Sex, Spirit, Community: Gay Men at the Millennium
You could buy and read some 2 dozen books about the current state of gay male culture, or you could check out editor Michael Lowenthals latest release, Sex, Spirit, Community: Gay Men at the Millennium. This wonderful collection of essays and book excerpts, hot off the press, offers the viewpoints of 28 authors and writers about the issues facing the gay male community. Topics covered and authors included will alternately challenge you, enlighten you, make you cry, or really make you angry; from radical right to radical left, views are shared on the meaning and negotiating of relationships, the challenges of having spirituality and how that is expressed, and the role of gay culture in society today.
The first section on Sex has of course an underpinning of the harsh reality of AIDS in our lives. The stories here are guaranteed to evoke strong emotional responses. Jesse Greens Flirting With Suicide is a painful telling of one mans losing struggle to stay HIV-negative. Gabriel Rotello looks at the divide between and the responsibilities of the infected and uninfected in To Protect and Serve, and Scott OHara will definitely evoke a response from you with Talking With My Mouth Full. Other authors look at fidelity, negotiating relationships and our perceived inability to talk honestly about sex.
The section on Spirit covers a smorgasbord of spiritual choices and issues from the likes of Andrew Sullivan, Harry Hay, Mark Thompson, and Mark Doty, but the stand out here are Craig Lucass raging Postcard From Grief and Tony Kushners emotional and pleading A Prayer.
The final section on Community covers powerful issues told by powerful voices. Lambda Award Winner Fenton Johnson writes about Reinventing Marriage, Keith Boykin compares civil rights and gay/lesbian rights struggles in Are Blacks and Gays the Same?, and James Earl Hardy makes us face bigotry in The River of De-Nile. Rafael Campo shares what it is like to belong to many different communities in Giving It Back, but it is John Weirs biting in-your-face Going In that will make you squirm, smile or yell "Amen!" as he grieves over the cloning and shallowness of gay white America.
Gay Men at the Millennium is a wise and important addition to the dialogue about gay male culture and where its headed as we near the year 2000.
Michael Lowenthal, the editor of Gay Men at the Millennium will visit Lambda Rising, 39 Baltimore Avenue, Rehoboth, to sign and discuss his new book on Wednesday, October 22 at 7 p.m.
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10/17/97 Issue. Copyright 1997 by CAMP Rehoboth, Inc. All rights reserved.