and Brown’s work faced rejection until 1999, when Wonner was 79 and Brown was eighty. The reluctance stemmed from fears of alienating potential buyers due to the nature of their relationship. The prudery of the early days compelled them, like numerous contemporary artists, to embed queer themes in their art through creative subterfuges and coded imagery that could be recognized by gay viewers (and a few others) while eluding everyone else. Classical imagery provided an ideal cloak for their homoerotic expressions. Wonner’s depictions of Greek sculptures with harmonious proportions allowed him to show his appreciation of the male form with impunity. Brown’s surreal and ambiguous homoerotic classical imagery, often untitled to Theophilus Brown and Paul Wonner and the Bay Area Figurative Movement challenged the dominance of Abstract Expressionism, offering an alternativepath. 12 TheG&LR
encourage varied interpretations, navigated a delicate balance between visibility and defiance. Both artists also created mythological images, another popular trope with which to depict alluring males on the pretext that their nudity was taking place in the realm of fantasy. Wonner’s 2007 painting Five Models as Bacchus is another example. Their portrayal of nudes in arcadian settings, a long-standing tradition among gay artists and writers, also hinted at samesex desires. Wonner created his own version of Arcadia in a series of modern-day park scenes in which male figures enjoy an environment of absolute peace and freedom, a gay paradise. Meanwhile, Brown’s arcadian images celebrated hetero- and homosexual relationships alike in scenes that he called “Fantasies of a beautiful, harmonious world.” Brown created dreamlike or surreal scenes in settings such as beaches, which provided a pretext for nudity. (He got inspiration from photos in nudist magazines, which were cheaper than paying a model and featured people interacting.) Christian images were also a common smokescreen. Wonner created multiple sensual images of angels, Saint Sebastian, St. John of the Cross, and even Christ—in a scene in which he’s tempted by a naked man. He also gaveDaniel in the Lion’s Den a homoerotic twist, portraying Daniel as young, beefy, and naked. Most of these mystical scenes have a tinge of surrealism that encodes their obvious homoeroticism. Both artists also mastered the art of hiding gay imagery in plain sight. Early in his career, Brown painted football scenes infused with male intimacy. What’s fascinating is that Brown didn’t know anything about sports. WhenLife magazine ran an article about these paintings, the writer noted that “Brown was unconcerned with the tactics of a game, even putting a samecolored jersey on members of opposite teams.” He was right; all Brown cared about was men in close quarters in a way that was acceptable to heterosexual viewers. Brown, who was the most symbolist artist of the Movement, infused his work with tension and a sense that there’s more here than meets the eye. The totemic figures in his arcadian compositions are not distinct individuals but archetypes imbued with psychological and sexual undertones. The poses in Nude Figures on a Beach with Horse and Dog (1986) create a charged atmosphere in which intimate connections are established among certain figures while male nudes are presented as outsiders, reflecting his personal journey as a gay man. Once again, critics avoided discussing their homoeroticism, choosing to highlight instead how “the human figure seamlessly integrates into nature.” Wonner and Brown frequented the Yuba River, indulging in naked swims. Wonner’s paintings of nude bathers went unquestioned because they aligned with the established tradition of men bathing together. Drawing inspiration from Paul Cézanne, Wonner portrays the bathers as a dynamic mass of interwoven, predominantly male figures. Wonner sent a touching Christmas card to Brown in which he referred to himself as “Paul Cézanne,” an acknowledgment of the influence of the French artist on their work. In contrast to Wonner’s approach, Brown’s bathers, such as Standing Bathers (1993), which is the official image of the exhibition, stand as iconic, solitary figures within a surreal frieze reminiscent of classical and neo-classical artists. David Park, another member of the Movement, also explored nude bathing motifs that exuded sensuality but avoided overt eroticism. While they may seem tame to our eyes, Park’s portrayal of male nudes amid the stifling atmosphere of the 1950s was an act of defiance. Early in their careers, Wonner and Brown came to the conclusion that the division between abstraction and figurative art was largely arbitrary. Rather than eliminate one or the other, they broke artistic boundaries by fusing these seemingly disparate styles into a new form of painting which, in Wonner’s words, “offered a psychological experience.” A case in point is River Bathers (1961), in which the semi-abstract features of two sitters engaged in an ambiguous relationship allow Wonner to hint at homosexuality, providing a glimpse into his world while keeping us at a distance. Their prolific depiction of swimming pools, a motif they explored upon moving to Malibu in 1963, predated David Hockney’s iconic pool paintings. What’s more, their style diverged sharply from that of Hockney with his inviting turquoise waters. Compare that to Brown’s foreboding, shadowladen scenes in works like Swimming Pool (1963). Wonner and Brown employed an array of coded imagery to convey same-sex desire, such as flowers, a historical symbol March–April 2024 13 Theophilus Brown. Standing Bathers, 1993.
used by queer artists to represent unspoken desires. A wellknown example is the green carnations that were used by gay men during the Oscar Wilde era to identify one another. By the end of the 1950’s, Wonner began painting male nudes holding flowers. In these coded images, he subverted the aggressive masculinity of the Abstract Expressionists (think Jackson Pollock), offering a portrayal of virility that was gentle, vulnerable, and sensual. Another example, and one of his best-known paintings, is the large triptych Seven Views of the Model with Flowers (1962), which can be interpreted as another one of his arcadian landscapes or even as a religious image. All seven men have halos, echoing Jesus and his disciples. Wonner’s œuvre includes frequent coded images of pansies. The word “pansy” is, of course, one of many anti-gay slurs. In his strikingFrench Still Life (1990), a vase with pansies stands proudly above books depicting French and English artists, implicitly claiming that queer artists are at the top of the artistic canon. His landmark paintingGlasses with Pansies (1968) portrays two isolated and distant pansies, mirroring the sense of isolation felt by Wonner and Brown. Despite the tight-knit nature of their Movement, both artists knew that, as a gay couple, they would always remain outsiders to some degree. This fact inevitably impacted their work, infusing it with imagery of absence and isolation. Wonner and Brown moved to Santa Monica in 1961 when Wonner became an art instructor at UCLA. They took morning swims and, while this should normally be a joyful activity, Brown’s paintingMuscatine Diver (1963) depicts a somber landscape and an ominous sky, with a sense of disconnection as one man turns away from the other. Wonner frequently portrayed empty chairs, a recurring motif symbolizing loss. In 1962, the two artists developed a close friendship with writer Christopher Isherwood and his partner, artist Don Bachardy. Their weekly gatherings for conversation and sketching often took place at Isherwood’s home. Works from these sessions are difficult to identify, given Wonner’s tendency to title pieces using only initials, possibly to widen their appeal or to conceal the identities of their social circle. For instance, Wonner cryptically referred to Brown as “W. B.,” and, in the enigmatic portrait Living Room at I’s (1964), the “I” refers to Isherwood. The unfocused faces in this painting allow for varied interpretations—potentially representing Isherwood and Bachardy or perhaps even Wonner and Brown themselves. Upon their brief return to Berkeley in 1974, Brown created provocative artworks portraying explicit homosexual and heterosexual acts, which remained unseen in public until the 1990s. Wonner sought solace in literature to better understand his identity as a gay man, finding resonance in Walt Whitman’s writings. His tribute series to Whitman includes American Men Thinking of Walt Whitman (1975), which features burly men under a rainbow, three years before the rainbow flag became the symbol of the LGBT community. In 2001, Wonner faced physical challenges when his back gave out, prompting their move to a seniors’ residence in San Francisco. During this period, Wonner delved back into the male form with a series titled “Youth and Old Age.” Through intimate gouaches, he fearlessly tackled aging and mortality, starkly contrasting portraits of himself, clothed and aged, with nude, youthful male models. Commented Wonner: “I feel that they are both me. The art connects us.” The way the poses of artist and model mirror each other underscores this connection. According to Brown, Wonner created these self-portraits as a way to be remembered for posterity. The images created by Wonner and Brown are not their only legacy to the LGBT community. They donated over 1,800 works to the Crocker Museum in Sacramento, to be sold with proceeds supporting acquisition and exhibition of art by emerging LGBT artists, thus leaving a lasting gift of support for the community’s artistic endeavors. Wonner once remarked: “Being gay was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It gave me a direction that I might not have had otherwise and made me not afraid of being an outsider and being by myself. It also gave me a lot of courage to just blunder ahead and do things.” Theophilus Brown declared: “Because of the constant opposition under which we live, we become very strong. We look deeper into things because we are forced to. In a way it’s a great privilege. I would choose to be gay if there had been a choice at all.” Wonner and Brown were influenced by many artists, but clearly they were each other’s most important inspiration, even while also remaining independent in their work. When Wonner died in 2008, Brown declared: “Paul was the most central person in my life. He was also my best critic and I think I was his. When I did something that wasn’t very good and I wanted reassurance, I didn’t get it from Paul. He was always honest. I think that’s what I miss the most.” Brown lived four more years, creating art until the very end. I want to believe that, thanks to the excitement around this exhibition, they’ve finally become the heroes of their own stories. 14 TheG&LR Paul Wonner. Nude and Statue, 1969.
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