That Gay Thread

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

James Baldwin was a black gay man in the 60's and he sure as he'll wasn't talking about being discriminated against for being LBGT.

Giovanni's Room. Read it.

 Yeah, I did

There's a  line "-- but Jimmy (?)  was a boy"
 
In the early 70's , a favourite writer of historical fiction was Frank Yerby. He wrote a lot of books set in the Antebellum southern US. Great reads. He was also a secular humanist as far as I could tell and anti religion. Two of his best books (imo) were the well researched " Odour Of Sanctity"  and "Judas My Brother".   His photo was never shown in any of his books.  At the time I may have thought that was unusual, but nothing more.  Turns out Frank was an African American man, born in Augusta Georgia in 1916. He lived in The South  where he became highly educated  before moving North.  It should come as no surprise that Frank wrote of a much different antebellum South than than  Margaret Mitchell ( author, Gone With The Wind)
 
The new fear and hatred  of LBGT*** people is nothing more than the same old song with different words.  Based largely on the universal human quality of xenophobia . I'd be willing to bet that fear once had a significant evolutionary benefit. The more cautious and paranoid tended to live longer and have better chance of survival.

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*** the first transgender woman of whom I heard was the courageous Christine Jorgenson. Take a look at her background!

Christine Jorgensen (May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989) was an American transgender woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. Jorgensen grew up in the Bronx, New York City. Shortly after graduating from high school in 1945, she was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. After her military service, she attended several schools and worked; it is during this time she learned about sex reassignment surgery. Jorgensen traveled to Europe, and in Copenhagen, Denmark, obtained special permission to undergo a series of operations beginning in 1952.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Jorgensen