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INTERVIEW
Continued from page 19
1 don’t know if it’s voyeurism on their part, but
they want to know. Like the character o f Basil
Henderson, who people love to hate.
would seem to be viable commercially.
Closer to 800,000 now. But after they get over
the gay thing, they have to get over the black
thing. I think if [a film] was made independently,
it would probably surprise them. A couple of
schools, including Florida A & M ,have approached
me about translating them into stage works. That
might be a way to go. I’d like to see a film
character on the screen, though, that I can identify
with before I leave here.
He's been the villain in two of your books,
Just As 1 Am and A nd This Too Shall Pass.
1 did a luncheon last week with about 150
black women and when I told them he was a major
character in my book that’s com ing out this sum
mer, a lot of them said, “Ooh, I can ’t wait to read
that!” I see him as having no redeem ing qualities
at all. He starts out a chapter by saying, “Let me
get one thing clear. I am not gay. 1 am not bisexual.
I have dealt with men, but I have dealt with them
for a reason.”
I don’t know if you saw the film Jeffrey, but
it was the first time I ever saw a real gay love
story at the movies. Your books could be like
that, if they were done well.
So he’s not going to admit his true sexual
identity?
Another thing that is interesting is that white
actors jum p at the chance to play gay characters.
W hite straight actors, that is.
In his mind he believes he isn ’t gay, even
though he has sex with men and is attracted to
men. I have interviewed about 10 guys for this
book who all fit into that category. One minute
they were talking about how erotic it was to be
with a man, but if I asked them if they considered
themselves bisexual, they said no, no, no. They
would never have a relationship with another
man— but they would definitely have sex with
another man.
There is a rule in Hollywood that if you see
an actor in a film or on television playing a gay
character, you can be assured that actor is not
gay in real life, no matter what we’d like to
believe.
I was told by someone in Hollywood that if a
black actor played a character from one o f my
novels it could put them on the map. One good
thing is that I have made some really good friends
in H o lly w o o d . T he p re sid en t o f W hitney
H ouston’s company, who was the producer of
Courage Under Fire and The Preacher’s Wife,
loves my books.
Since the homosexuality of male athletes is
a recurring theme in your work, what was your
take on the cover story The Advocate did re
cently on homosexuality in the NFL?
I thought it was really weak.
Maybe Whitney could play one of the parts.
W ell, there was some resistance in W hitney’s
company because o f the rumors circulating about
her. Eventually something may happen with them.
T hey’ve come to me and asked me to write other
things for them, look at scripts they’re working
on. They like the way I write.
They have taken some heat for it since then,
in letters to the editor. One letter said that the
reason the article was weak was because there
was no homosexuality among professional ath
letes, in the NFL or elsewhere. You have been
quoted as saying that you have been contacted
anonymously by more than one athlete who is
gay. Is that still happening?
Your books, particularly the last one, seem
especially well suited for movies.
Recently I received an e-mail m essage from
an athlete who said, “ I am Basil Henderson.”
Unzipped expressed interest in the first two books,
A lot o f people say that. The people who did
but now 1 let my agents deal with that.
A professional football player?
Yes, getting ready to get married, believe it or
not. I think what happens is they duck and dodge
around. Any sports writer who is told by an ath
lete, “ I am not gay, I don’t care what you’ve
heard,” would believe him because they’re men
and it’s what they want to believe. It’s like the
whole Troy Aikman thing. W hile I was doing
some research for And This Too Shall Pass, a
sports writer told me that one of the N FL’s golden
boys was gay. Now since I am black, and the sports
writer was black, I thought that it was somebody
black. I spent a lot of time thinking: W ho is it? The
sportswriter said that he knew it to be a fact, and
that if the world found out they would be shocked.
It never dawned on me that it could be somebody
white. [Athletes] would never come out, though.
Travel the world,
but call us first.
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E. Lynn Harris
But we will probably never know for sure,
because those guys are making so much money
and their careers are so important to them that
they would be willing to do anything to avoid
the truth getting out.
T hey’ve been out there forever. But within the
black gay com m unity, we all know, but we would
never tell.
The same sort of thing exists in Hollywood,
where the same producers who are afraid to
make your books into movies are probably gay
themselves.
There are circles, though, and [the athletes] do
get around. I think that especially in the black gay
community we protect our chosen ones. R&B
singers, pro athletes, O lym pic athletes, we know
they’re gay but we protect them. No black track
and field athlete could come out like Greg Louganis
did.
Basically my agent told me that. Scott Rudin
has looked at all my projects, and he is openly gay.
He was one o f the first ones to ask to see my books,
even in m anuscript form.
There have been rumors about Carl Lewis.
After sales of over half a million books, they
How do you answer the criticism you’ve
faced from some gay readers about being “too
mainstream?”
It’s hurtful, but I understand. I see what I’m
doing on a larger scale, a bigger mission, so I’m
prepared to take the heat. One thing I’ve consid
ered doing is putting out a novel once a year,
instead o f every two years, and alternate, doing a
totally gay love story and then a more commercial
book. The people who want to complain or to
criticize always get noticed. Thankfully, I see
from my crowd, and from my mail, the people
appreciate what I’m doing.
And This Too Shall Pass by E. Lynn Harris.
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Anchor Books, 1996; $12 paper.