GLR September-October 2024

The Gay & Lesbian Review September–October 2024 • VOLUME XXXI, NUMBER 5 WORLDWIDE

Editor-in-Chief and Founder R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . WORLDWIDE The Gay & Lesbian Review ® PO Box 180300, Boston, MA 02118

C ONTENTS

The Scientists

F EATURES

Literary Editor M ARTHA E. S TONE Poetry Editor D AVID B ERGMAN Associate Editors S AM D APANAS P AUL F ALLON J EREMY F OX M ICHAEL S CHWARTZ Contributing Writers R OSEMARY B OOTH D ANIEL A. B URR C OLIN C ARMAN A NNE C HARLES A LFRED C ORN A LLEN E LLENZWEIG C HRIS F REEMAN P HILIP G AMBONE M ATTHEW H AYS H ILARY H OLLADAY A NDREW H OLLERAN I RENE J AVORS J OHN R. K ILLACKY C ASSANDRA L ANGER

The Broken Dandy 10 A NDREW H OLLERAN

Lord Byron transcended all boundaries of sexual taste and morals

“I always had crazy boyfriends.” 13 B RUCE L A B RUCE

Phil Tarley talks with a (very) independent filmmaker

Pervert Patient Zero 16 W ILLIAM B ENEMANN

In the 1880s, US medicine was discovering a new sexual anomaly

How Evelyn Hooker Rattled the APA 20 W ENDY F ENWICK

Her landmark study upended the medical model of homosexuality

The Birth of Transgender Science 23 V ERNON R OSARIO

Endocrinologist Harry Benjamin grasped the role of hormones

Secrets & Truths & Claude Schwob 26 D AVID L. C HAPMAN

The chemist’s gayness was an open secret at the Manhattan Project

R E V I E W S

RuPaul— The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir 29 M ICHAEL Q UINN Cynthia Carr — Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar 30 H ANK T ROUT Books of poetry by Michael Klein, Christopher Soden, and Tony Leuzzi 31 J OAN L ARKIN Michael Nott — Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life 33 J OHN R. K ILLACKY Kenneth Elliott — Beyond Ridiculous 34 R AYMOND -J EAN F RONTAIN Diarmuid Hester — Nothing Ever Just Disappears 35 C HRIS F REEMAN Will Brantley, editor — Conversations with Sarah Schulman 36 A NNE C HARLES Édouard Louis — Change 37 E DUARDO F EBLES Musih Tedji Xaviere — These Letters End in Tears 38 M ONICA C ARTER Emily Garside — Seasons of Love: Why Rent Matters 39 J EAN R OBERTA Chukwuebuka Ibeh — Blessings 39 T ERRI S CHLICHENMEYER B RIEFS 42 Luca Guadagnino, director — Challengers 45 C OLIN C ARMAN Zach Meiners, director — Conversion 46 A LLEN E LLENZWEIG Four independent films 47 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . Jane Schoenbrun, director — I Saw the TV Glow 49 P ETER M UISE Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900-1939 (exhibit & catalog) 50 C ASSANDRA L ANGER

A NDREW L EAR F ELICE P ICANO J AMES P OLCHIN J EAN R OBERTA V ERNON R OSARIO Contributing Artist C HARLES H EFLING Publisher S TEPHEN H EMRICK Webmaster B OSTON W EB G ROUP WebEditor A LLISON A RMIJO ______________________________ Board of Directors

A RT C OHEN ( CHAIR ) E DUARDO F EBLES R OBERT H ARDMAN S TEPHEN H EMRICK H ILARY H OLLADAY D AVID L A F ONTAINE J IM J ACOBS A NDREW L EAR

P OEMS & D EPARTMENTS

5

C ORRESPONDENCE

8 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R .

BTW

P OEM — “The Faultline” 22 A LFRED C ORN A RT M EMO — The Front Runner at the Fifty-Year Mark 25 N IKOLAI E NDRES P OEM — “Pearl Bar, Cinco de Mayo.” 32 JSA L OWE P OEM — “The Bolognese” 40 F REYA J ACKSON A RT M EMO — Discovering Gisèle Freund, Photographer 41 E MILY L. Q UINT F REEMAN C ULTURAL C ALENDAR 44

R ICHARD S CHNEIDER , J R . ( PRESIDENT ) T HOMAS Y OUNGREN ( TREASURER ) S TEWART C LIFFORD (C HAIR EMER .) W ARREN G OLDFARB ( SR . ADVISOR EMER .)

The Gay & Lesbian Review/ WORLDWIDE ® (formerly The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 1994-1999) is published bimonthly (six times per year) by The Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational corporation located in Boston, Mass. Subscription rates : U.S.: $41.70 per year (6 issues). Canada and Mexico: $51.70(US). All other countries: $61.70(US). All non-U.S. copies are sent via air mail. Back issues available for $12 each. All correspondence is sent in a plain envelope marked “G&LR.” ISSN: 1077: 6591 © 2024 by Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc. All rights reserved. W EBSITE : www.GLReview.org • S UBSCRIPTIONS : 847-504-8893 • A DVERTISING : 617-421-0082 • S UBMISSIONS : Editor@GLReview.org

September–October 2024

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