The feature film adaptation of Andrew Holleran’s classic 1978 gay novel Dancer from the Dance about a lawyer who gives up his day job and immerses himself in the ’70s social scene of gay men in New York City and Fire Island has gotten a Director and will soon begin production almost 40 years after its literary debut.
Alan Poul’s TV directing credits include Six Feet Under, The Newsroom, Rome, Swingtown, and the feature The Back-up Plan. RT Features’ productions include Frances Ha, Love is Strange, Mistress America, and The Witch. Screenplay is by Joshua Harmon, John Krokidas, and Austin Bunn. Poul, Rodrigo Teixeira, and Mauricio Zacharias will produce. Production is scheduled for summer 2016 and WME is packaging.
The novel is known for its unflinching vivid imagery, lush language, and captivating depiction of gay men searching for love and acceptance in a harsh, dreamlike urban landscape.
Poul also co-produced the ’90s Tales of the City series which aired on PBS and Showtime.
TRIVIA: The title of the novel comes from the last line of William Butler Yeats‘s poem “Among School Children”, which ends, “O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,/ Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?/ O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,/ How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
Linda Harvey’s extremely dangerous and harmful Kindle book to LGBT at risk youth “Maybe He’s Not Gay” returned to Amazon on Friday, along with a dozen new fake 5-star reviews.
Two weeks ago I contacted Amazon.com to complain about the book and filled them in on Linda Harvey’s hate group leader status, her past hateful and extreme anti-LGBT propaganda and and how potentially dangerous this book was to LGBT children. In 2012, The Southern Poverty Law center designated Harvey’s group Mission; America a hate group, based on the on their extremist fringe anti-LGBT stance.
I received an email from Amazon.com saying that they would remove the title from its library.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
I’d love to forward your email to our Catalog Team to remove the book from our website, but I couldn’t find the exact book in our website. Please write back with the following information to locate the item on our website so that we can contact our Catalog Team.
Anitha M.
After sending Amazon.com the information requested and the link, 4 hours later Linda Harvey’s book was removed from the catalog.
Two days after the book was removed Linda Harvey claimed that SHE had the book withdrawn the book from the site because evil gay bloggers like me who were encouraging bad reviews from people who hadn’t even read it.
On the third day following the removal I received the following email from Brittany Turner who works for Amazon.com’s PR team.
Hi Will,
I work on the Amazon PR team, and saw your post on Back2Stonewall titled “Hate Group Leader Linda Harvey’s Book “Maybe He’s Not Gay” Pulled From Amazon.com. I wanted to let you know that the publisher removed the book from sale. Can you please correct your story to reflect this.
Obviously I did not change the story. Instead I wrote back to Ms. Turner and asked why, if Harvey’s publisher, Penrhyn Press, pulled her book did I receive an email stating that the book would be pulled. I also asked for a statement from Amazon.com regarding the selling of a potentially dangerous book to LGBT youth from an officially recognized fringe anti-gay hate group leader.
Now three follow-up emails to Amazon and I still have not received answer.
As she introduces the book, Harvey describes homosexuality as “an emperor without clothes,” claiming repeatedly that gay people’s “feelings” (I can just hear her saying it in a mocking voice) are totally misguided and don’t actually reflect facts or represent the “truth” — which is, apparently, that nobody can be gay.
The “factual” pillars she believes we’re violating are that being gay hasn’t been proven to be genetic and that there are “risks” associated with homosexuality — as you may have guessed, she throws around lots of outdated data and incorrect stereotypes about HIV/AIDS. (Chapter 4 is called “Friends Don’t Let Friends Be Gay,” and it’s all about gay sex. Which religious conservatives seems rather obsessed with…)
Here’s a pseudo-thesis statement:
If it’s not genetic and some people think there are some real risks and problems with homosexuality … then why can’t there be reasonable discussions about it? Wouldn’t that be reasonable, compassionate and… tolerant??? Maybe being gay isn’t “who they are.” Maybe their feelings have just had a head-on collision with facts.
She makes the argument that “our ancestors” throughout history opposed homosexuality, and she gets really tripped up trying to decide whether or not homosexuality is genetic, i.e. fixed at birth and unchangeable.
If there’s no reliable research supporting the claim that being gay is inborn — then why can’t we still allow open discussions in our schools, universities, legislatures? Can an opposing opinion still be allowed without name-calling? Without people being called hateful, bigoted, intolerant? Without fines, job loss, public humiliation? (Yes, those things are happening!) Can we listen to other voices on this issue, in an attempt to find the truth? And if we aren’t willing to do so, what does that say about us?
The part of this that made me start to hyperventilate is when she compared homosexuality to skipping class, being overweight, cheating on exams, cheating on a spouse, or even developing an eating disorder: all behaviors she considers “not genetic, high-risk, and changeable.”
(There are so many problems with this logic. So. Many.)
But that’s the argument she uses to claim that homosexuality is probably not inborn, but merely a bad choice that some people make and can be counseled out of. Take a look:
Some girls — even a few boys — develop eating disorders. Why? What in the world could make a person intentionally starve herself? One would think, since this is so obviously a bad idea, that all you have to do is point out this fact to an otherwise smart person, and they’ll snap out of it — right? But it turns out, it’s not that simple. Sometimes it takes years of counseling to get a person to eat. Think about that. To get a person to eat, the most basic human desire we have. And in the meantime, serious damage can be happening to her skin, hair, heart and other organs. Why do we not think people could be deeply deceived — emotionally — about other things? Things like their perceptions about who they are attracted to? Things like sex and gender identity?
Next up, Harvey claims that accepting homosexuality will “shake the foundations of human culture.” And that it’s already happening! (The horror!) She offers a long list of the horrible, horrible consequences of greater acceptance of LGBT folks. While the list is too long to post in its entirety, here are some of the gems:
Someone may confess a gay “crush” on you, whether or not you have any interest, and if you aren’t polite, even if they are quite aggressive, you may be accused of bigotry and discrimination. In fact, being repulsed by a gay person’s pursuit of you will no longer be an acceptable reaction. You won’t have a choice — it won’t be “cool” and it may also go against the school or company rules on discrimination and you will become the “bad guy” who is expelled or fired.
You may get a summer job where you are in contact with practicing homosexuals, and you may be forced to listen to them describe their homosexual relationships, even if you don’t want to. Complaining may result in a charge of discrimination, a demotion or even being fired.
Same sex marriage will become legal and you will be expected to attend and applaud these weddings, and to introduce partners to your family and friends.
It will become illegal to say anything against homosexuality even in church or even to your own children.
You may belong to a health plan where the doctor or counselor assigned to you is homosexual and also the same sex as you. If that makes you feel uncomfortable during physical exams, too bad.
No one will be allowed to joke about men who want to wear dresses or women who have beards, and restrooms and locker rooms will be non-gendered.
She also whines that acceptance of homosexuality will lead kids to start wondering about sex, and having sex earlier, and that we’ll all have to accept it. Wrong, wrong, wrong. If your child sees a same-sex couple and their first question is how that couple has sex, you need to have another conversation entirely.
The kicker comes in the third chapter: “Why No One Is Born Gay.”
Homosexuality is really a rebellion against the norm, against most or all norms. It’s one type of behavior that some people today are saying should be explored by anyone who wants to. And the person doesn’t have to call himself or herself a homosexual. It’s called “fluid” sexual behavior and feelings, or being “queer.” That’s not my word, but theirs. That is, go into the homosexual life if a person wants, or heterosexuality, or bisexuality. Change genders or have an undefined gender, or do whatever you want, whenever you want. This is what is being promoted. Not long ago, such recklessness would have been unheard of and considered what it quite logically is: a recipe for personal chaos and disaster. Others are proposing widespread acceptance of bizarre practices like sex between people and animals, or sado-masochism, which combines violence and sex. Finally, some people believe that the criminal penalties that exist for sex between adults and minors should be eliminated, and that even children should have sex.More chaos, damage and disaster.
Harvey says that “hundreds” of organizations in the U.S. can help gay people work through their feelings and turn straight, and that plenty of “converted homosexuals” will tell you that it really works. Never mind that the most prominent ex-gay organization Exodus International shut its doors and its president said homosexuality is unchangeable — Harvey says he’s not a good representative of the ex-gay movement because “there seems to be a lot of confusion going on in his life.”
Later, she defends parents who kick their gay children out of their homes. She suggests that children whose parents don’t try to shield them from homosexuality will commit suicide. She says that it’s the responsibility of churches to try to warn people about homosexuality. She suggests that gay teenagers are the victims of broken homes or sexual abuse. She waxes poetic on Sodom and Gomorrah. And finally, she says that God is the answer to a troubled life of homosexuality.
This is the book that Amazon.com finds acceptable and is allowing to be sold on its website
Right now I don’t know who is more disgusting. Linda Harvey or Amazon.com
Is there a strict set of rules to determine how gay you are? Do you think there will ever come a time in our society when you aare instructed on how to be gay? Well, today I stumbled across a book review that portends to define these type of limiting parameters.
The Huffington Post reviewed the book How To Be Gay, written by David M. Halperin that homosexuality in the gay man is related to culture not sex. Halperin, a professor at University of Michigan suggests “gayness is not a state or condition. It’s a mode of perception, an attitude, an ethos: in short, it is a practice.”
Since gay men are a product of culture, as Halperin suggests, our personality comes from depraved elements in our society and“resides in some of its most despised and repudiated features: gay male femininity, diva worship, aestheticism, snobbery, drama, adoration of glamour, caricature of women and obsession with the figure of the mother.” So I take it he feels that all gay men are shallow superficial fashion obsessed human beings that worship music and fashion icons. WRONG.
Others have taken notice, that the gay man are by and large similar to straight except when it comes to things like intimacy, behavior, and even in appearance. While differences are commonly found only in sexual attraction, Halperin, who is openly gay, however feels homosexuality in the gay man inhibits the ability to know oneself and “for all its undeniable benefits, gay pride is now preventing us from knowing ourselves.”
Halperin also likens the tendency of the gay man to use culture as a model for behavior and by analyzing it to abnormality by saying“What do perverts do, after all, if not pervert?” What kind of twisted logic is this? How can this man compare our behavior to social deviants? That we only have one track minds unable to have interests outside of pop culture?
In 2000 Halperin taught a controversial class to gay men described as“a conscious identity, a common culture, a particular outlook on the world, a shared sense of self.” Also, Halperin feels that our experience as gay men thriftless behavior is non-appreciative and that “sometimes I think homosexuality is wasted on gay people.”
Overall, Halperin suggests that observing his unique perspective is a journey to “complete obviousness combined with total unacceptability is typically what distinguishes every worthwhile idea.” It’s absurd that Halperin thinks he can encapsulate such a limited mode of behavior with lack of human variation.
What’s even more astonishing to me is when doing a quick search on how common a question like this is and found an article in GayLife that gave readers four specific points on how to conduct themselves as gay men, in their intro they even say “If you think you are “not gay enough” or think you are “too gay” then read this quick guide on how to be gay!” While I do find the title and intro jarring the message of being yourself is prevalent throughout the article.They also discusses the Kinsey Scale which notes that there are varying degrees to sexuality.
In spite of Mr. Halperin’s opinion we as human beings are way too complex to only have one mode of thinking as he implies. So what if that is what some gay men are interested in, you can’t use that as some blank statement on the behavior of gay men or any men. There is no guideline, rulebook, or instruction that can accurately navigate everyone’s experience regardless of sexuality, and to imply otherwise in my none too import opinion, is asinine.
Legendary gay author, playwright, screenwriter, Tony winner, political activist and King of acerbic wit Gore Vidal has died at the age of 86 on Tuesday due to of complications from pneumonia. Vidal is survived in death by Howard Austen, his partner of 53 years,
Along with such contemporaries as Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, Gore Vidal was among the last generation of literary writers who were also genuine celebrities – regulars on talk shows and in gossip columns, personalities of such size and appeal that even those who hadn’t read their books knew their names.
His works included hundreds of essays, the best-selling novels “Lincoln” and “Myra Breckenridge” and the Tony-nominated play “The Best Man,” a melodrama about a presidential convention revived on Broadway in 2012.
Widely admired as an independent thinker – in the tradition of Mark Twain and H.L. Mencken – about literature, culture, politics and, as he liked to call it, “the birds and the bees.” He picked apart politicians both living and dead; mocked religion and prudery; opposed wars from Vietnam to Iraq and insulted his peers like no other, once observing that the three saddest words in the English language were “Joyce Carol Oates.” (The happiest words: “I told you so”).
In 1948 Vidal published “The City and the Pillar”. It is what we would now call a coming-out story, about a handsome, athletic young Virginia man who gradually discovers that he is homosexual. By today’s standards it is tame and discreet, but at the time it caused a scandal and was denounced as corrupt and pornographic.
In the ’60s Mr. Vidal published three books in fairly quick succession: “Julian” (1964), “Washington, D.C.” (1967) and “Myra Breckenridge” (1968). “Julian,” which some critics still consider Mr. Vidal’s best, was a painstakingly researched historical novel about the fourth-century Roman emperor who tried to convert Christians back to paganism. (Vidal himself never had much use for religion, Christianity especially, which he once called “intrinsically funny.”) “Washington, D.C.” was a political novel set in the ’40s. And the infamous “Myra Breckenridge,” Mr. Vidal’s own favorite among his books, was a campy black comedy about a male homosexual who has sexual reassignment surgery and turns into a woman.
.In 1968, while covering the Democratic National Convention on television, he called William F. Buckley a “cryptofascist.” Buckley responded by calling Mr. Vidal a “queer,” and the two were in court for years. In a 1971 essay he compared Norman Mailer to Charles Manson, and a few months later Mailer head-butted him in the green room while the two were waiting to appear on the Dick Cavett show. They then took their quarrel on the air in a memorable exchange that ended with Mr. Cavett’s telling Mailer to take a piece of paper on the table in front of them and “fold it five ways and put it where the moon don’t shine.” In 1975 Mr. Vidal sued Truman Capote for libel after Capote wrote that Mr. Vidal had been thrown out of the Kennedy White House. Mr. Vidal won a grudging apology.
And this is only a small portion of Gore Vidal’s life.
Vidal was an Augustan figure who believed himself to be the last of a breed, and he was probably right.
Harvard University police are investigating vandalism and destruction of about 40 books about lesbian and gay issues at the university’s Lamont library as a hate crime.
Security staff at Lamont Library said in a report filed with campus police on Friday that it appeared someone poured urine on the books on Nov. 24. An empty bottle was found nearby Library spokeswoman Beth Brainard says it took so long to report the incident because staff wanted to assess the value of the books. which are estimated to be worth several thousand dollars and will be discarded.
Harvard police say they are investigating vandalism to about 40 books about lesbian and gay issues at a university library as a hate crime.
The destruction of the books is being investigated as a hate crime.
