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But next time you turn your nose up at your own community, I want you to remember this. You, my friend, are not Roy Cohn. You are not wealthy and well connected. You are so much closer to me and my gutter-queer siblings than you ever will be to them.

I’m not going to claim there’s always such poetic justice. Roy Cohn was a Republican gay man who luxuriated in the tension between his sex life and his politics. Cohn was close to McCarthy, and together they manufactured the red and lavender scares. He never did face down the consequences.

He died without getting to see his hate made manifest in the Iran war, never to reap the benefits of his life’s cruelest goal. He was killed, ironically, by an aortic rupture — literally, a hardened heart. All that shame and betrayal of the self, for nothing.

Graham slept with men. Privately, he accepted his identity, somewhat. What he rejected was the *political* identity of gayness, which I’d argue, most of us would now call “queerness.” Graham’s homophobia didn’t spare him. He faced vicious homophobic attacks throughout his career.

While having sex with men in his private life, he didn’t marry. He didn’t live “the gay lifestyle.” He passed homophobic policies without remorse. While we like to act like gayness is an intrinsic part of us, gayness also functions as a social construct, a malleable political identity.

Lindsey Graham once said, “To the extent that it matters, I’m not gay.” Yet his hiring of male escorts was an open secret in DC. I don’t understand that remark as a total lie, though. I think Graham was saying he, functionally, (“to the extent it matters”) would live life as a straight man.

So Hudson’s publicist reached out to the Reagans, hoping their influence might save his life. They received a response saying Nancy “did not feel this was something the White House should get into.” Hudson ended up getting admitted, though the Reagans were of no help. He died that fall.

Rock Hudson was a gay man. He was also a close friend of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Privately, he was living with AIDS, which the Reagans let ravage queer communities. One day, in France, he collapsed. A hospital had an experimental treatment option, but they’d only admit French citizens for it.

This piece by @juliametraux.bsky.social covers the media aspect of this quite succinctly, IMO:

What we lost when we lost Self magazineThe almost 50-year-old publication was a lifeline for chronically ill readers.www.motherjones.com

Omg yes! I’ve been meaning to share an update on this but have been swamped :)

Hats off to Marisa for the excellent and important reporting here. She should be so proud.

I made this post to make abundantly clear my position is that NO ONE should use this site. I don’t want to be involved with or responsible for anyone using it. Conversion therapy is abuse, even if you’re not its target audience. These practices kill people. I don’t know how to be clearer.

Hey, not trying to pick on you, but as a trans journalist, I am not comfortable with cis people or anyone else asking my permission to do this/telling me about experiences with this bot unprompted. That’s harmful to do to me, and it’s not a reasonable ask to make of a complete stranger.

Jesus fucking Christ. As a sidenote, was grateful to see this account is already blocked by the “SA apologists” blocklist I subscribe to. One system working as intended, at least (though it sure would be nice if literal rape threats would be banned on here.)