Is gay sexuality going back in the closet?

From an essay published in the Houston Chronicle:

In its 2003 decision striking down sodomy laws, the Supreme Court ruled that private consensual gay sex was constitutionally protected. But by the time the court ruled, gay sexuality had already moved beyond privacy; it had become invisible to the point of extinction. Both in terms of portrayals of gay men in the media and the rush to embrace traditional relationships as defined by heterosexual marriage, the gay community is discarding the very sexuality that the Supreme Court has validated.

Yet gay history is built on sexuality. In the 1970s, gay men purposefully alienated both straight Americans and lesbians by pioneering a culture of radical sexual abandon. Promiscuity and sexual experimentation were not merely tolerated, they were seen as political acts, crucial markers of gay male identity. That separatist era of sexual radicalism has now been dismissed as merely a period of excess leading to AIDS. In the current rush to assimilation, gay men have become ashamed of what is a vibrant legacy -- which, along with revolutionary movements like feminism and civil rights, played a valuable role in expanding American culture -- replacing the role of sexual provocateur with nonthreatening, nonsexual stereotypes.

This sexual disavowal is clearly seen in television shows such as Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. These are essentially homosexual minstrel shows, in which gay men excel at being "the best friend" and "the style-maker" but are stripped of sexuality.

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For many years I have supported gay rights not simply because it is the right thing to do, but also because gay rights ultimately equal sexual freedom for everybody. When coupled with fundamentalist Christian attempts to puritanize America, the de-sexualization of gays in the popular culture spells bad news for heterosexuals. In short, virginal gays equal virginal straights.

Bummer.

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