Two studies on gay brothers are out: Discover Magazine (Sept.) tells of a ‘fraternal birth-order effect’ study in which it has been shown that boys with older brothers are more likely to grow up gay (and the more older brothers, the more likely the younger is to be gay). Also, the Molecular Genetic Study of Sexual Orientation, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times (9/26), is looking for ‘one or more genes that help determine sexual orientation’ among pairs of gay brothers. Homosexuality does run in families: ‘… 2 percent to 4 percent of all men are gay, 8 percent to 12 percent of brothers of gay men are gay.’
Looking pretty buff, gay playwright Tennessee Williams in a nude P-Town beach foto from the 1940s (of which you only see the top, unfortunately) was more out than was previously thought, according to the New York Times (9/24). A number of short plays from his early career have been uncovered and one deals explicitly with his affair with a draft dodger, Kip Kiernan. Known for the subtle nuances about homosexuality in his later plays (e.g., The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) the director of this earlier play, now being put on for the first time, David Kaplan says, ‘There is a lot of nonsense that says Williams was conflicted about his homosexuality in this period of his life … That’s not true … The tone of ‘Parade’ is beautifully unequivocal. It is not whining. It is not apologetic. He demands his audience … take seriously gay people onstage.’ The new-old play’s whole title is The Parade or Approaching the End of a Summer.
Joining the Canadian Mounties who wed several months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times (9/17) shows and tells of two Spanish soldiers getting married (in full Air Force dress uniforms). Alberto Linero and Alberto Sanchez are the beneficiaries of a government in which gay marriage is legal and there are no laws against gays in the military. The Albertos plan to continue their military careers.
An essay in the Chicago Tribune (9/17) tells of the trends toward acceptance of gay athletes building in the four major U.S. sports: football, baseball, basketball and hockey. While no athlete has ever come out while active in the sport, a number have done so after retiring. The essay ironically points out that much of what happens in sport is behavior that only gay men practice: ‘Nowhere else in our culture do we see men hold hands, slap each other warmly, hug in celebration or even ry together in defeat.’ Professional teams are presenting diversity panels to rookies; various pro athletes have good-naturedly done gay-speculative commercials; and surveys have found that three-fourths of players and fans would not mind if some players were gay.
The controversy section of the Chicago Sun-Times (9/24) complains, in its cover article, of the one gay group that movies and TV have skipped: the butch lesbian. Gay male characters run the gamut from flaming queens to burly bears, but lipstick lesbians are the major visible gay women. The author points out that the only two butches who’ve appeared in movies in the last three years (Maggie in Million Dollar Baby and Aileen in Monster) both got to die horribly. One hopes, the article goes on, that at some point one will get to see on TV ‘a butch who is not going to be stuffed into a skirt or stuck in a coffin.’