Gay History

Tragedy Queen

Tragedy Queen

Unlike Willy and Sandy, my parents’ friend Brodrick Westcott did not live in the closet because he was yanked out of it. During a routine police raid of the public men’s rooms in a park in St. Louis, he was discovered having man-on-man sex, arrested and thrown in jail under the prevailing sodomy laws. Word of his transgression spread quickly among his peers in the elite West County suburbs and, within a short time, he lost his his marriage, his child, his livelihood, his friends, his reputation and eventually his life.

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Peeking Into The Closet

Peeking Into The Closet

In her book, Shameless, A Sexual Reformation, Nadia Bolz-Weber writes that she navigated her sex life “without any wisdom from my elders.” I had the same experience because most of my gay elders were deep in the closet.

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Gorgeous

Gorgeous

My generation of gay men came grew up in a time devoid of any context for being gay. Long before puberty, I sensed something different inside of me, but I had no visual models to provide a framework or mentors to give me validation for this feeling.

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