Homosexuals: Coming Out of the Closet in Angels in America

1061 Words3 Pages

"Coming out of the closet" is an essential for homosexuals to develop their personal identity. Coming out of the closet is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's to tell others about their homosexuality or bisexuality where previously this had been kept secret. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of the closet is described and experienced variously as a psychological process or journey; decision-making or risk-taking (Wikipedia).

Author Steven Seidman writes that “it is the power of the closet to shape the core of an individual's life that has made homosexuality into a significant personal, social, and political drama in twentieth-century America “(38). Those that are homosexual tends to tell lies and play deceitful silly games just to appease family, coworkers and a few dear old friends. They feed into the prejudices and fears about homosexuality. In Angels in America, many of the characters are homosexual, and the truth about their sexual preferences comes out. Kushner shows us the difficult struggle that often precedes a gay person’s acceptance of her or his identity, and the ways in which one’s ability to enact this identity is dependent on the acceptance of others.

First is Roy, who is dying of AIDS because of his sexual dealings. He keeps his love life separate from his professional life because it could damage his reputation. He lies to people, telling them he has cancer to cover up his homosexuality and prevent them from knowing about

Smith 2

his disease. Roy could face disbarment if it was made known th...

... middle of paper ...

... Smith 4

offers a number of accounts of people in great pain, but what counts as suffering? Kushner seems to suggest that the pain closet cases undergo is often self-inflicted, the result of homophobic shame, and therefore not worth our notice or pity.

Works Cited

McGowan, John. Postmodernism and Its Critics. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1991.

Kruger, Steven F. “Identity and Conversion in Angels in America.” Approaching the

Millennium: Essays on Angels in America. Ed. Deborah R. Geis and Steven

F. Kruger. Ann Arbor: UP of Michigan, 1997. 151-169.

Kushner, Tony. Angels in America. Dir. Mike Nichols. HBO, 2004.

Seidman, Steven. Beyond the Closet: The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Life. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print

Wikipedia

More about Homosexuals: Coming Out of the Closet in Angels in America

Open Document