Homosexuality and Nephews
“Family-ship”
In 1994, the book, Waves: An Anthology of New Gay Fiction, edited by Ethan Mordden was published. The book was a collection of fourteen short fiction stories written by gay men who talked about homosexual issues within a dominant heterosexual culture. The book, saturated with homosexual ideas, was published at a point in history when homosexuality was utterly taboo and its condemnation was commonplace. Moreover, the rise of the HIV and the AIDS scare, which was peaking at this time, injected fear into the hearts of mainstream Americans, who demonized homosexuality as causing these fatal diseases. The short story, “Homo in Heteroland”, which was written by John Weir, was the first story in the book, Waves: An Anthology of New Gay Fiction. In the introduction Ehan Mordden says, “I opened this collection with “Homo in Heteroland,” partly because I know that Chuck Ortleb will have a heart attack when he sees the word “Homo” (Mordden 39). Chuck Ortleb was a writer in a gay newspaper called the New York Native, which used to be published in New York City. Mordden knew that using such a derogatory adjective for a homosexual person would cause the members of the gay community, as well as Ortleb, to be extremely upset.
John Weir, the author of “Homo in Heteroland”, has been writing about homosexual themes all throughout his career. His first novel was The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket, for which he won the 1990 Lambda Literary Award for Best First Novel by a gay man. His second novel was What I did Wrong, which was published in 2006.
All the way through his life, Weir has been very active and involved with the gay community, as shown with his books and his public actions supporting gay rights. During the 1980s, he was an activist in the Gay Men’s health Crisis and ACT UP/New York. In 1991, Weir interrupted the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather when he and more AIDS activists got into the film set chanting, “Money for AIDS, not for war: AIDS won’t
In 1994, the book, Waves: An Anthology of New Gay Fiction, edited by Ethan Mordden was published. The book was a collection of fourteen short fiction stories written by gay men who talked about homosexual issues within a dominant heterosexual culture. The book, saturated with homosexual ideas, was published at a point in history when homosexuality was utterly taboo and its condemnation was commonplace. Moreover, the rise of the HIV and the AIDS scare, which was peaking at this time, injected fear into the hearts of mainstream Americans, who demonized homosexuality as causing these fatal diseases. The short story, “Homo in Heteroland”, which was written by John Weir, was the first story in the book, Waves: An Anthology of New Gay Fiction. In the introduction Ehan Mordden says, “I opened this collection with “Homo in Heteroland,” partly because I know that Chuck Ortleb will have a heart attack when he sees the word “Homo” (Mordden 39). Chuck Ortleb was a writer in a gay newspaper called the New York Native, which used to be published in New York City. Mordden knew that using such a derogatory adjective for a homosexual person would cause the members of the gay community, as well as Ortleb, to be extremely upset.
John Weir, the author of “Homo in Heteroland”, has been writing about homosexual themes all throughout his career. His first novel was The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket, for which he won the 1990 Lambda Literary Award for Best First Novel by a gay man. His second novel was What I did Wrong, which was published in 2006.
All the way through his life, Weir has been very active and involved with the gay community, as shown with his books and his public actions supporting gay rights. During the 1980s, he was an activist in the Gay Men’s health Crisis and ACT UP/New York. In 1991, Weir interrupted the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather when he and more AIDS activists got into the film set chanting, “Money for AIDS, not for war: AIDS won’t
Cited: Mordden, Ethan. “ Waves: An Anthology of New Gay Fiction.” Waves. Ed. Ethan Mordden. Vintage Original, 1994. 39. Print. University of Michigan. “John Weir Reading: Day With(out) Art.” Department of English Language and Literature. 2009 Regents of The University of Michigan, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 14 December 2012. Weir, John. “Homo in Heteroland.” Waves: An Anthology of New Gay Fiction. Ed. Ethan Mordden. Vintage Original, 1994. 3-12. Print.