When I first viewed the photo, the portrait of the two young men struck me. Initially, I could not quite place why, but then it dawned on me. In the summer of 1980, I was a reservist in the Canadian Army. I served in the 30th Field Artillery Regiment based in Ottawa. It was the summer following my graduation from high school and before my enrollment at Queen’s University in Kingston. I went to Canadian Forces Base Petawawa to work as a driver in a transportation company through July and August. I worked with young men from other regiments who were posted there, too–we were in our late teens and early twenties.
I watched a documentary in the 1990s. It was about the investigation into the molestation and murder of a prepubescent boy in England in the 1970s. It was in the 1970s, so suspicion immediately fell on gay men. The police opened an investigation and right away approached known homosexuals and entered gay bars, asking men to come to the station for questioning. The men were photographed, and detailed notes were taken of the interviews. At one point, a gay man was accused by another of the crime. Once the accused realized that he was under suspicion, he told the detectives interviewing him that he was saying nothing without his solicitor present. It turned out that the accusation was wrongful and levelled against him by another man who had a grudge. Eventually, the culprit was found and confessed when presented with evidence against him. He was not a gay man and had no previous suspicion of sexual interference with boys. He said that the boy struggled during and after the assault and that he had not meant to kill him. The man was convicted of the crimes of manslaughter and sexually assaulting the boy. He was imprisoned for his crimes. With the case closed, the police destroyed the evidence they collected in their investigation: the photos and notes from the interviews of the gay men.
I declined an audition recently. The audition call was for an actor to play a senior gay man, a closeted gay man married to a lesbian who had children and grandchildren. They enthusiastically come out late in life, embracing their “queerness” in all its grotesque flamboyance. The role is a lead for a series of ten episodes. I am okay with playing a gay man on screen, provided I can play him straight. By that, I mean playing a man who is gay. I am uncomfortable playing a gay man as a caricature, even in jest. That resembles a black actor playing a minstrel show role in jest. Mainly as I am on record for criticism of queer culture, I think that queer culture is demeaning and detrimental to the well-being and happiness of gay men and boys. I said in the note explaining my decision to drop the audition that the role was outside my character type. My character type is the mature father figure. As an older gay man, I do not want to risk being typecast as an older, flamboyant homosexual.
Geoffrey & Mika 