thenation--2020-06-03--D.C. Statehood Is the Answer to Trump’s Abuse of Washington

In arguably the most outrageous act of an outrageous presidency , Donald Trump has just used Washington , D.C. , as the backdrop for a political stunt that looked like a campaign ad for his 2020 reelection campaign .
Stung by reports that he had been hiding in an underground bunker in the White House as the streets of the nation ’ s capital city filled with mass protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police , Trump tried to present himself as a strongman on Monday by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ states where protests over police brutality have grown in size and fervor .
As he made the early evening announcement , federal law enforcement officers rushed peaceful demonstrators and used tear gas in order to clear the way for the president to stroll to a nearby Episcopal church and pose for campaign-style pictures with a Bible .
It was a grotesque abuse of power on the president ’ s part , and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser responded appropriately .
“ We were very shocked and quite frankly outraged that people who were not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not seem to have provoked attack , were attacked in a move out by the federal law enforcement officials who were directed to clear the way for the President , ” she declared .
The mayor termed the attack “ shameful ” and tweeted that “ I imposed a curfew at 7pm .
A full 25 minutes before the curfew & w/o provocation , federal police used munitions on peaceful protestors in front of the White House , an act that will make the job of @ DCPoliceDept officers more difficult.
” Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Democratic governors , such as Illinois ’ s J.B. Pritzker and New York ’ s Andrew Cuomo , immediately objected , and experts on constitutional law raised all the appropriate and necessary concerns about the use of the military for domestic law enforcement .
However , Trump was already sending the military into the District of Columbia , a multiracial , multiethnic community that has a bigger population than several states but that has no voting members of the US House or Senate .
“ We ’ re going to clamp down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president said in a phone call with the nation ’ s governors on Monday .
“ The word is dominate .
If you don ’ t dominate your city and your state , they ’ re gon na walk away with you .
And we ’ re doing it in Washington , in DC , we ’ re going to do something that people haven ’ t seen before .
But we ’ re going to have total domination.
” The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party Is a Fight for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Issue in the 2020 Election Keith Ellison on Police Brutality : ‘ We Need a Vision That Says There ’ s Going to Be Accountability ’ Because D.C. is not a state , it lacks many of the protections against presidential threats , and abuses of power , that states enjoy .
That ’ s just one of the many reasons D.C. should be a state .
There has always been a good argument for D.C. statehood .
Frederick Douglass wrote in the 19th century that the District of Columbia is “ the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the people , of the people and by the people .
Its citizens submit to rulers whom they have no choice in selecting .
They obey laws which they had no voice in making.
” Earlier this year , when the House Oversight and Reform Committee approved the Washington , D.C .
Admission Act , as a step toward statehood , Bowser said , “ DC statehood is constitutional , we have a plan in place to make it happen , and it is the only way to fix the injustice of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Congress .
Furthermore , the relentless and forced attacks on our DC values serve as an important reminder that statehood is not only about representation in Congress , it is also about self-government , autonomy , and defending the very principles our nation ’ s democracy was founded on .
By focusing their attacks on our values , opponents of statehood have proven once again that they have no other case to make—constitutional or otherwise.
” Trump , who like most Republicans is a virulent opponent of statehood , raised the stakes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s presumptive nominee , Joe Biden should make it clear that D.C. statehood will be a top priority for his administration .
And the party platform , which was clarified in 2016 to express clear support for statehood , should be updated to include an explicit plan for achieving that goal .
Support for D.C. statehood should become a central theme of the 2020 campaign—as should support for greater self-determination for all of the US commonwealths , territories , and possessions that currently lack full representation rights in Congress and sufficient authority over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the presidency and control of the House and Senate in 2020 , they should move immediately to end the injustice that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton noted when she said in 2016 , “ Washingtonians serve in the military , serve on juries and pay taxes just like everyone else .
And yet they don ’ t even have a vote in Congress.
” “ Hard as it is to believe , ” Clinton added , “ America is the only democracy on the planet that treats the residents of its capital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election where D.C. residents overwhelmingly backed Clinton over Trump , they gave 86 percent support to a referendum advising Washington ’ s city council to petition Congress to admit the District of Columbia as the 51st state and to approve a constitution and boundaries .
Some progress has been made toward this long-deferred vision .
In March , the House voted 234-193 in favor of statehood—as part of the broader HR 1 package of proposed voter rights and political reforms .
In addition , the Washington , D.C .
Admission Act has 35 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Elizabeth Warren , Kamala Harris , and Cory Booker .
Senator majority leader Chuck Schumer indicated that statehood would be a priority for a Democratic Senate .
Biden said he is “ absolutely ” in favor of D.C. statehood .
That ’ s important , because even with Democratic control of the House and Senate , the fight for statehood will face plenty of hurdles—including a disputed Republican claim that the Constitution would have to be amended to make the change possible .
No matter the challenges , this is the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions highlight a deeper injustice that can not be denied any longer .
It must be addressed .
“ Yes , it is true that we are brown and liberal , but denying statehood would be unfair no matter who was affected—it would be unfair if we were conservatives from a rural district built around agriculture or an industrial city in the heartland , ” Bowser told Congress in 2019 .
“ This is America , and Americans are entitled to equal protection under the law , and that ’ s why you @ @ @ @ @

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In arguably the most outrageous act of an outrageous presidency, Donald Trump has just used Washington, D.C., as the backdrop for a political stunt that looked like a campaign ad for his 2020 reelection campaign. Stung by reports that he had been hiding in an underground bunker in the White House as the streets of the nation’s capital city filled with mass protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Trump tried to present himself as a strongman on Monday by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and deploy the US military to states where protests over police brutality have grown in size and fervor. As he made the early evening announcement, federal law enforcement officers rushed peaceful demonstrators and used tear gas in order to clear the way for the president to stroll to a nearby Episcopal church and pose for campaign-style pictures with a Bible.
It was a grotesque abuse of power on the president’s part, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser responded appropriately. “We were very shocked and quite frankly outraged that people who were not violating the curfew, and who did not seem to have provoked attack, were attacked in a move out by the federal law enforcement officials who were directed to clear the way for the President,” she declared. The mayor termed the attack “shameful” and tweeted that “I imposed a curfew at 7pm. A full 25 minutes before the curfew & w/o provocation, federal police used munitions on peaceful protestors in front of the White House, an act that will make the job of @DCPoliceDept officers more difficult.”
Trump’s actions were shameful and dangerous. Democratic governors, such as Illinois’s J.B. Pritzker and New York’s Andrew Cuomo, immediately objected, and experts on constitutional law raised all the appropriate and necessary concerns about the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
However, Trump was already sending the military into the District of Columbia, a multiracial, multiethnic community that has a bigger population than several states but that has no voting members of the US House or Senate. “We’re going to clamp down very, very strong,” the president said in a phone call with the nation’s governors on Monday. “The word is dominate. If you don’t dominate your city and your state, they’re gonna walk away with you. And we’re doing it in Washington, in DC, we’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before. But we’re going to have total domination.” More From John Nichols A GOP Debate Without Trump Is the Definition of Pointlessness August 11, 2023 A Win for Abortion Rights, a Win for Democracy: Ohio Voters Reject Issue 1 August 9, 2023 The Biggest Threat to Donald Trump Could Be the Constitution Itself August 4, 2023
Because D.C. is not a state, it lacks many of the protections against presidential threats, and abuses of power, that states enjoy.
That’s just one of the many reasons D.C. should be a state.
There has always been a good argument for D.C. statehood. Frederick Douglass wrote in the 19th century that the District of Columbia is “the one spot where there is no government for the people, of the people and by the people. Its citizens submit to rulers whom they have no choice in selecting. They obey laws which they had no voice in making.” Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
Earlier this year, when the House Oversight and Reform Committee approved the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, as a step toward statehood, Bowser said,
“DC statehood is constitutional, we have a plan in place to make it happen, and it is the only way to fix the injustice of denying more than 700,000 Washingtonians a vote in Congress. Furthermore, the relentless and forced attacks on our DC values serve as an important reminder that statehood is not only about representation in Congress, it is also about self-government, autonomy, and defending the very principles our nation’s democracy was founded on. By focusing their attacks on our values, opponents of statehood have proven once again that they have no other case to make—constitutional or otherwise.”
Trump, who like most Republicans is a virulent opponent of statehood, raised the stakes this week.
Democrats should respond. Current Issue View our current issue
As the party’s presumptive nominee, Joe Biden should make it clear that D.C. statehood will be a top priority for his administration. And the party platform, which was clarified in 2016 to express clear support for statehood, should be updated to include an explicit plan for achieving that goal. Support for D.C. statehood should become a central theme of the 2020 campaign—as should support for greater self-determination for all of the US commonwealths, territories, and possessions that currently lack full representation rights in Congress and sufficient authority over their own affairs. If Democrats win the presidency and control of the House and Senate in 2020, they should move immediately to end the injustice that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton noted when she said in 2016, “Washingtonians serve in the military, serve on juries and pay taxes just like everyone else. And yet they don’t even have a vote in Congress.”
“Hard as it is to believe,” Clinton added, “America is the only democracy on the planet that treats the residents of its capital this way.”
In the same 2016 election where D.C. residents overwhelmingly backed Clinton over Trump, they gave 86 percent support to a referendum advising Washington’s city council to petition Congress to admit the District of Columbia as the 51st state and to approve a constitution and boundaries. Some progress has been made toward this long-deferred vision. In March, the House voted 234-193 in favor of statehood—as part of the broader HR 1 package of proposed voter rights and political reforms. In addition, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act has 35 cosponsors in the Senate—including Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker. Senator majority leader Chuck Schumer indicated that statehood would be a priority for a Democratic Senate.
Biden said he is “absolutely” in favor of D.C. statehood. That’s important, because even with Democratic control of the House and Senate, the fight for statehood will face plenty of hurdles—including a disputed Republican claim that the Constitution would have to be amended to make the change possible. No matter the challenges, this is the time to step up. Trump’s actions highlight a deeper injustice that cannot be denied any longer. It must be addressed.
“Yes, it is true that we are brown and liberal, but denying statehood would be unfair no matter who was affected—it would be unfair if we were conservatives from a rural district built around agriculture or an industrial city in the heartland,” Bowser told Congress in 2019. “This is America, and Americans are entitled to equal protection under the law, and that’s why you should support statehood.”


thenation--2020-06-03--Just Like Covid-19, Racial Justice Is a Climate Story

Shortly after the police killing of George Floyd , Varshini Prakash tweeted , “ If we can imagine stopping the climate crisis then we sure as hell can imagine a day when white supremacy is ancient history too.
” Prakash , 27 , is the cofounder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement , an uprising of young climate activists who have done more than any other group to push the idea of a Green New Deal onto the public agenda .
To Prakash and her fellow activists , the fight for a livable planet and the fight against racial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Equity and justice have to be the lens through which we solve [ the climate ] problem , ” Prakash has said .
“ If it does not work for and benefit the most disadvantaged among us…it will not fix the problem.
” The climate problem , in the eyes of this new generation of activists , is systemic and rooted in privilege .
The poor , people of color , and women suffer first and worst from the heat waves , droughts , and storms unleashed by global warming , though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The rich , the white , and the comfortable whose investments and lifestyles drive global warming are often shielded from its impacts .
The same social systems that drive the climate crisis also perpetuate the racism that killed George Floyd and countless other people of color , and it is those systems that need to be replaced .
Days after the Democrats gained control of the US House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections , Prakash and dozens of Sunrise members occupied the office of incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the scale and urgency of the climate emergency .
After rising Democratic star Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined the protesters and applauded their efforts , a handful of articles about this appeared in Politico and other Washington-focused news outlets .
Three months later , after extensive consultations with the Sunrise Movement and others , Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced a congressional resolution calling for a Green New Deal .
Suddenly , the Green New Deal was national news , with stories running in leading newspapers , magazines , and even network TV news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , along with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders , are attempting to make a Green New Deal part of the official platform of the Democratic Party in the 2020 campaign .
Prakash is serving on a task force established by Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden , the Democrats ’ presumptive nominee , to try to devise a climate policy all Democrats can support in November .
Biden and Sanders each nominated members to the task force , including one cochair : Ocasio-Cortez for Sanders , and John Kerry—who , as secretary of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ negotiate the Paris Climate Agreement—for Biden .
Want to Slow the Climate Crisis ?
Don ’ t Use Single-Use Plastics .
More in this series Media coverage of the Green New Deal has been scanty since Ocasio-Cortez and Markey introduced their resolution in February 2019 , even as Sanders and most other Democratic candidates endorsed various versions of a Green New Deal during the primaries .
Now , as Democrats debate whether to make a Green New Deal part of their argument for defeating Trump , newsrooms have an opportunity to catch up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know before they vote in November what a Green New Deal is , how it would work , what it would cost , what position the contending political parties and candidates take on it , and what difference it could make in the effort to preserve a livable planet .
The work of the Biden-Sanders task force is a good place to start .
Like most climate activists during the primaries , the Sunrise Movement blasted candidate Biden ’ s climate proposals as much too weak .
Yet , after the task force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a video message saying she was “ cautiously optimistic ” that she and her new colleagues would agree to “ a national mobilization this decade that creates tens of millions of good paying jobs with access to a union.
” She added that at a time “ when we have 30 million unemployed in this country , we can take this opportunity to rebuild from the horrific impacts of COVID-19 stronger , more resilient and more sustainable than before.
” And she made a point of praising the contributions of two Biden appointees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s former Environmental Protection Agency chief , who reportedly told the task force that the benefits of any climate policy “ need to get to people today and tomorrow , not by 2050.
” The debate around the Green New Deal offers an abundance of news angles .
Whether Biden and the Democrats go all-in on a Green New Deal is unquestionably a big political story .
It ’ s also a major business story : Which sectors of the economy stand to benefit from a Green New Deal ?
Which will resist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ask what the mayors , governor , and other key public and private officials in a given region think a Green New Deal would mean for jobs and investment within their jurisdiction .
International stories can explore how a justice-centered Green New Deal compares to the green stimulus programs the European Union , the International Monetary Fund , and other pillars of the global establishment have urged to revive coronavirus-battered economies .
And looming over everything is a final question : How would a Green New Deal affect our civilization ’ s chances @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this pandemic , the gravest threat of our time ?

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Shortly after the police killing of George Floyd, Varshini Prakash tweeted, “If we can imagine stopping the climate crisis then we sure as hell can imagine a day when white supremacy is ancient history too.” Prakash, 27, is the cofounder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, an uprising of young climate activists who have done more than any other group to push the idea of a Green New Deal onto the public agenda. To Prakash and her fellow activists, the fight for a livable planet and the fight against racial injustice are the very same fight.
“Equity and justice have to be the lens through which we solve [the climate] problem,” Prakash has said. “If it does not work for and benefit the most disadvantaged among us…it will not fix the problem.” The climate problem, in the eyes of this new generation of activists, is systemic and rooted in privilege. The poor, people of color, and women suffer first and worst from the heat waves, droughts, and storms unleashed by global warming, though they did little to cause that warming. The rich, the white, and the comfortable whose investments and lifestyles drive global warming are often shielded from its impacts. The same social systems that drive the climate crisis also perpetuate the racism that killed George Floyd and countless other people of color, and it is those systems that need to be replaced.
Days after the Democrats gained control of the US House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, Prakash and dozens of Sunrise members occupied the office of incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding that Democrats back policies that matched the scale and urgency of the climate emergency. After rising Democratic star Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined the protesters and applauded their efforts, a handful of articles about this appeared in Politico and other Washington-focused news outlets. Three months later, after extensive consultations with the Sunrise Movement and others, Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced a congressional resolution calling for a Green New Deal. Suddenly, the Green New Deal was national news, with stories running in leading newspapers, magazines, and even network TV news programs.
Now, Prakash and Ocasio-Cortez, along with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, are attempting to make a Green New Deal part of the official platform of the Democratic Party in the 2020 campaign. Prakash is serving on a task force established by Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden, the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, to try to devise a climate policy all Democrats can support in November. Biden and Sanders each nominated members to the task force, including one cochair: Ocasio-Cortez for Sanders, and John Kerry—who, as secretary of state under President Barack Obama, helped negotiate the Paris Climate Agreement—for Biden. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Covering Climate Now How to Stop the Spread of Climate Disinformation Erika Seiber and Michael Khoo A Soundtrack for the Climate Emergency Mark Hertsgaard Can Gen Z Save the Midterms for Democrats? Mark Hertsgaard
Media coverage of the Green New Deal has been scanty since Ocasio-Cortez and Markey introduced their resolution in February 2019, even as Sanders and most other Democratic candidates endorsed various versions of a Green New Deal during the primaries. Now, as Democrats debate whether to make a Green New Deal part of their argument for defeating Trump, newsrooms have an opportunity to catch up with the story. Americans deserve to know before they vote in November what a Green New Deal is, how it would work, what it would cost, what position the contending political parties and candidates take on it, and what difference it could make in the effort to preserve a livable planet.
The work of the Biden-Sanders task force is a good place to start. Like most climate activists during the primaries, the Sunrise Movement blasted candidate Biden’s climate proposals as much too weak. Yet, after the task force completed its second meeting, Prakash tweeted a video message saying she was “cautiously optimistic” that she and her new colleagues would agree to “a national mobilization this decade that creates tens of millions of good paying jobs with access to a union.” She added that at a time “when we have 30 million unemployed in this country, we can take this opportunity to rebuild from the horrific impacts of COVID-19 stronger, more resilient and more sustainable than before.” And she made a point of praising the contributions of two Biden appointees, including Gina McCarthy, Obama’s former Environmental Protection Agency chief, who reportedly told the task force that the benefits of any climate policy “need to get to people today and tomorrow, not by 2050.”
The debate around the Green New Deal offers an abundance of news angles. Whether Biden and the Democrats go all-in on a Green New Deal is unquestionably a big political story. It’s also a major business story: Which sectors of the economy stand to benefit from a Green New Deal? Which will resist, and why? Local coverage can ask what the mayors, governor, and other key public and private officials in a given region think a Green New Deal would mean for jobs and investment within their jurisdiction. International stories can explore how a justice-centered Green New Deal compares to the green stimulus programs the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and other pillars of the global establishment have urged to revive coronavirus-battered economies. And looming over everything is a final question: How would a Green New Deal affect our civilization’s chances of surviving what remains, even amid this pandemic, the gravest threat of our time?


thenation--2020-06-03--Moses Sumney’s Songs of Freedom

Moses Sumney’s Songs of Freedom

Moses Sumney has an arch relationship with loneliness .
The guitarist and singer makes love songs about rifts between lovers , savoring their conflicts , relishing their discord .
He pens odes to solitude that are as sullen as they are victorious , his voice quivering with sorrow and pride .
His music has all the signifiers of lonerism—introversion , withdrawal , outer space—without the accompanying misanthropy .
He ’ s a recluse for whom distance from people , from ideas , is not detachment .
On his sophomore album , græ , he gives shape to this peculiar pose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ born of loneliness yet emboldened by it .
Split into two parts , the first ( 12 songs ) released in February and the other ( eight songs ) in May , græ is billed as a double album , and it ’ s best experienced in full .
Though the “ sides ” are digestible half-hours , Sumney ’ s rich blend of electronic , folk , and soul rewards immersion .
Nominally a concept album about embracing multiplicity and fluidity—the gray area between black and white—the record ’ s true strength @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of betweenness ( or grayness ) , Sumney provides a surfeit of metaphors , sounds , and ideas that titillate without feeling complete or final .
He ’ s a slippery , elusive performer , couching his probing inquiries into identity and intimacy in songs that morph and shed and erupt .
The appeal of grayness seems to be its inherent abstraction .
In the openness and emptiness of the gray , Sumney finds personal and artistic autonomy .
Compared with his debut album Aromanticism , which dissected love songs into spare reflections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deconstructs .
From the ambient jazz of “ Neither/Nor ” to the folk sway of “ Cut Me ” to the doom-tinged drone of “ Me in 20 Years , ” the songs here are always alive and in motion , an endless rush of styles and lineages .
This looseness feels intentional .
Early in his career , Sumney was courted by the music industry to become an R & B star , a pressure he felt stemmed from racism rather than recognition of his talents .
He declined , electing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interests despite the professional consequences .
græ embellishes that choice , expanding all the flourishes and influences hinted at in his previous music .
The record is not a polemic , but it ’ s weighted with an air of correction .
Sumney ’ s main weapon has long been his disarming falsetto , which he can coil into a wounded , icy wail or expand into a warm , heavenly sunbeam .
His early music would use it to haunting effect , looping it into ghostly choirs or leaving it exposed over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his voice and his ambitions are amplified .
His falsetto remains beautiful , but it ’ s less of a centerpiece now .
On “ Virile , ” a song that casts masculinity as an endless ( sometimes fun ) performance , his voice cascades up and down the vocal spectrum as he sings , “ You ’ ve got the wrong idea , son.
” As he lingers on the first syllable of “ idea ” — ” I , I , I ” —he seems to demonstrate how open-ended masculinity can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both harsh and soft , melding flute trills , string swells , and frantic percussion into beautiful chaos .
Sumney ’ s definition of virility is less about strength or potency and more about the potential and willingness to change form .
Sumney often uses grayness this way , prying open an idea and wondering aloud if it could work differently .
He can be both playful and critical .
“ Conveyor , ” which embodies the former , is a cheeky vow to embrace conformity .
“ I will assume form / @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he sings with tart sweetness .
The noise rock band Yvette ’ s puttering drums and shimmering synths nearly obscure his voice , conveying the success of his conformity .
For the spoken-word song “ jill/jack , ” Sumney and the singer-songwriter Jill Scott take a diagram of hypermasculinity and slyly rearrange it .
“ He had that masculine thing down / Shoulders and back straight / Never slumping / Never round / Straight , ” the song begins , repeating the chant with tweaked pronouns and ad-libs .
It ends with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and feminine , both a critique of rigid gender politics and an exercise in fluidity .
The clearest demonstration of Sumney ’ s range is “ Gagarin , ” presumably named after the first man in space , cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin .
Moaning across a gorgeous void of twinkly keys , rich bass lines , and echoing FX , Sumney ’ s voice is transformed into a slurred , depressive yawn .
“ My life does not belong to me , ” he says with acute resignation , evoking Gagarin ’ s pioneering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quality to it , every sound rich and lush , every word weighted and bleak .
But there ’ s also solace in space , and when he views the Earth from space , he finds purpose : “ For that big blue bold / I ’ ll let it go / For the gold medal / Surrender.
” Sumney ’ s Gagarin sounds frightened and patriotic and self-destructive all at once .
This imaginative biopic in song is less a story and more a topography , the contours of isolation mapped in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of grayness is not solely musical .
Across the record , interludes performed by the activist Taiye Selasi ground the artist ’ s genre-hopping in a larger fight for self-determination .
The record begins with Selasi exploring the etymology of the word “ isolation , ” whose root word means “ island , ” and constantly builds on that idea , presenting disconnection as both an emotional and political experience .
On “ boxes , ” a coda to “ Conveyor , ” she says , “ I truly believe that people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most significant thing that any person can do / But especially black women and men / Is to think about who gave them their definitions.
” The aptly named “ also also also and and and ” adds that the ability to change definitions is just as vital as writing them .
“ I insist upon my right to be multiple , ” she says .
Selasi ’ s directness is an effective complement to Sumney ’ s abstraction , which might otherwise scan as cagey .
“ Bystanders , ” for instance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trust in supposed allies , drawing a distinction between supporters and gawkers .
“ Don ’ t waste your candor / On bystanders / They ’ ll watch you waste , waste / Waste , waste away , ” he sings .
In the context of black people historically being surveilled and imposed upon , Sumney ’ s advice lands as cautious rather than vague .
Asserting one ’ s freedom is not the same thing as having it recognized , a point he takes so seriously that he does not elaborate past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is “ Polly , ” a warmhearted transmission to a lover who ’ s resistant to Sumney ’ s preference for polyamory .
The song channels all of the album ’ s notions of multiplicity , from its eruption of voices to its contradictory imagery .
Sumney buzzes with delight and fear as he articulates his vision for the relationship : “ I want to be cotton candy / In the mouth of many a lover / Saccharine and slick technicolor.
” The sequence is empowering and depleting .
Cotton candy is adored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ creeps in as Sumney second-guesses his admission toward the end of the song .
“ Am I just your Friday dick ?
” he asks .
The song ’ s one-sidedness heightens the sense of risk , a nuance that would be foreclosed if Sumney had written it as a defense of polyamory rather than a negotiation of one particular arrangement .
Ultimately , this seems to be the appeal of grayness as a theme ; instead of anthems , Sumney offers solitary dispatches , celebrating his freedom while refusing to downplay its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is sovereign and teeming—and exposed .
Moses Sumney ’ s music won ’ t make you feel invincible , but it will make you feel alive .

This article appears in the September 21/28, 2020 issue.
Moses Sumney has an arch relationship with loneliness. The guitarist and singer makes love songs about rifts between lovers, savoring their conflicts, relishing their discord. He pens odes to solitude that are as sullen as they are victorious, his voice quivering with sorrow and pride. His music has all the signifiers of lonerism—introversion, withdrawal, outer space—without the accompanying misanthropy. He’s a recluse for whom distance from people, from ideas, is not detachment. On his sophomore album, græ, he gives shape to this peculiar pose, voicing a self-possession that’s born of loneliness yet emboldened by it.
Split into two parts, the first (12 tracks) released in February and the other (eight tracks) in May, græ is billed as a double album, and it’s best experienced in full. Though the “sides” are digestible half-hours, Sumney’s rich blend of electronic, folk, and soul rewards immersion. Nominally a concept album about embracing multiplicity and fluidity—the gray area between black and white—the record’s true strength is its restlessness. In his portraits of betweenness (or grayness), Sumney provides a surfeit of metaphors, sounds, and ideas that titillate without feeling complete or final. He’s a slippery, elusive performer, couching his probing inquiries into identity and intimacy in songs that morph and shed and erupt. The appeal of grayness seems to be its inherent abstraction. In the openness and emptiness of the gray, Sumney finds personal and artistic autonomy.
Compared with his debut album Aromanticism, which dissected love songs into spare reflections on solitude, græ synthesizes rather than deconstructs. From the ambient jazz of “Neither/Nor” to the folk sway of “Cut Me” to the doom-tinged drone of “Me in 20 Years,” the songs here are always alive and in motion, an endless rush of styles and lineages. This looseness feels intentional. Early in his career, Sumney was courted by the music industry to become an R&B star, a pressure he felt stemmed from racism rather than recognition of his talents. He declined, electing to cling to his instincts and follow his interests despite the professional consequences. græ embellishes that choice, expanding all the flourishes and influences hinted at in his previous music. The record is not a polemic, but it’s weighted with an air of correction.
Sumney’s main weapon has long been his disarming falsetto, which he can coil into a wounded, icy wail or expand into a warm, heavenly sunbeam. His early music would use it to haunting effect, looping it into ghostly choirs or leaving it exposed over a whisper of acoustic guitar. Here his voice and his ambitions are amplified. His falsetto remains beautiful, but it’s less of a centerpiece now. On “Virile,” a song that casts masculinity as an endless (sometimes fun) performance, his voice cascades up and down the vocal spectrum as he sings, “You’ve got the wrong idea, son.” As he lingers on the first syllable of “idea”—”I, I, I”—he seems to demonstrate how open-ended masculinity can be. Accordingly, the production is both harsh and soft, melding flute trills, string swells, and frantic percussion into beautiful chaos. Sumney’s definition of virility is less about strength or potency and more about the potential and willingness to change form. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
Sumney often uses grayness this way, prying open an idea and wondering aloud if it could work differently. He can be both playful and critical. “Conveyor,” which embodies the former, is a cheeky vow to embrace conformity. “I will assume form / Join the workforce / The colony,” he sings with tart sweetness. The puttering drums and shimmering synths nearly obscure his voice, conveying the success of his conformity.
For the spoken-word song “jill/jack,” Sumney and the singer-songwriter Jill Scott take a diagram of hypermasculinity and slyly rearrange it. “He had that masculine thing down / Shoulders and back straight / Never slumping / Never round / Straight,” the song begins, repeating the chant with tweaked pronouns and ad-libs. It ends with the two speaking in unison, masculine and feminine, both a critique of rigid gender politics and an exercise in fluidity.
The clearest demonstration of Sumney’s range is “Gagarin,” presumably named after the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Moaning across a gorgeous void of twinkly keys, rich bass lines, and echoing FX, Sumney’s voice is transformed into a slurred, depressive yawn. “My life does not belong to me,” he says with acute resignation, evoking Gagarin’s pioneering flight. The song has a cinematic quality to it, every sound rich and lush, every word weighted and bleak. But there’s also solace in space, and when he views the Earth from space, he finds purpose: “For that big blue bold / I’ll let it go / For the gold medal / Surrender.” Sumney’s Gagarin sounds frightened and patriotic and self-destructive all at once. This imaginative biopic in song is less a story and more a topography, the contours of isolation mapped in granular detail. Current Issue View our current issue
Sumney’s vision of grayness is not solely musical. Across the record, spoken-word interludes ground Sumney’s genre-hopping in a larger fight for self-determination. The record begins with writer Taiye Selasi exploring the etymology of the word “isolation,” whose root word means “island,” and constantly builds on that idea, presenting disconnection as both an emotional and political experience. On “boxes,” a coda to “Conveyor,” poet Ayesha K. Faines says, “I truly believe that people who define you control you / And the most significant thing that any person can do / But especially black women and men / Is to think about who gave them their definitions.” The aptly named “also also also and and and” adds that the ability to change definitions is just as vital as writing them. “I insist upon my right to be multiple,” Selasi says.
Selasi’s directness is an effective complement to Sumney’s abstraction, which might otherwise scan as cagey. “Bystanders,” for instance, warns of the danger of misplacing trust in supposed allies, drawing a distinction between supporters and gawkers. “Don’t waste your candor / On bystanders / They’ll watch you waste, waste / Waste, waste away,” he sings. In the context of black people historically being surveilled and imposed upon, Sumney’s advice lands as cautious rather than vague. Asserting one’s freedom is not the same thing as having it recognized, a point he takes so seriously that he does not elaborate past betrayals.
The album’s highlight is “Polly,” a warmhearted transmission to a lover who’s resistant to Sumney’s preference for polyamory. The song channels all of the album’s notions of multiplicity, from its eruption of voices to its contradictory imagery. Sumney buzzes with delight and fear as he articulates his vision for the relationship: “I want to be cotton candy / In the mouth of many a lover / Saccharine and slick technicolor.” The sequence is empowering and depleting. Cotton candy is adored and also disposable, a disjunction that creeps in as Sumney second-guesses his admission toward the end of the song. “Am I just your Friday dick?” he asks. The song’s one-sidedness heightens the sense of risk, a nuance that would be foreclosed if Sumney had written it as a defense of polyamory rather than a negotiation of one particular arrangement.
Ultimately, this seems to be the appeal of grayness as a theme; instead of anthems, Sumney offers solitary dispatches, celebrating his freedom while refusing to downplay its costs, its fragility. His island is sovereign and teeming—and exposed. Moses Sumney’s music won’t make you feel invincible, but it will make you feel alive.


thenation--2020-06-04--Larry Kramer’s Righteous Rage

Larry Kramer’s Righteous Rage

When it was his turn to address a forum on AIDS in New York in 1991 , Larry Kramer took an uncharacteristic pause before speaking .
He rubbed his ear and ran his hand through his thinning hair .
Eyes cast down , he sat in silence for another moment .
Then a syllable burst through his grimacing lips : “ Plague !
” Another pause .
Then staccato .
“ We are in the middle of a fucking plague .
Plague !
” He pounded the table in time to his words .
“ Forty million infected people is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as if it is .
Nobody in this hospital , nobody in this city , nobody in this world .
Forty million people is a fucking plague .
Every person I talk to , in every city , in every agency—gay , straight—is as despondent as they can possibly be .
Nobody knows what to do next .
Nobody knows what to do next.
” He looked down and shuffled some papers .
Sighed .
Took in a breath and blew it through billowing cheeks .
At that exasperated point , Kramer had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and he did not let up in the nearly 30 years since , not until his death last Wednesday , at age 84 .
He is survived by his husband , David Webster ; two generations of activists galvanized by his vision and fortitude ; and untold numbers of people whose lives were saved because of his writing , the service organization Gay Men ’ s Health Crisis ( which he cofounded in 1982 ) , and the direct-action group ACT UP ( which he cofounded in 1987 ) .
The 1991 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s stirring biographical film Larry Kramer in Love and Anger ) displays not only Kramer ’ s hallmark rhetorical style—a tumbleweed rhythm built of repetition , excoriation , statistics , and fucks—but also his keen capabilities as a performer .
Having begun his professional life in the movie business and then writing novels and plays , Kramer knew well how to milk dramatic effect .
That ’ s not to say the emotion was in any way insincere .
His rage and vexation laser right through any screen all these years later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person was to feel them strike hard in your solar plexus .
But he understood he was onstage and knew how to use it , and he recognized he had access to that platform by dint of being a well-to-do white man .
Kramer could afford to be relentless , spewing invective at public officials like New York Mayor Ed Koch , President Ronald Reagan , and New York Times executive editor Abe Rosenthal , a triumvirate he held primarily responsible for the rising death toll , as well as at his beloved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Crashing into the limits of his entitlement turned Kramer into an activist .
“ I grew up nonpolitical , ” he told me in an interview some 15 years ago .
“ I was out in Fire Island laughing at Gay Pride marches on TV .
What politicized me was a couple of friends dying real fast ” —and his shock at the lethal indifference of government , medical , religious , and media institutions .
As he put it in an interview with Sarah Schulman for the indispensable ACT UP Oral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ realize that “ it doesn ’ t make any difference that you went to Yale and were assistant to presidents of a couple of film companies and that you had money .
You suddenly know what it ’ s like to feel like a faggot or a nigger or a kike.
” It wasn ’ t just that gay lives were deemed expendable , he concluded as the world ignored the expanding public health crisis ; the world wanted gays dead .
He used words like “ holocaust , ” “ genocide ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the full knowledge of what I am saying , ” he told me .
“ I really think they are out to completely eliminate and destroy us.
” Always a cultural nationalist subscribing to a sort of gay Zionism , Kramer in 1990 told The Wall Street Journal , of all places , “ It hurts me to say I think the time for violence has now arrived .
I don ’ t personally think I ’ m the guy with the guts to do it , but I ’ d like to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Irgun , which led to the state of Israel.
” To convince the world of gay people ’ s worth required convincing gay people themselves—a moral ( sometimes moralistic ) imperative Kramer took on before the outbreak of HIV .
His controversial 1978 novel Faggots follows a hero ( based on Kramer ) searching for love amid the spectacularly rendered hedonism of gay bathhouses and Fire Island parties , concluding that no relationship could survive amid a culture of promiscuity .
Radical gay liberationists resented the finger wagging they perceived in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a sex-negative scold carried over only a few years later when he was among the first striking the alarm in essays in the gay weekly the New York Native about a mysterious disease cutting down gay men in their prime .
The most influential , “ 1,112 and Counting , ” began on the cover of the Native on March 14 , 1983 , warning , “ If this article doesn ’ t scare the shit out of you , we ’ re in real trouble .
If this article doesn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , rage , and action , gay men may have no future on this earth .
Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get.
” It lashes out for 5,000 breathless words at City Hall , hospitals , the National Institutes of Health , the press , closeted gay men , and at “ guys who moan that giving up careless sex until this blows over is worse than death .
How can they value life so little and cocks and asses so much ?
” By then , Kramer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the efforts of GMHC to win support from the city , and he was pushed out .
His response was to recount his experience in a barely fictionalized play , The Normal Heart , an electrifying work that meshes narrative realism and agitprop and that made a tangible impact before it even opened Off Broadway at the Public Theater in April 1985 : As a courtesy—or to stave off hostility or even charges of libel—the producer Joseph Papp contacted Koch and the Times ’ culture editor Arthur Gelb to let them know that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The mayor responded with a press conference on the day of the first preview performance , announcing “ a comprehensive expansion of city services ” for people with AIDS .
The Times ran a defensive paragraph alongside Frank Rich ’ s mixed review of the play , asserting ( against all evidence to the contrary ) that it had been doing a fine job covering the epidemic .
By conventional standards , The Normal Heart is not a good play—it ’ s stuffed with speechifying and didactic hectoring on the part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a great one that cares little about convention .
It gathers urgency through the mounting desperation of its characters as they confront dying men , an unresponsive city , and an uninterested press and fight among themselves over the minutiae of letterhead and the enormousness of their task .
It ’ s the only play I know that dramatizes the nitty-gritty grunt work of organization building as if lives depended on it .
And they did .
The production challenged audiences to become involved , not only by providing info brochures and sign-up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the very structure of our viewing : Seated across from one another , with the action playing between us like on a tennis court , we observed other audience members and knew we were being observed as we watched recent history unfold and roll into the demanding present .
I remember being riveted by a ritual-like engagement with those around and across from me , who were living the terrors the show portrayed .
When a character early in the play , set in 1983 , declared that AIDS had already claimed 41 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saw a man across the way drop his head into his hands and shudder .
By 1985 , as we sat in the theater , the walls festooned with texts showing numbers of diagnoses , deaths , and other up-to-the-minute data , that figure had increased a hundredfold .
There was no way the play could provoke with the same immediacy when it was presented for the first time on Broadway in 2011 ( followed by a film version on HBO in 2014 ) , despite a stellar company of actors , though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rage .
By then , we had a vocabulary and framework , thanks to ACT UP , for describing the sociopolitical dimensions of an epidemic that exceed the biological , even if Kramer , ever the single-minded gay tribalist , focused most on pressing for drug treatments .
Others drawn to the call for fighting back that he issued in a blistering speech at New York ’ s LGBT Community Center in March 1987 ( many of them with backgrounds in radical organizing that was foreign to Kramer ) built ACT UP into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that won health care , housing , insurance , and other rights for people with AIDS and that forever changed how medications are developed .
But AIDS rages on , and Kramer , all by himself , waited outside the John Golden Theatre after every performance of the 12-week Broadway run of The Normal Heart , distributing flyers to playgoers to let them know that the story they had just seen was essentially true and that AIDS was not over .
But in place of scathing command , he entreated gently—a change wrought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as he had undergone by then a liver transplant , not to mention survived for decades with HIV .
There he stood , in his typical overalls and talismanic turquoise jewelry ( at least on the night I saw the show ) , handing out a list of about a dozen items , each introduced with the phrase “ Please know ” : that there was still no cure , that “ all efforts at prevention and education continue their unending record of abject failure , ” that “ pharmaceutical companies are among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loosed on humankind .
What ‘ research ’ they embark upon is calculated only toward finding newer drugs to keep us , just barely , from dying , but not to make us better or , god forbid , cured.
” And so on .
Meanwhile , Kramer was pouring what energy he had into his 1,700-page , kaleidoscopic , two-volume magnum opus , The American People , seeking to reveal the queer underpinnings of America in every era .
Setting the American record everything but straight was a campaign he considered inextricably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the heart of much unresponsiveness toward AIDS .
While he and I maintained a cordial acquaintanceship over the years , I never knew Kramer well enough to enjoy the deep personal concern , support , and warmth—or suffer the reproach—described in remembrances by those close to him .
He did , however , amiably chide me in an e-mail for failing to mention , when I reviewed Hamilton , that the founding father was gay and a lover of George Washington ’ s .
“ How are we ever going to get our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ erased for Broadway ?
” he implored .
Last June , Kramer was a featured speaker at the Reclaim Pride Queer Liberation March .
Orating from his wheelchair , his voice thin but his connection with his audience as thick as ever , he sounded his old themes—gay men were chasing pleasure and shirking their duty to end AIDS—but now in a heartbreakingly funereal rather than martial mode .
He said that we had failed , that he had failed .
He urged the new generation to pick up the fight , first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in it .
It made me think of one of Ned ’ s arias in The Normal Heart .
“ I belong to a culture that includes Marcel Proust , Walt Whitman , Tennessee Williams , Alexander the Great , so many popes and cardinals you wouldn ’ t believe , ” Ned tells an anxious , closeted friend .
Ned goes on to describe how “ an openly gay Englishman , ” the code breaker Alan Turing , was responsible for winning World War II .
“ That ’ s how I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
“ As one of the men who won the war .
”

When it was his turn to address a forum on AIDS in New York in 1991, Larry Kramer took an uncharacteristic pause before speaking. He rubbed his ear and ran his hand through his thinning hair. Eyes cast down, he sat in silence for another moment. Then a syllable burst through his grimacing lips: “Plague!” Another pause. Then staccato. “We are in the middle of a fucking plague. Plague!” He pounded the table in time to his words. “Forty million infected people is a fucking plague, and nobody acts as if it is. Nobody in this hospital, nobody in this city, nobody in this world. Forty million people is a fucking plague. Every person I talk to, in every city, in every agency—gay, straight—is as despondent as they can possibly be. Nobody knows what to do next. Nobody knows what to do next.” He looked down and shuffled some papers. Sighed. Took in a breath and blew it through billowing cheeks.
At that exasperated point, Kramer had been sounding such jeremiads for a decade, and he did not let up in the nearly 30 years since, not until his death last Wednesday, at age 84. He is survived by his husband, David Webster; two generations of activists galvanized by his vision and fortitude; and untold numbers of people whose lives were saved because of his writing, the service organization Gay Men’s Health Crisis (which he cofounded in 1982), and the direct-action group ACT UP (which he cofounded in 1987).
The 1991 speech (which opens Jean Carlomusto’s stirring biographical film Larry Kramer in Love and Anger) displays not only Kramer’s hallmark rhetorical style—a tumbleweed rhythm built of repetition, excoriation, statistics, and fucks—but also his keen capabilities as a performer. Having begun his professional life in the movie business and then writing novels and plays, Kramer knew well how to milk dramatic effect. That’s not to say the emotion was in any way insincere. His rage and vexation laser right through any screen all these years later, and to behold his righteous tirades in person was to feel them strike hard in your solar plexus. But he understood he was onstage and knew how to use it, and he recognized he had access to that platform by dint of being a well-to-do white man.
Kramer could afford to be relentless, spewing invective at public officials like New York Mayor Ed Koch, President Ronald Reagan, and New York Times executive editor Abe Rosenthal, a triumvirate he held primarily responsible for the rising death toll, as well as at his beloved gay community when he deemed it complacent.
Crashing into the limits of his entitlement turned Kramer into an activist. “I grew up nonpolitical,” he told me in an interview some 15 years ago. “I was out in Fire Island laughing at Gay Pride marches on TV. What politicized me was a couple of friends dying real fast”—and his shock at the lethal indifference of government, medical, religious, and media institutions. As he put it in an interview with Sarah Schulman for the indispensable ACT UP Oral History Project, he was stunned to realize that “it doesn’t make any difference that you went to Yale and were assistant to presidents of a couple of film companies and that you had money. You suddenly know what it’s like to feel like a faggot or a nigger or a kike.” It wasn’t just that gay lives were deemed expendable, he concluded as the world ignored the expanding public health crisis; the world wanted gays dead. He used words like “holocaust,” “genocide” and “gas chambers” “with the full knowledge of what I am saying,” he told me. “I really think they are out to completely eliminate and destroy us.” Always a cultural nationalist subscribing to a sort of gay Zionism, Kramer in 1990 told The Wall Street Journal, of all places, “It hurts me to say I think the time for violence has now arrived. I don’t personally think I’m the guy with the guts to do it, but I’d like to see an AIDS terrorist army, like the Irgun, which led to the state of Israel.” Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
To convince the world of gay people’s worth required convincing gay people themselves—a moral (sometimes moralistic) imperative Kramer took on before the outbreak of HIV. His controversial 1978 novel Faggots follows a hero (based on Kramer) searching for love amid the spectacularly rendered hedonism of gay bathhouses and Fire Island parties, concluding that no relationship could survive amid a culture of promiscuity. Radical gay liberationists resented the finger wagging they perceived in the novel, and Kramer’s reputation as a sex-negative scold carried over only a few years later when he was among the first striking the alarm in essays in the gay weekly the New York Native about a mysterious disease cutting down gay men in their prime. The most influential, “1,112 and Counting,” began on the cover of the Native on March 14, 1983, warning, “If this article doesn’t scare the shit out of you, we’re in real trouble. If this article doesn’t rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, gay men may have no future on this earth. Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get.” It lashes out for 5,000 breathless words at City Hall, hospitals, the National Institutes of Health, the press, closeted gay men, and at “guys who moan that giving up careless sex until this blows over is worse than death. How can they value life so little and cocks and asses so much?”
By then, Kramer’s confrontational style was clashing with the efforts of GMHC to win support from the city, and he was pushed out. His response was to recount his experience in a barely fictionalized play, The Normal Heart, an electrifying work that meshes narrative realism and agitprop and that made a tangible impact before it even opened Off Broadway at the Public Theater in April 1985: As a courtesy—or to stave off hostility or even charges of libel—the producer Joseph Papp contacted Koch and the Times’ culture editor Arthur Gelb to let them know that the play criticized them for their inaction. The mayor responded with a press conference on the day of the first preview performance, announcing “a comprehensive expansion of city services” for people with AIDS. The Times ran a defensive paragraph alongside Frank Rich’s mixed review of the play, asserting (against all evidence to the contrary) that it had been doing a fine job covering the epidemic. Related Article Traitor, Scourge, Prophet: Larry Kramer’s Acerbic Alternate History Jeremy Lybarger
By conventional standards, The Normal Heart is not a good play—it’s stuffed with speechifying and didactic hectoring on the part of its hero, Ned Weeks—but it is a great one that cares little about convention. It gathers urgency through the mounting desperation of its characters as they confront dying men, an unresponsive city, and an uninterested press and fight among themselves over the minutiae of letterhead and the enormousness of their task. It’s the only play I know that dramatizes the nitty-gritty grunt work of organization building as if lives depended on it. And they did. The production challenged audiences to become involved, not only by providing info brochures and sign-up sheets in the lobby but also through the very structure of our viewing: Seated across from one another, with the action playing between us like on a tennis court, we observed other audience members and knew we were being observed as we watched recent history unfold and roll into the demanding present. I remember being riveted by a ritual-like engagement with those around and across from me, who were living the terrors the show portrayed. When a character early in the play, set in 1983, declared that AIDS had already claimed 41 lives in New York City, I saw a man across the way drop his head into his hands and shudder. By 1985, as we sat in the theater, the walls festooned with texts showing numbers of diagnoses, deaths, and other up-to-the-minute data, that figure had increased a hundredfold.
There was no way the play could provoke with the same immediacy when it was presented for the first time on Broadway in 2011 (followed by a film version on HBO in 2014), despite a stellar company of actors, though it still stung emotionally and incited my rage. By then, we had a vocabulary and framework, thanks to ACT UP, for describing the sociopolitical dimensions of an epidemic that exceed the biological, even if Kramer, ever the single-minded gay tribalist, focused most on pressing for drug treatments. Others drawn to the call for fighting back that he issued in a blistering speech at New York’s LGBT Community Center in March 1987 (many of them with backgrounds in radical organizing that was foreign to Kramer) built ACT UP into an international, scrappy, horizontal movement that won health care, housing, insurance, and other rights for people with AIDS and that forever changed how medications are developed.
But AIDS rages on, and Kramer, all by himself, waited outside the John Golden Theatre after every performance of the 12-week Broadway run of The Normal Heart, distributing flyers to playgoers to let them know that the story they had just seen was essentially true and that AIDS was not over. But in place of scathing command, he entreated gently—a change wrought perhaps by age or his frailty, as he had undergone by then a liver transplant, not to mention survived for decades with HIV. There he stood, in his typical overalls and talismanic turquoise jewelry (at least on the night I saw the show), handing out a list of about a dozen items, each introduced with the phrase “Please know”: that there was still no cure, that “all efforts at prevention and education continue their unending record of abject failure,” that “pharmaceutical companies are among the most evil and greedy nightmares ever loosed on humankind. What ‘research’ they embark upon is calculated only toward finding newer drugs to keep us, just barely, from dying, but not to make us better or, god forbid, cured.” And so on.
Meanwhile, Kramer was pouring what energy he had into his 1,700-page, kaleidoscopic, two-volume magnum opus, The American People, seeking to reveal the queer underpinnings of America in every era. Setting the American record everything but straight was a campaign he considered inextricably tied up with fighting the homophobia at the heart of much unresponsiveness toward AIDS. While he and I maintained a cordial acquaintanceship over the years, I never knew Kramer well enough to enjoy the deep personal concern, support, and warmth—or suffer the reproach—described in remembrances by those close to him. He did, however, amiably chide me in an e-mail for failing to mention, when I reviewed Hamilton, that the founding father was gay and a lover of George Washington’s. “How are we ever going to get our history out when it’s even erased for Broadway?” he implored.
Last June, Kramer was a featured speaker at the Reclaim Pride Queer Liberation March. Orating from his wheelchair, his voice thin but his connection with his audience as thick as ever, he sounded his old themes—gay men were chasing pleasure and shirking their duty to end AIDS—but now in a heartbreakingly funereal rather than martial mode. He said that we had failed, that he had failed. He urged the new generation to pick up the fight, first by learning their history and taking pride in it.
It made me think of one of Ned’s arias in The Normal Heart. “I belong to a culture that includes Marcel Proust, Walt Whitman, Tennessee Williams, Alexander the Great, so many popes and cardinals you wouldn’t believe,” Ned tells an anxious, closeted friend. Ned goes on to describe how “an openly gay Englishman,” the code breaker Alan Turing, was responsible for winning World War II. “That’s how I want to be remembered,” Ned says. “As one of the men who won the war.”


thenation--2020-06-04--A Lavender League of Their Own

A Lavender League of Their Own

“ There ’ s no crying in baseball , ” says Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own , the most popular baseball film of all time .
But a more subtle theme of the film is that there are no lesbians in baseball .
The film made no mention of the fact that many of the athletes in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League ( AAGPBL ) were lesbians , although none of them were open about their sexuality except to close friends and some teammates.1 With the baseball season on hold , and fans resorting to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new documentary not only helps fill the void but also reveals an aspect of the national pastime that has long been in the closet.2 A Secret Love , which debuted on Netflix at the end of April , tells the story of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel , who met and fell in love in 1947 , when Donahue , then 22 , was playing for the AAGPBL and Henschel , then 18 , was a long-distance phone operator .
The couple kept their true relationship a secret for more than six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and coworkers , describing themselves as roommates and good friends.3 Both women grew up on Canadian farms .
A topflight softball player in Moose Jaw , Canada , Donahue was recruited to join the AAGPBL ’ s Peoria Red Wings in 1946 , remaining with the team until 1949 .
After she left the AAGPBL , she and Henschel moved to the Chicago area , where Donahue played part-time for professional women ’ s softball teams in the area.4 Donahue rarely talked about her baseball-playing days .
But after the release of A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she gained some notoriety .
In 2010 , the Kane County Chronicle profiled the 84-year old Donahue , who had been invited to be the grand marshal of the St. Charles , Ill. , St. Patrick ’ s Day parade .
The article described Henschel as her “ cousin and roommate.
” In an hour-long interview conducted that same year , Donahue doesn ’ t mention Henschel , much less lesbianism.5 Eleven Black Trans Women Have Been Murdered This Year .
It ’ s Time for Another Uprising .
How Stonewall Veteran Jay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Riots—and How It Hasn ’ t There Can Be No Queer Liberation Without Trans Liberation More in this series American culture had changed enough by the time Donahue died in March 2019 , at age 93 , that the AAGPBL posted a photo of the couple on its Twitter page , describing Henschel as her “ partner of 71 years.
” 6 Chris Bolan , Donahue ’ s great-nephew , decided to make the film after Donahue and Henschel came out to him in 2009 and began telling him stories of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interviews in 2013 and 2018 , so he was able to capture them in their final years as a couple.7 Although they lived clandestine lives , they nevertheless documented their relationship in dozens of audiocassette tapes and photo albums , some of which are shown in the film .
They met at a hockey rink in Canada when Donahue was back home during the off-season .
When the AAGPBL season resumed , Henschel often traveled to the small Midwestern cities where Donahue ’ s team was playing to attend her games—and to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in hotel rooms and churches in order to steal a kiss or hug in private .
While apart , they wrote long love letters to each other , but tore off their signatures to keep their relationship secret from family , friends , and team officials if the letters were ever found.8 The film chronicles their years together living conventional lives as a couple in Chicago .
In the 1950s and ’ 60s , they avoided gay bars , which were often raided by the police .
They feared that they could get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or , worse , deported to Canada .
They had a small coterie of gay friends who socialized in each other ’ s homes , where they could be safer .
When the gay rights movement erupted in the 1970s , they remained on the sidelines .
They worked for the same Chicago interior design firm but hid their relationship from fellow employees.9 The film also movingly recounts their later years dealing with declining health , moving to an assisted living facility , and coping with Donahue ’ s Parkinson ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their decision to come out to family and friends , to live openly as a couple , and to get married in 2015 , the first year that same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States , on Donahue ’ s 90th birthday .
Bolan filmed the small ceremony.10 Donahue was hardly the only lesbian in the AAGPBL , which was founded by Philip K. Wrigley , the multimillionaire chewing gum magnate who owned the Chicago Cubs .
During World War II , professional baseball faced a labor shortage .
Eventually , over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the war , while others worked in defense plants .
The war depleted the rosters of many minor league teams ; many were disbanded.11 Major league owners worried that fans would stop paying to watch teams with second-tier players , but Wrigley figured they might buy tickets to see women play the game .
The popularity of softball had exploded during the 1930s and ’ 40s , especially among woman athletes , but Wrigley insisted that the AAGPBL play regular baseball .
He recruited businessmen to sponsor local teams in midsize industrial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chicago .
The league started with four teams—the Racine Belles and Kenosha Comets in Wisconsin , the Rockford Peaches in Illinois , and the South Bend Blue Sox in Indiana—and grew to 10 .
Over 600 players participated in the league , which operated from 1943 to 1954.12 In the 1940s and ’ 50s , lesbianism among women was as taboo as homosexuality among men .
One magazine article from 1943 expressed concern that the players in the new AAGPBL would turn women ’ s baseball into an “ uncouth Amazonian spectacle.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ female ballplayers were lesbians , it was impossible for the league to exclude them .
But they had to keep their sexuality secret.14 According to Kelly Candaele , whose mother , Helen Callaghan , was a star player for three AAGPBL teams between 1944 and 1949 , “ My mom , who was working in a factory in Vancouver , told me that didn ’ t even know about lesbianism until she joined the Minneapolis Millerettes .
She said that all the players knew that gay relationships in the league were common , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much of it.
” 15 Candaele , whose 1987 documentary for public television about the AAGPBL , A League of Their Own , inspired director Penny Marshall to make a Hollywood version of the story , said that among his mother and her fellow players , “ their attitude seemed to be that what happens within the team stays within the team.
” 16 In Honor of the People Who Have Bled for Our Desire Most of the players were from working-class families .
Their salaries—which initially ranged from $ 45 to $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of most other jobs available to women , including jobs in defense plants .
In fact , their pay exceeded what most men were making at the time .
Even so , most of them had to work during the off-season , in factories or at clerical and office jobs.17 The women gained self-confidence that helped them when their playing days ended .
“ It was just a chance of a lifetime to someone who loved to play baseball as much as I did , ” recalled player Gloria Cordes Elliot in an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ While only 8.2 percent of the women of their generation earned college degrees—and an even smaller number of working-class women—35 percent of AAGPBL players secured a college degree , with 14 percent earning graduate degrees .
Many became teachers , coaches , and advocates for women ’ s sport.19 Wrigley and the team owners wanted to differentiate the AAGPBL from existing amateur women ’ s softball leagues , where players were often viewed as rough and masculine , and wore regular male-style uniforms on the field .
Wrigley insisted that the ballplayers radiate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ womanhood.
” The league handbook required players to “ dress , act , and carry themselves as befits the feminine sex.
” Wrigley wanted the public to think of the players as the “ girl next door.
” The AAGPBL enforced a cardinal rule among the players : “ Play like a man , look like a lady ” —or , as player Lois Youngen put it , “ Look like Betty Grable and play ball like Joe DiMaggio.
” 20 Each team hired a female chaperone to enforce the league ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practices , players were required to attend classes run by Helena Rubenstein ’ s charm school that included makeup tips , etiquette , language , posture , social skills , and personal hygiene , plus the league ’ s strict dress code .
Each player was given a guide with specific instructions on how to look and behave .
It came with a kit that included cleansing cream , lipstick , hair remover , and other feminine products.21 On the field , they played in flared skirts like those worn by women involved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and tennis , even though they were expected to slide , which led to many bruises .
The chaperones taped them up and they ’ d continue to play.22 Off the field , they were prohibited from smoking or drinking in public , required to get the permission of their chaperones for “ all social engagements , ” and to be in their rooms by a curfew hour .
The league sent local newspapers profiles of the players , which focused not only on their playing skills but also their domestic skills and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In local ads and publicity events , the league promoted the most traditionally feminine-looking players.23 Many AAGPBL players were married , engaged , or had boyfriends back home or in the military .
Like many pro athletes , some had affairs during the baseball season .
Some of those affairs were with men , while others were with female fans and teammates.24 Nobody really knows how many lesbians played in the league , because they were all in the closet .
But if a league official or manager suspected that two players @ @ @ @ @ @ @ having an affair , they would refuse to let the women room together .
One AAGPBL manager released two players whom he suspected of being lesbians , worried that they would “ contaminate ” other players on the team .
One chaperone confronted a player after discovering that she was having an affair with a local woman .
When the player insisted that she would continue the relationship , Fred Leo , the AAGPBL publicity director and later its president , contacted her husband , who came and took her home and out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long-lasting lesbian relationships during and after their playing days , but remained closeted .
Even as interest in the AAGPBL grew after the Hollywood version of A League of Their Own was released , many lesbian players were reluctant to discuss their sexuality .
It was only after they , or their partners , died that they came out of the closet , usually through phrases in their obituaries like “ long-term companion.
” 26 Mildred “ Millie ” Deegan , born in Brooklyn in 1919 , was an outstanding athlete in high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in second ( to Babe Didrikson ) in the women ’ s javelin throw and would have made the US Olympic team in 1936 if she hadn ’ t been too young .
Her prowess on the softball field led to her nickname , “ the Babe Ruth of women ’ s softball , ” and in 1939 she posed for a photo with the retired Ruth coaching her with a bat in her hand.27 Deegan joined the AAGPBL in its first season , pitching and playing second base for six teams during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the league .
In 1944 , the Brooklyn Dodgers brought Deegan to the team ’ s spring training camp at Bear Mountain , N.Y. After watching Deegan play , Dodger manager Leo Durocher told a reporter , “ If we run out of men , Millie will be the first on the team… .
If she were a man , she no doubt would have been a Dodger.
” 28 After she left the AAGPBL , Deegan worked as a secretary and portrait photographer but continued to coach and play on women ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where she met another standout player , Margaret Nusse .
They became lifelong partners , but a 1993 profile of Nusse in the Tampa Bay Times described Deegan as her “ cousin ” and “ roommate.
” When Deegan died in 2002 , however , the New York Times obituary described Nusse as her “ companion and her only survivor.
” 29 The 1972 Title IX laws dramatically increased the number of females playing high school and college sports , including fast-pitch softball .
Professional women ’ s basketball , soccer , golf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But since the demise of the AAGPBL , it ’ s been almost impossible for exceptionally talented female athletes to earn a living playing softball or baseball.30

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“There’s no crying in baseball,” says Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, the most popular baseball film of all time. But a more subtle theme of the film is that there are no lesbians in baseball. The film made no mention of the fact that many of the athletes in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) were lesbians, although none of them were open about their sexuality except to close friends and some teammates.1
With the baseball season on hold, and fans resorting to watching reruns of major league games, a new documentary not only helps fill the void but also reveals an aspect of the national pastime that has long been in the closet.2
A Secret Love, which debuted on Netflix at the end of April, tells the story of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, who met and fell in love in 1947, when Donahue, then 22, was playing for the AAGPBL and Henschel, then 18, was a long-distance phone operator. The couple kept their true relationship a secret for more than six decades. They lied to their family and coworkers, describing themselves as roommates and good friends.3
Both women grew up on Canadian farms. A topflight softball player in Moose Jaw, Canada, Donahue was recruited to join the AAGPBL’s Peoria Red Wings in 1946, remaining with the team until 1949. After she left the AAGPBL, she and Henschel moved to the Chicago area, where Donahue played part-time for professional women’s softball teams in the area.4
Donahue rarely talked about her baseball-playing days. But after the release of A League of Their Own in 1992, she gained some notoriety. In 2010, the Kane County Chronicle profiled the 84-year old Donahue, who had been invited to be the grand marshal of the St. Charles, Ill., St. Patrick’s Day parade. The article described Henschel as her “cousin and roommate.” In an hour-long interview conducted that same year, Donahue doesn’t mention Henschel, much less lesbianism.5 Stonewall Eleven Black Trans Women Have Been Murdered This Year. It’s Time for Another Uprising. Alicia Garza How Stonewall Veteran Jay Toole’s Life Has Changed Since the Riots—and How It Hasn’t Naomi Gordon-Loebl There Can Be No Queer Liberation Without Trans Liberation Bamby Salcedo
American culture had changed enough by the time Donahue died in March 2019, at age 93, that the AAGPBL posted a photo of the couple on its Twitter page, describing Henschel as her “partner of 71 years.”6
Chris Bolan, Donahue’s great-nephew, decided to make the film after Donahue and Henschel came out to him in 2009 and began telling him stories of their seven decades together. He filmed the interviews in 2013 and 2018, so he was able to capture them in their final years as a couple.7
Although they lived clandestine lives, they nevertheless documented their relationship in dozens of audiocassette tapes and photo albums, some of which are shown in the film. They met at a hockey rink in Canada when Donahue was back home during the off-season. When the AAGPBL season resumed, Henschel often traveled to the small Midwestern cities where Donahue’s team was playing to attend her games—and to have moments together. They would meet secretly in hotel rooms and churches in order to steal a kiss or hug in private. While apart, they wrote long love letters to each other, but tore off their signatures to keep their relationship secret from family, friends, and team officials if the letters were ever found.8 Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
The film chronicles their years together living conventional lives as a couple in Chicago. In the 1950s and ’60s, they avoided gay bars, which were often raided by the police. They feared that they could get arrested, be fired from their jobs, or, worse, deported to Canada. They had a small coterie of gay friends who socialized in each other’s homes, where they could be safer. When the gay rights movement erupted in the 1970s, they remained on the sidelines. They worked for the same Chicago interior design firm but hid their relationship from fellow employees.9
The film also movingly recounts their later years dealing with declining health, moving to an assisted living facility, and coping with Donahue’s Parkinson’s disease. A Secret Love also depicts their decision to come out to family and friends, to live openly as a couple, and to get married in 2015, the first year that same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States, on Donahue’s 90th birthday. Bolan filmed the small ceremony.10
Donahue was hardly the only lesbian in the AAGPBL, which was founded by Philip K. Wrigley, the multimillionaire chewing gum magnate who owned the Chicago Cubs. During World War II, professional baseball faced a labor shortage. Eventually, over 500 major leaguers served in the military during the war, while others worked in defense plants. The war depleted the rosters of many minor league teams; many were disbanded.11
Major league owners worried that fans would stop paying to watch teams with second-tier players, but Wrigley figured they might buy tickets to see women play the game. The popularity of softball had exploded during the 1930s and ’40s, especially among woman athletes, but Wrigley insisted that the AAGPBL play regular baseball. He recruited businessmen to sponsor local teams in midsize industrial Midwestern towns within a 100-mile radius of Chicago. The league started with four teams—the Racine Belles and Kenosha Comets in Wisconsin, the Rockford Peaches in Illinois, and the South Bend Blue Sox in Indiana—and grew to 10. Over 600 players participated in the league, which operated from 1943 to 1954.12
In the 1940s and ’50s, lesbianism among women was as taboo as homosexuality among men. One magazine article from 1943 expressed concern that the players in the new AAGPBL would turn women’s baseball into an “uncouth Amazonian spectacle.”13
Because so many of the best female ballplayers were lesbians, it was impossible for the league to exclude them. But they had to keep their sexuality secret.14
According to Kelly Candaele, whose mother, Helen Callaghan, was a star player for three AAGPBL teams between 1944 and 1949, “My mom, who was working in a factory in Vancouver, told me that didn’t even know about lesbianism until she joined the Minneapolis Millerettes. She said that all the players knew that gay relationships in the league were common, but also that nobody seemed to make much of it.”15
Candaele, whose 1987 documentary for public television about the AAGPBL, A League of Their Own, inspired director Penny Marshall to make a Hollywood version of the story, said that among his mother and her fellow players, “their attitude seemed to be that what happens within the team stays within the team.”16 Related Article In Honor of the People Who Have Bled for Our Desire Diana Oh
Most of the players were from working-class families. Their salaries—which initially ranged from $45 to $85 a week—were considerably higher than those of most other jobs available to women, including jobs in defense plants. In fact, their pay exceeded what most men were making at the time. Even so, most of them had to work during the off-season, in factories or at clerical and office jobs.17
The women gained self-confidence that helped them when their playing days ended. “It was just a chance of a lifetime to someone who loved to play baseball as much as I did,” recalled player Gloria Cordes Elliot in an interview for the AAGPBL oral history project.18
While only 8.2 percent of the women of their generation earned college degrees—and an even smaller number of working-class women—35 percent of AAGPBL players secured a college degree, with 14 percent earning graduate degrees. Many became teachers, coaches, and advocates for women’s sport.19
Wrigley and the team owners wanted to differentiate the AAGPBL from existing amateur women’s softball leagues, where players were often viewed as rough and masculine, and wore regular male-style uniforms on the field. Wrigley insisted that the ballplayers radiate femininity and the “highest ideals of womanhood.” The league handbook required players to “dress, act, and carry themselves as befits the feminine sex.” Wrigley wanted the public to think of the players as the “girl next door.” The AAGPBL enforced a cardinal rule among the players: “Play like a man, look like a lady”—or, as player Lois Youngen put it, “Look like Betty Grable and play ball like Joe DiMaggio.”20
Each team hired a female chaperone to enforce the league’s strict code of conduct. After daily practices, players were required to attend classes run by Helena Rubenstein’s charm school that included makeup tips, etiquette, language, posture, social skills, and personal hygiene, plus the league’s strict dress code. Each player was given a guide with specific instructions on how to look and behave. It came with a kit that included cleansing cream, lipstick, hair remover, and other feminine products.21 Related Article Stonewall’s Children—and Grandchildren—Are Alright Susan B. Marine
On the field, they played in flared skirts like those worn by women involved in figure skating, field hockey, and tennis, even though they were expected to slide, which led to many bruises. The chaperones taped them up and they’d continue to play.22
Off the field, they were prohibited from smoking or drinking in public, required to get the permission of their chaperones for “all social engagements,” and to be in their rooms by a curfew hour. The league sent local newspapers profiles of the players, which focused not only on their playing skills but also their domestic skills and hobbies, such as cooking and sewing. In local ads and publicity events, the league promoted the most traditionally feminine-looking players.23
Many AAGPBL players were married, engaged, or had boyfriends back home or in the military. Like many pro athletes, some had affairs during the baseball season. Some of those affairs were with men, while others were with female fans and teammates.24
Nobody really knows how many lesbians played in the league, because they were all in the closet. But if a league official or manager suspected that two players were part of a lesbian couple or having an affair, they would refuse to let the women room together. One AAGPBL manager released two players whom he suspected of being lesbians, worried that they would “contaminate” other players on the team. One chaperone confronted a player after discovering that she was having an affair with a local woman. When the player insisted that she would continue the relationship, Fred Leo, the AAGPBL publicity director and later its president, contacted her husband, who came and took her home and out of the league.25 Current Issue View our current issue
Some AAGPBL players had long-lasting lesbian relationships during and after their playing days, but remained closeted. Even as interest in the AAGPBL grew after the Hollywood version of A League of Their Own was released, many lesbian players were reluctant to discuss their sexuality. It was only after they, or their partners, died that they came out of the closet, usually through phrases in their obituaries like “long-term companion.”26
Mildred “Millie” Deegan, born in Brooklyn in 1919, was an outstanding athlete in high school. At 15, she came in second (to Babe Didrikson) in the women’s javelin throw and would have made the US Olympic team in 1936 if she hadn’t been too young. Her prowess on the softball field led to her nickname, “the Babe Ruth of women’s softball,” and in 1939 she posed for a photo with the retired Ruth coaching her with a bat in her hand.27
Deegan joined the AAGPBL in its first season, pitching and playing second base for six teams during her nine years (1943–51) in the league. In 1944, the Brooklyn Dodgers brought Deegan to the team’s spring training camp at Bear Mountain, N.Y. After watching Deegan play, Dodger manager Leo Durocher told a reporter, “If we run out of men, Millie will be the first on the team…. If she were a man, she no doubt would have been a Dodger.”28
After she left the AAGPBL, Deegan worked as a secretary and portrait photographer but continued to coach and play on women’s softball teams in New Jersey, where she met another standout player, Margaret Nusse. They became lifelong partners, but a 1993 profile of Nusse in the Tampa Bay Times described Deegan as her “cousin” and “roommate.” When Deegan died in 2002, however, the New York Times obituary described Nusse as her “companion and her only survivor.”29
The 1972 Title IX laws dramatically increased the number of females playing high school and college sports, including fast-pitch softball. Professional women’s basketball, soccer, golf, and tennis have become well established. But since the demise of the AAGPBL, it’s been almost impossible for exceptionally talented female athletes to earn a living playing softball or baseball.30