Gays Falling For “Call Me By Your Name”
I get DMs on social media all the time from other gay men who want to share something in private because they’re afraid of getting backlash if they share it in public. I do the same thing, too. It’s just easier and more comfortable. We talk about our culture and our lives all the time behind the scenes, which can be cathartic nowadays.
With that said, someone sent me this link the other day and I thought it was pretty much spot on. I’ve been wondering many of the same things myself. It’s a piece about the book and movie, Call Me By Your Name, and it questions why so many gay men are praising it.
The book was penned by a straight author who says that he has never had a gay relationship in his life, and it tells the story of two apparently heteroflexible but largely hetero-leaning men who seem to experiment with same-sex sex only furtively in their lives. The film is even straighter.
And yet this book/movie is being promoted, widely, as the ultimate gay romance movie. I don’t get that. There’s nothing gay about it.
To repeat, this is strange! Why has Call Me by Your Name attained such an iconic “gay” status when it is anything but? When its main characters seem almost aggressively isolated from gay culture or politics? When its precocious protagonist has to be reminded that it’s gauche to make fun of people who are openly gay?
You can check the rest out here. It’s not a totally negative piece.
My biggest issue with Call Me By Your Name is the barely legal story line with a 17 year old boy.
Queer Places by Elisa Rolle
Now for a completely different topic, and one that totally celebrates queer culture. I rarely read print books these days, but this one just came in and I wanted to share it. I don’t know how Elisa does this or where she finds the time, but it’s amazing. And I’m serious. Amazing.
It’s a comprehensive non-fiction book with facts and history that’s filled with information. Here’s part of the blurb from Amazon.
Queer Places, developed in 3 volumes, United States of America (1), United Kingdom (2), and Rest of the World (3), is a mix of travel guide and historical trivia; while I tried to give as much as possible the necessary info for you to find the queer places to explore, the book is above all a tool to help you deciding if you want to really visit the place. Queer Places gives you the background of the location, who lived there, who loved the place and made it unique. It gives you an address, sometime a website, and other nearby queer places.
And here’s the link. This will be on my coffee table for a long, long time.
Justin Trudeau’s Tearful Apology to Gay People
I love this guy, and this is the reason why. Whenever it surfaces that a US politician has “evolved” on gay marriage, that’s not good enough for me. That’s an insult. I want to hear an apology, the same kind of apology other minorities receive for the injustices that have been done to them. Gay people never get that from US politicians.
But this time Justin Trudeau knocked it right out of the proverbial ballpark, and he’s gained a lot more respect as a result.
“It is with shame and sorrow and deep regret for the things we have done that I stand here today and say, We were wrong. We apologize. I am sorry. We are sorry.”
And that’s why I love Justin Trudeau. That’s all it takes, just one honest apology. In fact, I think he may be the first one who ever did apologize.
