Gay History
Yesterday, TCM ran Night and Day , the biopic of Cole Porter. In it Cary Grant plays the famed songwriter/composer Cole Porter and Alexis Smith plays his loving wife. Apart from whatever merits or lack of them that this movie possessed, it�s a great example of how gay people are robbed of their history. Cole Porter was gay but this is never shown; instead you see a heterosexual male deeply in love with his wife. It�s a good example of how the media�at least in the 40�s but into the 21 st century as well, contributed (along with political, religious, and social institutions) to deny gay people a legitimacy, a presence, a history. Also yesterday, the New York Times ran an article on �Helping a Child to Come Out� ( http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/fashion/helping-a-gay-child-to-come-out.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 ), perhaps an indication of how much society has progressed, perhaps an indication of how little society has changed. ...