Brad Davis: was he or wasn't he?
Michael Bryan
>In article <1991Sep10....@kodak.kodak.com> blub...@music.Kodak.Com (Mike Blubaugh) writes:
>>According to NPR's Morning Edition, Brad Davis died of AIDS yesterday.
>[...]
>>A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
>>used drugs several years ago.
>
>>Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? There may not be
>
>Even if he was gay, he could still have contracted it via drug use.
>Besides, that does not constitute much of a cop-out; I shouldn't
>be surprised to learn that there is more stigma in Hollywood attached to
>intravenous drug use than there is to being gay.
I don't know. It seems to me it's far more common to hear of drug abuse with
Hollywood folk that it is to hear about them being gay. It is not easy for
a star to admit he has a drug problem, but the public may tend to react
more positively to drugs, due to pity, than they would to their favorite
actor/actress being gay. [Of course, another reason for hearing more about
drugs that homosexuality might be because a higher percentage use drugs.
So who knows?]
--
Mike Bryan (mbr...@netcom.com)
408/738-2479 Sunnyvale, CA
"Does this sentence remind you of Agatha Christie?"
Mike Blubaugh
_Midnight_Express_, _Querelle_, and (I think) _Rosalee_Goes_Shopping_.
(And, oh boy, was he hot!)
A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
used drugs several years ago.
Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? There may not be
public evidence, but anyone with a little more intelligence than roasted
coffee beans could surmise that this man was gay! Why is Hollywood still
as closeted as it ever was when Rock and Lib were alive?
---
"Chaos and mayhem have been taking a bad wrap lately in these
pathologically normal times." -- Northern Exposure
---
------ Mike Blubaugh ------------ PHONE: (716) 726-9501 or 69501 in Kodak --
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Jeff Baron
>> used drugs several years ago.
>>
>> Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? There may not be
>> public evidence, but anyone with a little more intelligence than roasted
>> coffee beans could surmise that this man was gay! Why is Hollywood still
>> as closeted as it ever was when Rock and Lib were alive?
And why does it matter? Oh, I know why it matters, because
everyone thinks that world would be much better off if there
were lots of good role models out there, or at least, VISIBLE
role models, for others to look up to.
Well, that MAY be the case. And it MAY be the case that Brad
Davis, if he were gay, would have been a good role model. Who's
to say?
But it is HIS decision. If he was gay, and he felt uncomfortable
about being generally out, and he did no wrong to the gay
community, than it is his business. Why are we all so fascinated
with who is and who isn't? I don't advertise my homosexuality
here at work, because many here would feel uncomfortable, and
that would, in turn, make it more difficult for me to do my job.
Do I, or the gay community, lose out by not introducing the
topic to the closed minded types around here? Probably so. But I
have judged, rightly or wrongly, that I just don't really
care about whether these people know, nor what they think about
gay and lesbians. I guess it is a combination of "pain in the
ass" and "it'll do little good." BUT, it is my decision. I don't
hide, and clearly, if anyone here were to read this, they'd have
direct confirmation about what they may already know.
I certainly do not object to making people feel uncomfortable about
being closed minded on this and other subjects, but for me, that
is not appropriate at work. Brad Davis, if he were gay, would
be subject to same pressure.
No one is perfect. You cannot expect every gay person in the public
eye to stand up to be counted, you just expect too much. People
are human, with human faults and human frailties. If Brad Davis
was ashamed, well, that's too bad, but that is his right.
Why does everyone else care?
John Flanagan
>A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
>used drugs several years ago.
>Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? There may not be
>public evidence, but anyone with a little more intelligence than roasted
>coffee beans could surmise that this man was gay! Why is Hollywood still
>as closeted as it ever was when Rock and Lib were alive?
Even if he was gay, he could still have contracted it via drug use.
Besides, that does not constitute much of a cop-out; I shouldn't
be surprised to learn that there is more stigma in Hollywood attached to
intravenous drug use than there is to being gay.
--
John Flanagan Center for EUV Astrophysics
jo...@ssl.berkeley.edu University of California
(...!ucbvax!soc1.ssl!johnf) Berkeley, CA 94720
"This may be stupid, but that's what we believe."
Martin J. Dellwo
>In article <JOHNF.91S...@gualala.ssl.berkeley.edu> jo...@ssl.berkeley.edu (John Flanagan) writes:
>>In article <1991Sep10....@kodak.kodak.com> blub...@music.Kodak.Com (Mike Blubaugh) writes:
>>>According to NPR's Morning Edition, Brad Davis died of AIDS yesterday.
>>[...]
>>>A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
>>>used drugs several years ago.
>>
>>>Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? There may not be
>>
>>Even if he was gay, he could still have contracted it via drug use.
>Hollywood folk that it is to hear about them being gay. It is not easy for
>a star to admit he has a drug problem, but the public may tend to react
>more positively to drugs, due to pity, than they would to their favorite
From today's paper:
***
ACTOR DAVIDS DIES OF AIDS AT 41
Los Angeles - Brad Davis, who starred in the film "Midnight Express" and
co-starred in "Chariots of Fire," has died of AIDS complications, his widow
said Monday. He was 41.
The Academy-Award nominated actor died Sunday at his home in Studio City,
said his wife, Susan Bluestein, a casting director.
"Brad had known he was HIV-positive since 1985," Bluestein said. "We all
kept this a secret because he was afraid that if it were known he had AIDS,
he would never be able to work as an actor."
****
Doesn't answer the question, though. I feel pissed off, not because of any
assumption that he was straight, but because of the perceived need to keep
his AIDS a secret.
-Marty
--
==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--++--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
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voice: (217) 333-3944 ++==++ University of Illinois (Urbana)
e-mail: del...@ottawa.scs.uiuc.edu || "What else ya wanna know?"
Roger B.A. Klorese
> "Brad had known he was HIV-positive since 1985," Bluestein said. "We all
>kept this a secret because he was afraid that if it were known he had AIDS,
>he would never be able to work as an actor."
>****
>
>Doesn't answer the question, though. I feel pissed off, not because of any
>assumption that he was straight, but because of the perceived need to keep
>his AIDS a secret.
...especially ironic since Davis starred in the original New York Public
Theater production of Larry Kramer's THE NORMAL HEART...
--
ROGER B.A. KLORESE +1 415 ALL-ARFF
rog...@unpc.QueerNet.ORG {ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!unpc!rogerk
"To live outside the law, you must be honest." -- Robert Zimmerman
Joseph Francis
>According to NPR's Morning Edition, Brad Davis died of AIDS yesterday.
>A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
>used drugs several years ago.
I'm smiling, because it sounds totally reasonable, and I know why you react:
>Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? There may not be
>public evidence, but anyone with a little more intelligence than roasted
>coffee beans could surmise that this man was gay! Why is Hollywood still
>as closeted as it ever was when Rock and Lib were alive?
They didn't say, 'he died of pneumonia', or 'cancer', but AIDS,
according to your quote. They didn't discuss whether or not he was
homosexual, maybe because he wasn't (though I believe everyone wanted
him to be; again, perhaps bisexual, I believe he was married).
IV drugs are an excellent way to contract AIDS. Granted that Brad
Davis worked with people like Fassbinder 'Querelle', and the sort of
demimonde which surrounded him, it is not unreasonable that he used IV
drugs (like Fassbinder, like others). Don't overreact.
--
| Le Jojo: Fresh 'n' Clean, speaking out to the way you want to live
| today; American - All American; doing, a bit so, and even more so.
Mike Blubaugh
|> In article <1991Sep10....@kodak.kodak.com> blub...@music.kodak.com writes:
|> >According to NPR's Morning Edition, Brad Davis died of AIDS yesterday.
|> ...
|> >A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
|> >used drugs several years ago.
Later the same day I saw the New York Times obituary, and noticed that the
"spokesperson" was actually his wife. (Others here have also noted such.)
|> IV drugs are an excellent way to contract AIDS. Granted that Brad
|> Davis worked with people like Fassbinder 'Querelle', and the sort of
|> demimonde which surrounded him, it is not unreasonable that he used IV
|> drugs (like Fassbinder, like others).
That's true.
|> Don't overreact.
This is perhaps the most accurate assessment of my posting. I allowed a
much-too-small portion of information to lead me to a possibly incorrect
conclusion. Brad Davis may have been gay, bi, or straight; I'll probably
never know. In fact, the thought that he may have been a straight man
who was comfortable enough appearing in several gay roles is almost
encouraging. Nonetheless, the Hollywood closet persists, and I reserve
the right to be pissed about it in general.
In article <1991Sep10....@sunova.ssc.gov>, Jeff Baron writes:
|> No one is perfect. You cannot expect every gay person in the public
|> eye to stand up to be counted, you just expect too much. People
|> are human, with human faults and human frailties. If Brad Davis
|> was ashamed, well, that's too bad, but that is his right.
|> Why does everyone else care?
This is not quite as apt a reading of my feelings. While it did appear
that I was attacking bi/les/gay actors for staying in the closet, actually
I was indicting the movie industry for the shameful way it forces them to
do so.
Keith Niall
Jeff Baron <1991Sep10....@kodak.kodak.com> whines and winges:
>You cannot expect every gay person in the public eye to stand up to
>be counted, you just expect too much.
To paraphrase Harvey Milk (from LIFE AND TIMES):
Every gay person MUST come out. You will feel so much better when
you do.
I vote that this little gem be included in the FAQ list for soc.motss .
And no, don't even think about haranguing me about how difficult it
seems to come out. If you can't, you can't. If you don't want to, don't
whine to the world about it.
I don't expect too much, I just expect as much as people were doing in
the late seventies. If you can't do that much, you are a terminal bore.
--
*** Keith Niall ****** k...@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca *****************************
Every young man fears he is not worth loving. Bless you, my dear; I have
found myself in you. (Wystan Auden)
Mary Shafer
> A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
> used drugs several years ago.
>
> Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? There may not be
> public evidence, but anyone with a little more intelligence than roasted
> coffee beans could surmise that this man was gay! Why is Hollywood still
> as closeted as it ever was when Rock and Lib were alive?
I believe that the spokesperson was his wife of fifteen years. Neither
she nor their eight-year-old daughter have tested positive (so far).
In today's story, Davis was described as an alcoholic, a user of IV
drugs, and sexually promiscuous (the sex of his partners was not
mentioned) during the early 80s. This description was taken from his
autobiography, which should appear in print fairly soon.
His being HIV+ and, later, his having AIDS were kept very secret
because he wanted to keep working, so that he'd be able to provide a
larger estate for his wife and daughter. He even sought treatment
under an assumed name and paid for it out of his own pocket so that
his insurance wouldn't be affected.
--
Mary Shafer DoD #0362 NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
sha...@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov sha...@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov
Of course I don't speak for NASA
"Turn to kill, not to engage." CDR Willie Driscoll
"Hey, Willie, how long can you tread water?" CDR Randy Cunningham
Phil Fernandez
>IV drugs are an excellent way to contract AIDS. Granted that Brad
>Davis worked with people like Fassbinder 'Querelle', and the sort of
>demimonde which surrounded him, it is not unreasonable that he used IV
>drugs (like Fassbinder, like others). Don't overreact.
Today, IV drugs are an excellent way to contract AIDS. Was that true
in the late 70's. Davis claims that he was a drug user in the 70's,
and that he must have contracted HIV then.
I'm afraid I agree with the interpretation that it is "easier" for his
family to claim IV drug use, than for his wife to admit that her
husband was queer. This does make me angry.
pmf
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phil Fernandez ______ ph...@metaphor.com
Director, Patriot \ / ...!{apple|decwrl}!metaphor!philf
Platform Development \ /
Metaphor Computer Systems \/ "Does the body rule the mind, or does the
Mountain View, CA mind rule the body? I dunno..." - Morrissey
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Rizzo
Oh, shit! Brad Davis died of AIDS?
If you doubt he was gay or bi, see the documentary that was made about the
making of Fassbinder's movie QUERELLE that accompanied distribution of the
feature film. Interesting exercise: screen MIDNIGHT EXPRESS again after
watching Davis camp it up behind the scenes in the documentary.
Regards,
Ron
***************************************************************************
"All for naught, but not for all." -- slogan of the 4 Nihilists
Ronald Rizzo
Ron Rizzo
>
>I'm afraid I agree with the interpretation that it is "easier" for his
>family to claim IV drug use, than for his wife to admit that her
>husband was queer. This does make me angry.
His wife must be deaf, dumb and blind. Off-stage Brad was a stereotypical
NYC-style quean, a real screamer who seethed libido. Not that strayts can't
be screamers.
Regards,
Ron
Ronald Rizzo
Rod Williams
>According to NPR's Morning Edition, Brad Davis died of AIDS yesterday.
>[...]
>A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
>used drugs several years ago.
According to the Associated Press, the spokesperson was his wife.
She said they knew about his HIV+ status as far back as 1985, but
didn't reveal it because they assumed his Hollywood career would
be finished were it known.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
R O D W I L L I A M S P A C I F I C * B E L L
S A N F R A N C I S C O , C A L I F O R N I A
=========================================================================
Doug Nicholson
In article <1991Sep10....@sunova.ssc.gov>, jba...@planck.ssc.gov (Jeff Baron) writes:
|> I don't advertise my homosexuality here at work, because many here
|> would feel uncomfortable, and that would, in turn, make it more
|> difficult for me to do my job.
If this is the way you want to handle it, that is your choice. This is a
subject that I feel strongly enough about that I have to say something.
Whenever the hetero's at work talk about their husbands, wives, girlfriends,
boyfriends, or children they are advertising their heterosexuality. I
have just as much right as anybody to about such personal matters. If I
have to keep my mouth shut about my sexuality to avoid making people
uncomfortable then they had better keep their mouths shut about theirs
because it makes feel uncomfortable!
Mike Drayton
Probably the truth of whether he was gay or not is less important than
the expression of feelings about hiding -- our own and other people's.
However, Fassbinder said Brad Davis was straight.
Mike Drayton
mdra...@hpmwfab2.HP.COM
Nancy Fox
>In article <1991Sep10.2...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> dellwo@ottawa (Martin J. Dellwo) writes:
>> "Brad had known he was HIV-positive since 1985," Bluestein said. "We all
>>kept this a secret because he was afraid that if it were known he had AIDS,
>>he would never be able to work as an actor."
>>****
>>
>>Doesn't answer the question, though. I feel pissed off, not because of any
>>assumption that he was straight, but because of the perceived need to keep
>>his AIDS a secret.
>
>...especially ironic since Davis starred in the original New York Public
>Theater production of Larry Kramer's THE NORMAL HEART...
>--
>ROGER B.A. KLORESE
There is a good article in the LA Times today, front page of the
Calendar section: Profile in Courage, Anger; Brad Davis Battled
AIDS, Hollywood Indifference. It was his contention that were
it to become known that he was HIV+, he would not work again.
This fact was supported by several other people in the article.
Even had he found a director to hire him, the money people would
never have allowed him a contract. Brad Davis had a wife and
child to support, and he chose to keep his HIV status a secret
so he could continue to work.
He learned he was HIV+ from a transatlantic phone call from his
wife while in Rome filming Blood Ties. He had given blood at
Cedars Sinai before he left, and they sent a letter to his
house announcing he was HIV+.
Davis, in a book proposal that he had just begun on living with
HIV, wrote that he thought the media's and the public's fascina-
tion with how specific individuals contracted the virus is
"very disturbing."
"There are many different ways to contract the virus, and each
carries its own degree of judgement or compassion. Gays [are]
the most heavily judged, receiving the least compassion. One
step up are the IV drug users, then heterosexual promiscuity,
women who get it from infected husbands, transfusion, and the
ultimate in no judgement and total compassion, babies born
with the virus. The problem with this is if there are
`innocent' victims then there must be `guilty' victims. The
fight against AIDS will be hampered until that kind of judge-
ment is suspended and it is widely recognized that no people
with AIDS deserve to have this disease and that all of them
deserve only compassion and support."
Davis joined AA in 1981 and became clean and sober. Before
that, he wrote, "I was a total drug addict-an alcoholic and
IV drug user-a user of just about any kind of drug I could
get. And I was sexually very promiscuous. I've never known
any addicts who weren't."
The article also says that as his health ebbed, Davis'
determination to speak out grew. He said about Reagen,
when asked to address the health crisis and he said he
wouldn't do anything to condone homosexuality, "What
an unbelievably ignorant, arrogant, bigoted position.
How could he posibly think that his opinion on homo-
sexuality had anything to do with a devasting disease
that was ravaging people, reducing them to skeletons and
killing them?"
So read it for yourself. I think the couple of people who
jumped to their own conclusions that Brad Davis was a closet
case are showing their own prejudice. Perhaps here was a
man who was not a bigot. Who had the courage to play gay
characters. And who's drug addiction eventually led to
his HIV infection.
Nancy
Jose Raneda 5-5817
>kept this a secret because he was afraid that if it were known he had AIDS,
>he would never be able to work as an actor."
>****
>
>Doesn't answer the question, though. I feel pissed off, not because of any
>assumption that he was straight, but because of the perceived need to keep
>his AIDS a secret.
I have the following remarks to make:
1) Whether he was gay or not is not really relevant, other than to
fantasize about doing him.
If he wasn't gay, I would have really been pissed off at a newspaper
saying: "He died of ADIS, but he wasn't gay," implying that isn't it
hard to believe that a hetero male can die of AIDS?
2) Now on keeping his AIDS a secret... Since when does one's medical
history becomes public domain?
I you don't understand why anybody would keep an AIDS diagnosis a secret,
then, you obviously have never seen or experience discrimination.
J.Manuel Raneda
Mara Chibnik
Drayton) writes:
>About the discussion of Brad Davis:
>
>Probably the truth of whether he was gay or not is less important than
>the expression of feelings about hiding -- our own and other people's.
> [ ... ]
Yes. I was struck, since I first heard it on the radio, by
the announcer's tone of voice. It sounded to me as though the
announcer was choosing to convey a most peculiar reassurance, "he
wasn't gay, you know, it was one of the _other_ things," without
saying it. I wondered how much of it was in the tone and how
much was something that I created for myself.
My reaction set me to thinking: I don't know-- nor does it matter
to me-- what his orientation was _or_ how he contracted AIDS. I
wondered, though, whether someone along the line might have figured
that it's time to use a celebrity to make a point about dangerous
drugging for a change.
Partly related:
Today's NY Times has a fairly long article on Davis's feelings about
how Hollywood as a community deals with AIDS (not well). I wasn't
overly impressed by the article but I was glad they thought it fit
to print.
--
ma...@panix.com Mara Chibnik ma...@dorsai.com
Life is too important to be taken seriously.
Harvey Cohen
(Mike Blubaugh) writes:
Nonetheless, the Hollywood closet persists, and I reserve
>the right to be pissed about it in general.
>
Last night on an Entertainment-Tonight-clone television show, called (I think)
Daily Entertainment Journal, they did a story on Brad Davis. His sexuality was
not at issue. But his in-the-closet illness was discussed as an example of the
many many HIV+ actors/actresses who go to great lengths concealing their
sero-status and/or illness for fear of being unemployable in Hollywood.
Brad Davis knew his sero-status since 1985 (I think), and had been ill for
several years before he died. He visited doctors secretly and under a false
name. He paid all his medical bills with *cash* to avoid submitting any
evidence of HIV infection to his insurance company. At the time of his death
Brad Davis had begun writing a book about being an actor-with-AIDS in
hollywood, and was negotiating with (I think) Simon and Schuster for a
publishing contract.
Towards the end of the segment, a New York AIDS activist (whose name I have
forgotten) described how he spends an enormous amount of time arranging for
doctors to make secret house-calls at the homes of well-known celebrities, and
how blood- and other lab-tests from these people are submitted pseudonymously,
to avoid any chance of their HIV status becoming public knowledge.
To their credit, the writers of this segment pointed out very nicely how the
entertainment industry *pretends* to care a great deal about AIDS and people
affected by it, but absolutely cannot deal with openly HIV+ personnel within
the industry.
It is a shame Brad Davis never had a chance to finish that book. Perhaps his
wife will find someone else to complete the project.
harvey (again watching too much television)
gsm...@concour.cs.concordia.ca
>"There are many different ways to contract the virus, and each
>carries its own degree of judgement or compassion. Gays [are]
>the most heavily judged, receiving the least compassion. One
>step up are the IV drug users...
However Brad Davis got the disease, I see he does agree there is less
of a stigma attached to shooting up than to being gay. Am I the only
one who finds this incredible? I thought we were having a war on
drugs, just saying no, and frying eggs on television with moronic
commentary. I thought drugs were what the new prudery was all about.
Now I hear that if at least you're not a fag, you still have *some*
credibility in society.
But AB 101 gets passed, which wouldn't happen if people in California
thought as badly about gays as about IV drug use. Am I in Pollyanna
City on this one? I would sure hate to have to come out to my family
as a heroin addict, I know that. If I were an addict, I am fairly sure
I would be mortified if anyone knew.
--
Gene Ward Smith/Brahms Gang/CICMA/Concordia University
gsm...@concour.cs.concordia.ca
Laurie Mann
> About the discussion of Brad Davis:
>
> Probably the truth of whether he was gay or not is less important than
> the expression of feelings about hiding -- our own and other people's.
>
> However, Fassbinder said Brad Davis was straight.
Moreover, gay activist/playwrite Larry Kramer said Brad Davis was straight.
It's unlikely that Kramer would help "closet" him, and gives more credence
to the IV drug story.
It's sad in any case. Davis was so good in Midnight Express back in the
late '70s, and he was so funny in Rosalie Went Shopping a few years back.
*SIGH*
**** Laurie_...@vos.stratus.com ** lm...@jjmhome.uucp ****
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Ron Rizzo
>
>Moreover, gay activist/playwrite Larry Kramer said Brad Davis was straight.
Hardly an unimpeachable source. Did Mr Kramer try to put the make on Mr Davis?
Ronald Rizzo
Henry Mensch
->In article <10...@jjmhome.UUCP> lm...@jjmhome.UUCP (Laurie Mann) writes:
->>
->>Moreover, gay activist/playwrite Larry Kramer said Brad Davis was straight.
->
->Hardly an unimpeachable source. Did Mr Kramer try to put the make on Mr Davis?
ron: why do you care? do you have this thing for gay male corpses or
something?
--
# Henry Mensch / Advanced Decision Systems / <he...@ads.com>
Steve Dyer
>->>Moreover, gay activist/playwrite Larry Kramer said Brad Davis was straight.
>->Hardly an unimpeachable source. Did Mr Kramer try to put the make on Mr Davis?
>ron: why do you care? do you have this thing for gay male corpses or
>something?
Who, Kramer? I haven't been able to look at him ever since he shaved his
beard off. But I've got his photo from the bookjacket of _Faggots_ on my wall.
--
Steve Dyer
dy...@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
George Neville-Neil
|> rri...@ccv1.bbn.com (Ron Rizzo) wrote:
|> ->In article <10...@jjmhome.UUCP> lm...@jjmhome.UUCP (Laurie Mann) writes:
|> ->>
|> ->>Moreover, gay activist/playwrite Larry Kramer said Brad Davis was straight.
|> ->
|> ->Hardly an unimpeachable source. Did Mr Kramer try to put the make on Mr Davis?
|>
|> ron: why do you care? do you have this thing for gay male corpses or
|> something?
|>
What's wrong with sleeping with the "metabolically challenged" ? :-)
Later,
George
--
George Neville-Neil No dear, more to the left.
g...@manray.berkeley.edu
"Drugs are like wheelchairs, you may not need one but
they're fun to ride down hills. -FWA-
Tim W Smith
< you do.
What if the don't want to feel better? Shouldn't people have a right
to be unhappy if they want to?
Tim Smith
Pieter Hazewindus
>However Brad Davis got the disease, I see he does agree there is less
>of a stigma attached to shooting up than to being gay. Am I the only
>one who finds this incredible? I thought we were having a war on
>drugs, just saying no, and frying eggs on television with moronic
>commentary. I thought drugs were what the new prudery was all about.
>Now I hear that if at least you're not a fag, you still have *some*
>credibility in society.
Incredible? Yes. But true for Hollywood. Substance abuse is
tolerated in Hollywood, if you're discreet about it. Experimenting
with drugs is ok when you are young and innocent. It is, after all,
only a phase you're going through.
Sounds familiar?
The magic of substance abuse is that it can be treated and cured.
There is something ennobling about overcoming your ills (great art
requires great suffering). You get to write and direct a disease-of-
the-week movie about your own life. You get a few minutes in the
limelight on Entertainment Tonight. You get to tell high-school kids
in South-Central Los Angeles how the Betty Ford Clinic helped you sort
out your life. In short, you're the ideal spokesperson for the war on
drugs, because you know what it's like.
This scenario does not work if you are not a substance abuser, but
gay. The one thing about which Hollywood is singularly enlightened is
the belief that homosexuality can't be cured. For Hollywood, therein
lies the problem.
Pieter Hazewindus pie...@cs.caltech.edu
Dave Barton
MB> Organization: Eastman Kodak Co. Engineering Systems Division, Rochester,
MB> NY
MB> Message-ID: <1991Sep10....@kodak.kodak.com>
MB> Newsgroups: soc.motss
MB> According to NPR's Morning Edition, Brad Davis died of AIDS yesterday.
MB> A spokesperson for his estate said that he had contracted AIDS when he
MB> used drugs several years ago.
MB> There may not be public evidence, but anyone with a little more
intelligence than roasted coffee beans could surmise that this man was gay! Why
is Hollywood still as closeted as it ever was when Rock and Lib were alive?
V unir vg haqre tbbq jbeq sebz n sevraq bs zvar gung Qnivf jnf ng yrnfg ov. Zl
sevraq pynvzf gung ur unq frk jvgu Qnivf va gur onpxebbz bs n Fna Senapvfpb one
frireny lrnef onpx. Gur naivy, v guvax.
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ybg bs qehtf naq unq orra irel cebzvfphbhf. Traqre bs gubfr cnegaref unf orra
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jbhyq vzcyl gb zr gung ur jnf ng yrnfg ovfrkhny.
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fhecevfrq gung Xenzre arire "bhgrq" uvz.
Nf sbe Ubyyljbbq orvat n tvnag pybfrg, fgvyy. Lbh org! T & Y pryroevgvrf nobhaq.
Vg frrzf rira nsgre gurl'er bhgrq ol dhrre npgvivfgf (rk:Gbz Fryynpx naq Wbua
Genibygn) gurl pyvat "cebhqyl" gb gurve "jvirf" naq cergraq bhgentr....
Znlor fbzrqnl, jr jvyy unir va Nzrevpn tnl npgbef naq npgerffrf oenir rabhtu
yvxr gur H.X.'f Wbua Vna ZpXryyna naq Wbua Fpuyrfvatre pbzr bhg naq qb hf nyy n
snibe.
Jr'er jnvgvat, Gbz Pehvfr!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zl zrffntr vf cevagvat va "uvqqra" yvarf, fb V ubcr vg znxrf frafr.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bcvavbaf rkcerffrq urer ner zl bja.
--
Dave Barton
Internet: Dave....@ofa123.fidonet.org
Compuserve: >internet:Dave....@ofa123.fidonet.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Bowles
a very important point:
The words he's chosen to have said about him after his death will
help people with HIV and AIDS working in Hollywood substantially.
The real answer is, it doesn't matter if he was gay or not. If he
was gay, good for us; if he wasn't, well, he's helped us substantially.
Isn't that all we need to know?
Jeff Bowles
--
That's the beauty of grand opera -
you can do anything, so long as you sing it.