by Rick Wood
October 20, 2009
If you don’t know already, this is GLBT History Month. With all the Pride celebrations around the world taking place in the summer, the autumn is a good time to reflect on what we’ve achieved in the fight for queer rights. (Apologies to those who don’t like the term “queer.” I know it means “weird” but weird is so much better than normal; normal is boring!)
For the fourth year in a row, the GLBT History Month Web site www.glbthistorymonth.com marks the achievements of a different gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender icon every day for the month of October.
When I heard of the list, my first thought was that it would consist of a bunch of obscure names only known to stuffy, queer academics. But no! I was happy to see many names I’ve not only heard of, but many are people still around today.
This year’s list includes Alfred Kinsey, who’s Kinsey report remains the most in-depth and comprehensive scientific analysis of American sexuality. He’s the guy who interviewed thousands of people about their sexual habits, behavior and experience and came up with such statistics as 1 in 10 adult males identify as being gay, a statistic we still refer to today. A movie was made of his life in 2004, called “Kinsey” and starring Liam Neeson in the title role.
I am impressed that Gus Van Sant is on the list. The American director’s film “Elephant” (2003) is the only thing I have ever seen about the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that deals with the fact that the two boys who did it were gay and the source behind their anger was the homophobia they faced at school on a daily basis. The mainstream media never discussed this; even Michael Moore missed the point in his documentary “Bowling for Columbine.”
Van Sant’s film aptly takes its name from the expression “elephant in the room,” which refers to a situation where there is something big happening, it’s on everyone’s mind and impossible to ignore (like an elephant in the room) yet nobody talks about it because nobody knows what to do about it. So the issue goes ignored. The Columbine massacre was a major news story. Everyone talked about it, but the gay issues we completely ignored.
Other names that pop out are country singer k.d. lang, artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and experimental music composer John Cage. You can also check out profiles of all the people who have appeared on the previous years’ lists on the GLBT History Month site.