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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1999)
writer • Thomas Eakins artist «Shakespeare playwright «Thomas Mann writer • Vincent van Gogh artist «H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) writer • Isaac Mizrahi designer M QUEER BEHIND THE SCENES II Fran Lebowitz Continued from page 25 to express.... Maybe one of the reasons we are creative is because we suffer. I don’t know. Maybe one’s gay identity gives you this added dimension. Your feelings have been so strong.” So, how might the queer community edu cate the larger society and battle homopho bic misinformation? Should we build a float for the pride parade that exalts our history? Dress up as Socrates and Nureyev, blare Tchaikovsky in the streets, hold placards with quotes from Wilde and Whitman? “Unfortunately, even if we did that,” responds composer Eric Lane Barnes, “the media would probably just ignore that and focus on what they always do.” Nevertheless, Barnes does believe it’s important to be out. “If every single actor, for instance, would come out, it would be like an earthquake!” he quips. Yet for some arts professionals, being out is not an issue because being gay seems irrele vant, and they maintain that their sexuality is not central to their creative process. Portlander Jon Kretzu, one of Artists Repertory Theatre’s artistic directors and a nationally sought after director, is adamant on this point. “I’ve never called myself a gay artist,” he avers. “I don’t think it’s a fair thing to do. Every artist is completely different.” By way of explanation Kretzu adds: "But I always knew our history as a homosexual community. It’s right there in history books. I think it’s a shame that people are more inter ested in people who are famous for five min utes than in the historical scope.” It’s true that more honest biographies can help. In recent years, biographers have dared to do sexual detective work and ferret out long- censored letters and other evidence that paint fuller, queerer pic tures of many noted his toric figures. At a recent reading in Portland, Susie Bright, bisexual author of numerous books on sexu ality, challenged her audience to broaden their definition of what is considered erotic. She includes the making of art as erotic. Indeed, Bright claims our sense of the erotic is an ever present factor in every thing we do and feel. It isn’t difficult to recognize the relevance of sex to art. Can we believe that da Vinci’s exquis ite drawings of the male figure were not informed by his passion for men? Can we Fe|jce pican0 author conclude that the first, then write what you want? “Closeting to tragic compositions of Tchaikovsky owe succeed is just deeply creepy to me. Artists nothing to his tortured personal relation are not supposed to give a damn, they’re sup ships? Or can we disbelieve that the emo posed to be ‘out there,’ ” Picano says with tional sonnets of Edna St. Vincent the clarity that comes from decades of Millay were emboldened by her being just that. love of women— and the cam On the subject of why the ouflage of marriage? younger generation seems to want As an acclaimed author, to “make nice” with the establish the very out Felice Picano ment, Picano answers: “We’re has long been an advocate under attack by younger gay writ for queer visibility— and has ers who feel the need to back paid a price. “I was a finalist down.... Maybe it’s so they can deal for the Ernest Hemingway with being like everyone else.... I think Award for my first novel, and yet it’s incredibly boring!” it took a long time before I was taken seri But then he adds: “This is the second ously for any grants,” he says. generation of a revolution. And what’s hap But isn’t the usual path to attain success pening is exactly what happens in any successful revolu tion— the first generation is devoured by the second. Gen X’s homo phobia is manifested in ‘just don’t flaunt it.’ ” As for people who do hide in the closet to climb the professional ladder, Picano passion ately asserts: “They’ve sold their soul. I only hope they got a good price.” He continues sadly, “After you’ve sold out, what do you have to tap for your artistic creation? How is that going to be of any value to anyone ?” So how can queers affect public percep tion in deep and meaningful ways? Picano believes that first we need to affect our own perception of ourselves. “The problem,” he says, “is not just the mainstream press— it’s our gay press! They cover irrelevant people— a soap star who once had a gay friend— I’m talking about Out magazine, Genre, The Advocate. Why do they have someone on the cover because they’re in a show with a gay character? What’s that?” Then he issues a call to action: “We need to teach people...that’s why 1 write gay fic tion and that’s why I am unflinching. I had a substantial loss of income when I went from straight to gay writing.” Ultimately for Picano it comes down to this: “To tailor our art is our way to hell.” Regardless of how you feel about these debates, peruse the long list of artistic achievers printed here, and see if you don’t feel a proud connec tion to this queer pantheon. In time, perhaps the rest of the world will be proud with us. Lesbian poet Adrienne Rich made a vis ceral statement about queer visibility and acceptance when in 1997 she declined to accept the prestigious National Medal for the Arts from President Clinton. In a letter to him she wrote: “A president cannot meaningfully honor certain artists while the people at large are so dishonored.” si Colette writer • Isadora Duncan dancer • Radclyffe Hall writer • Liberace entertainer • Simone de Beauvoir writer • Marlene Dietrich actor • Socrates writer • • E.M. Forster writer D.H. Lawrence writer • Jeannette Winterson writer • Josephine Baker entertainer • Pedro Almodovar director • Berenice Abbott photographer • Clive Barker writer • Rainer Werner Fassbinder director James Baldwin writer • Sandra Bernhardt actor • Sappho writer • Freddy Mercury singer • Ann Bannon writer • Sophie B. Hawkins musician • Katharine Lee Bates writer • Merce Cunningham choreographer ü When an ordinary Realtor sim ply won't do... 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