Being gay in the 80s

As a GenXer, we often look back on the 80s culture with this loving nostalgia, the rose colored glasses syndrome. We have this idea of how great it was because we remember rocking out to our favorite songs with our friends on the bus ride home, heading to the mall if you were lucky enough to live near one , weekend movies, and the enormity that was 80s cartoons. Those memories well up in our mind and often gloss over that it was also a decade of struggle and turmoil. When the s started, LGBTQ rights was not a phrase that was tossed around, hell you would be hard pressed to even hear homosexuality talked about in more than hush whispers filled with disgust and disdain.

The recently released Beautiful Aliens: A Steve Abbott Reader Nightboat Books offers an illuminating survey of the work of beloved Bay Area writer Steve Abbott — Abbott, a poet, critic, editor, and novelist, was not only a champion of the literary arts, but he was also a thoughtful cultural critic. In the following excerpt, originally written in the late 80s, Abbott offers a highly personal take on the late-century social milieu and unknowingly provides insight into our current political moment. The Supreme Court ruling Bowers v.

Barney Frank was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in and served until his election to the U. House of Representatives in , but did not yet publicly identify as LGBTQ. But Frank received unexpected support and luxuriated in being an out gay representative. Over time, Frank would become one of the most influential members of the U.

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