Martin Luther King or Uncle Tom
It is, of course, precisely this easily digested image, camp, ineffectual, slightly silly and, worst of all, almost indifferent to sex, that the gay community finds so distasteful. Aversion to it is so strong that Gay News expressed the opinion that it would have been better for 'The Cause' if The Naked Civil Servant had been published posthumously - a literary way of saying, 'Drop dead'.
I once went to . . . a public house called the Westminster Arms. During the meeting someone said to me, 'You used to be the Martin Luther King of the movement. What are these Uncle Tom sentiments you now express?'
As I explained to the gentleman who asked me the question, if, in that far-off time, I sat on a bus next to a stranger and he ostentatiously moved away from me, I said, 'If you like, I will get out at the next stop but even people like me cannot walk everywhere.'
Especially in New York I was sorry to find that I had made enemies. If this saddens me less now than formerly, it may be because I have recently acquired more friends among heterosexuals. On the stage in America I was often asked how the gay scene in New York compares with that of London. It was a question I couldn't answer because I'm never there. My journey has not taken me deeper and deeper into the jungle but mercifully out into the common light of day.
I will not be nudged into a quarrel with the human race. Now that we've finally met, I love it.
I once went to . . . a public house called the Westminster Arms. During the meeting someone said to me, 'You used to be the Martin Luther King of the movement. What are these Uncle Tom sentiments you now express?'
As I explained to the gentleman who asked me the question, if, in that far-off time, I sat on a bus next to a stranger and he ostentatiously moved away from me, I said, 'If you like, I will get out at the next stop but even people like me cannot walk everywhere.'
Especially in New York I was sorry to find that I had made enemies. If this saddens me less now than formerly, it may be because I have recently acquired more friends among heterosexuals. On the stage in America I was often asked how the gay scene in New York compares with that of London. It was a question I couldn't answer because I'm never there. My journey has not taken me deeper and deeper into the jungle but mercifully out into the common light of day.
I will not be nudged into a quarrel with the human race. Now that we've finally met, I love it.