ARTICLES & FICTION
12 "CLEAN FILTH"
By Christopher Parrish
22 "CONVERSATION WITH DOROTHY LOUDON"
By Craig Rowland
28 "FADE TO BLACK"
By Doug Richards
50 "OUR GAY HERITAGE: HEDDA HOPPER"
by Anthony Slide
64 "Kurt Marshall: NO REGRETS"
by Robert W. Richards
70 "COVER UP"
By Marya W. Hayes VISUALS
8 "MANN POWER"
From Laguna Pacific, Ltd.
37 "THE ACTIVIST"
From Malexpress Studios
45 "ABOUT THE SIZE OF IT"
From Cityboy
54 "SCORPIO"
By Naakkve
73 "THE OTHER SIDE OF ASPEN II"
From Falcon Studios MONTHLY FEATURES
4 QUICKIES
18 ROUNDUP (Film, Books, Theatre, Music)
26 LETTERS TO CASEY
32 VIDEO VIEWS
58 CONTACTS EDITORIAL
Coming out has always been, at best, a daring act; at worst, a traUmma-porn-star">Umatic one.
More often than not, friends and relatives shrug at the announcement with a
casual. "What else is new?" But there are the horror stories of responses
that range from abject' rejection to physical violence. The risk too often makes
cowards of us all. Certainly, in this Age of Contagion, the stakes escalate
— and the chances of being branded not only a pervert but a parish as
well are greater than ever before.
Now, however, it is essential that everyone who can should come out to as many
people as he dares. The AIDS scare has annihilated so many of the Gay Rights
advances made since Stonewall that once again we find ourselves running scared
for our jobs, our homes, and our lives. The deep-rooted homophobia in the collective
American psyche will not be dissipated until our friends and families come to
realize that not all of us spend our lives on racks at the Mineshaft or have
more tricks than Solomon had wives. The very gay men who live mainstream lives
not so different from their heterosexual neighbors are usually the ones who
have the most to lose by coming out. And so the extremes, the flamboyant ends
of the spectrum are those given the most attention by the media (and by our
neighbors who thus learn about gay life second-hand).
To come out today is a braver gesture than it was five years ago, or even one
year ago — but doing so is the most effective tool we have to change the
thinking of middle America.
Last Christmas, my brother and family, including his sixteen year-old son, spent
the holidays with me for the first time. The boy was nervous and wary at first,
but seemed to relax during the course of the week. On the day he left, I embraced
my brother and his wife, then offered my nephew a handshake in farewell. He
pushed my hand aside and embraced me — and in turn, my lover. When he
returns to his high school, he will probably allow his buddies to make "fag
jokes," but I doubt that he will do so. And I count that week as one of
the greatest contributions to gay rights, far more than any petitions I've signed
or marches I've walked.
There are always mitigating factors — familial, occupational, social,
and economic pressures — that prohibit coming out completely with a thoroughgoing
across-the-boards gesture. Okay. But if you dare not make the grand gesture,
make a small one. Tell one straight person. Come out in one small way, and you
will have joined the battle.
