Putting the Sex in Homosexuality NewFest of Gay Films Opens at Lincoln Center

[xchrom]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/movies/newfest-of-gay-films-opens-at-lincoln-center.html?_r=0



Amid the euphoria following the Supreme Court’s striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, allowing married gay and lesbian couples to enjoy federal benefits granted to wedded heterosexuals, one word that remains seldom heard is “sex.” Sex, as sexual orientation? Yes. Sexual, as in sexual equality? Yes. But the thing itself, the primal catalyst? Not much.

In public discourse, sex acts that not so long ago were widely criminalized have gone largely unmentioned amid the torrent of high-minded rhetoric about equality. The face of gay liberation in 2013 is a sanitized image of polite, smiling gay and lesbian couples parading hand in hand and exchanging chaste kisses at city halls in states where gay marriage has been legalized.

But if there’s a theme to the 25th annual NewFest, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender film festival that opens on Friday at the Walter Reade Theater, it is that gay liberation is fundamentally about sex. The Supreme Court decision may further validate the rights of gays and lesbians, but their practices in the bedroom are still repugnant to a lot of people. Recent attacks in New York City indicate that a change in the law doesn’t automatically erase prejudice.

This year the number of festival selections that include explicit sex is a provocative reminder that even in these relatively liberated times, for many people — gay as well as straight — homosexual behavior and gender fluidity are still synonymous with the Other. Some gay activists lament the fading away of the eroticized outlaw mystique of homosexuality.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. Why don't these movies ever come to my town?

I wish I could switch all the films in the cineplex and see what happens.

[xchrom]

2. the ERz all over town would ring with: 'CLEAR!' nt

[LuvNewcastle]

3. LOL!