Entertainment
CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
In 1979, Delacorte Books -- publisher of best-selling authors like James Clavell and Stephen King and literary authors like Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Yates, threw a party to celebrate its authors new titles, my own included.
Of them all, I most wanted to meet James Baldwin, but even for another author, getting near Baldwin wasnt easy. He seemed circled, virtually protected from outsiders.
I pushed through, introduced myself. In college, we all talked about Another Country," I said. How it depicted relationships between blacks and whites, gays and straights, was totally real, as were those moments of unbridgeable gaps.
Not unbridgeable, Baldwin insisted and drew me aside to sit. We talked for 10 minutes of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the bus rides down South, the integration movement and its leaders.
By 1987, Id made a literary impression myself. Even so, I was surprised to be invited to speak at the University of Massachusetts. It was the midst of the Reagan era; in an essay Id decried a national media distracted from national problems by the presidents sound bites.
I lodged in the campus hotel, next door to the president of Brazil. After a group dinner, a professor said, Someone would like to see you. He wasnt well enough to come.
It was the first Id heard that Baldwin was in the United States -- and ill. Friends had pulled strings to bring him back, to get him a house, a stipend, and medical care for his cancer.
We met in a dimmed parlor. He was surrounded by pillows, wrapped in blankets. Although never a handsome man, Baldwin had once been striking nonetheless, master of his face, of words, and of the telling gesture. Now he looked exhausted. I held his skin-and-bones hand. He had heard my talk, he said, but what more could be done? I replied that we had an obligation to put things right. Baldwin despaired, however. His last book was unpublished in English. No one cared anymore. Maybe gays still had energy, focus, anger: Baldwin really didnt know anymore. He would return to France to die.
I was stunned and too distressed to tell anyone wed met. Ive never spoken of it until now. But I recalled our conversation the night Obama was elected: See Jimmy? Maybe its up to us to struggle and prepare the ground. Maybe change comes when it is ready?
Send a letter to the editor about this article.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
38 Male Celebs Who Did Full Frontal Scenes
November 17 2023 5:18 PM
These are all the celebrities Who came out as LGBTQ+ in 2023
December 31 2023 12:19 PM
29 LGBTQ+ celebs you can follow on OnlyFans
April 18 2024 1:00 PM
26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & TV shows
February 28 2024 1:50 PM
16 times male celebrities had to say they weren't gay
April 17 2024 11:57 AM
21 LGBTQ+ reality dating shows & where to watch them
April 03 2024 4:01 PM
15 Unforgettable Gay Kissing Scenes From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:20 AM
14 queens who quit or retired from drag after 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
April 04 2024 12:56 PM
40 steamy celebrity Calvin Klein ads we'll always be thirsty for
January 04 2024 10:54 AM
The 15 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of 2023
December 04 2023 10:32 AM
Watch Now: The Daily
Trending stories from our video partner Advocate Channel.
For more videos and shows go to advocatechannel.com.
Trending stories from our video partner Advocate Channel.
For more videos and shows go to advocatechannel.com.
Latest Stories
Kim Petras just dropped out of upcoming concerts — and here's why
April 24 2024 5:43 PM
Daniel Bedingfield opens up about his sexuality for the first time
April 24 2024 3:34 PM
Meet the 11 hot singles looking for love on BBC's 'I Kissed a Girl'
April 24 2024 2:58 PM
Lily Gladstone starring in queer role in 'The Wedding Banquet' remake
April 24 2024 2:54 PM
Derrick Barry just dropped PIPING backstage tea at 'Drag Race Live'
April 24 2024 12:51 PM
Chappell Roan is recruiting drag artists for her new headlining tour
April 24 2024 12:50 PM
Billie Eilish wants her 'face in a vagina' & we completely understand
April 24 2024 12:37 PM