The Hon. Dr :: essays research papers

Among the comical presss responses to my 1993 book A Place at the T up to(p) was the charge by some critics that Im " devolve on-negative." Frank Browning griped that I want to "to have everyone puzzle on 30 pounds, buy a Brooks Brothers suit, and wander impinge on on the golf links, becoming an upper-class version of Ozzie and Harry. Those who dont want to drive risks should conglutination Mr. Bawer on the golf course. Those who want to feel alive allow for benefit from the exploration of our bodies and what our bodies can grant."Golf? Ozzie and Harry? Brooks Brothers? What, I wondered, does any of this have to do with what Ive written? Ive never been on a golf course. Or worn a Brooks Brothers suit. And when did I join the upper class? Of course I want gay nation to enjoy what their bodies can grant. I also want them to have cope with rights under the law, the love and respect of their friends and families, and a meaningful life beyond their orgasms. I want gay kids to grow up knowing that, as wonderful as sex can be, gay identity amounts to more than than belonging to a "culture of desire."Browning and others mocked me for being "serious." Well, isnt discovering oneself as a gay individual in this society a serious challenge? Isnt gay rights a serious issue? Being serious just about gay rights in public discourse doesnt preclude being able to have fun in ones personal life. Yet if some right-wing critics cant write about homosexuality without smirking, some gay writers seem ineffectual to address the subject without prattling frivolously about their own sex lives and longings.Which is a shame, because its vitally important for us to recognize that at the heart of homophobia lies an unfitness to see that gays can love each other as deep and as seriously as straights can. Explaining why hed refused to print my review of the flick Longtime Companion, an American Spectator editor told a New York beholder reporter, "Bawer was striking a total equivalence between a straight couple in love and a homosexual couple in love. To me, that wasnt convincing." That editor isnt alone in rejecting the idea of the moral equivalence of gays and straights.Its non only heterosexuals who draw these sex-related distinctions. "The defining thing about being gay," a gay man tells Susan Bergman in her new memoir, Anonymity, "is that you like to have sex a lot.