Yah-Huh! #5 Bent

I met a friend for coffee last week. He happens to have a trans son, too. Both of our children go by the name Silas — such a beautiful androgynous name.  

He shared his concerns about this administration. “What do we do if they come after our trans kids?” he asked. How can we protect them? And do they (our kids) have to be so “out”? 

I really hadn’t thought about it — a seige. Now I am thinking about it a lot.

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Have you ever seen Bent? It’s a play by Martin Sherman. When I saw the play, it starred an amazing man, Bingo O’Malley, who in his time was called “Pittsburgh’s finest actor.” The play explores the Third Reich’s persecution of homosexuals, focusing on two men (both Jewish), one who made a deal with the Gestapo to be allowed to wear the Jewish yellow star at Dachau and one who wears the pink (homosexual) triangle proudly — the lowest of all low levels in the Nazi prisoner hierarchy. 

They fall in love. 

There is a scene where they “make love” without even touching.

What I remember is that I cried — sobbed — all of the way through. It was as if I was feeling my social conscious break though into existence at the age of 12. So powerful. And Bingo (who worked with my mother as a social worker at Northview Heights), astounding. 

Bent made gay history.

In 1997, Bent was made into a movie starring Clive Owen as Max and Lothaire Bluteau as Horst. Mick Jagger & Jude Law are also cast. I had no idea. I absolutely need to see this version. It’s on Peacock. Check out the trailer.

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All this to say that the similarities between the Gestapo and the Trump administration are hard to ignore. The Nazi’s facilitation of the holocaust and what is happening too LGBTQAI+ and immigrants in our county feels too connected, linear, possible. 

My friend’s fear for his son is real, more real than I’d like to admit. 

But still, I don’t want my kids cowering — such a horrible ask. I don’t want them not to be their authentic selves in the world — to bend. But what if he’s right? What if this blog, the bumper stickers on my car, my “Protect Trans Kids” yard sign are blatant targets. I have friends who say they don’t even want to sign petitions anymore …

I get it. It’s not that I am not scared. It’s that I naively believe that when we all stick together, the powerful LGBTQAI community is bigger than the hatred. They have fought this battle before and they will fight it again. 

And I will be there with them.

Will you?

A special thanks to Bingo O’Malley, RIP 2019.