Recently, I had a disturbing conversation with a relative that made me stop and think about what I’m doing as a novelist.
He told me that members of our extended family were disappointed – that may be too mild a word – with me for writing “Water Music,” a homoerotic novel, which he says reflects badly on him. He refuses to read the book.
He suggested that those who have read and liked it were misguided in their kindness toward me and, far worse, that the late aunt who raised me – and whom I knew better than all the world – would’ve disapproved.
I was demoralized, furious and amused in that order – amused because I realized how much of him I had poured into all the disapproving daddies that my gay heroes face in “Water Music.” So I’ve had my revenge before he ever uttered a word.
Nor did his critique sway me to his viewpoint despite my initial deflation and anger. I continue to believe with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that injustice somewhere is injustice everywhere. I cannot oppose gay marriage – as my relative does – because I believe such opposition is a form of discrimination. And as Pope Francis recently remarked about gayness, “Who I am to judge?” – words this relative would do well to consider.
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Read MoreAt the end of Sassy Ladies Shopping Night Out last Friday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Tarrytown, a vendor approached the table where I was selling my new novel, “Water Music.” She had been by earlier, but our conversation had been cut short by the appearance of customers at her table. Now true to her word, she came back as I was packing up and bought a copy.
She had told me that her son was gay, coming out to her when he was 14, and I could sense all the pain of that reality, not because she rejected him but because no mother likes to see her child rejected by others. She couldn’t quite understand why I – with no such similar narrative – would’ve, could’ve written a novel like "Water Music," whose four gay athletes whose professional rivalries color their personal relationships with one another. I told her that being a man didn’t stop Tolstoy from writing “Anna Karenina.”
“Yes, but at least he knew what it was like to make love to a woman.”
True, but he didn’t know what a woman feels like when she makes love to a man.
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Read MoreI must say I’m surprised by the backlash to Brendan Eich’s resignation as Mozilla CEO after it was revealed that he was anti-gay marriage. Isn’t he entitled to his personal opinions, his supporters say, or is that just for liberals?
But those who defend Eich – who donated $1,000 to Proposition 8, which sought to ban gay marriage in California – don’t seem to get it. Of course, people are entitled to their personal opinions. What they’re not entitled to is to impose them on others, especially when they violate a person’s civil rights.
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Read MoreRecently, Anne Rice announced that she was returning to her most iconic character, the vampire Lestat, with the Oct. 28 publication of “Prince Lestat,” which thrilled me no end.
“Prince Lestat” would immediately follow the events of “The Queen of the Damned,” the third, and I think, the most sensuous book in “The Vampire Chronicles.” It is for me also the most homoerotic of the series, although I think Rice would say these books are instead vampire-erotic since her vampires cannot have sex. Whatever. The point is that in Rice’s work, bloodlust is a metaphor for lust, just as the relationship of the fun-loving Lestat and the depressive (and at times depressing) Louis – as well as that of Daniel, the interviewer in “Interview With the Vampire,” and the vampire Armand – is a metaphor for a gay relationship.
Looking back on it, I realize that these books paved the way for my own foray into homoeroticism with “The Games Men Play” series.
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Read MoreJason Collins has rejoined the Nets with a difference: He becomes the first openly gay athlete in any of America’s four major sports.
There’s lots of symbolism here: The team now plays in Brooklyn, where Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. The Nets are owned by Mikhail D. Prokhorov, from Russia, which has taken a tough anti-gay stance. And Collins will wear his regular No. 98, in honor of Matthew Shepard, the college student who was murdered for being gay in 1998.
Collins may soon be joined in pro sports by Michael Sam, who’s just come out and is on-target to be drafted by the NFL.
All of which makes me look prescient for publishing “Water Music,” a novel about four gay athletes and how their shifting rivalries color their personal relationships with one another.
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Read MoreThe penultimate night of the Sochi Games brought us the Figure Skating Gala, in which the top finishers in the various skating disciplines put on an exhibition that was more relaxed and playful than the competition. In that spirit, NBC invited free-wheeling NBCSN commentators Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir to sit at the big people’s table, as it were, and offer commentary on NBC in prime time. Both Tara and Johnny, who’ve earned raves for their repartee, sported gold sprigs in their hair that Tara said were Sochi flowers. Sidekick Terry Gannon – whom some in the press have dubbed the pair’s chaperone – wore his in his lapel. The hairpieces brought to mind Pauline Kael’s famously acidic review of “Dances With Wolves,” in which she said “Kevin Costner has feathers in his hair and feathers in his head.”
NBC actually showed little of the event in prime time. Among the highlights were Gracie Gold’s sassy salute to Fosse, her hometown of Chicago and “Chicago” with “All That Jazz”; gold medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White’s balletic skate to the Adagio from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2; and Yuna Kim’s simply stunning interpretation of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
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Read MoreWe take a break from the Olympics to reflect on a disturbing story that led many newspapers and programs Saturday – the report on the hazing of former Miami Dolphin Jonathan Martin, which paints an ugly portrait of homophobia, misogyny, racism and inappropriate touching.
The report concludes that teammate Richie Incognito and his acolytes John Jerry and Mike Pouncey harassed not only Martin but another young offensive lineman and an assistant trainer. Particularly revolting were the sexual comments about Martin’s sister, who has nothing to do with any of this. (Incognito’s lawyer, Mark Schamel, has said the report is replete with errors.) Whatever took place was so unnerving to Martin that he left the team and sought psychiatric help.
What is going on here? In an Op-Ed piece for the Feb. 15 edition of The New York Times, Nicholas Dawidoff, author of “Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent world of NFL Football,” suggests that homophobia is the sport’s shield against its inherent homoeroticism. Think about it – all those men bending over, passing the ball between their legs, piling on top of one another, often in the most violent ways. Then there’s the intensity of the locker room with its attendant nudity. Read more
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