Sexual Abuse? Or Discovering an Identity?
Reading Shilts’ biography, I’m amazed at how obtuse he is in his portrayal of Milk’s induction into homosexuality.
Not only does Shilts casually describe Milk’s childhood sexual abuse, he also writes about the abuse suffered by several of Milk’s sexual partners – but he never calls it sexual abuse. Instead, he describes these boys as “discovering” their homosexuality – through adult sexual encounters.
Sadly, Milk and his many partners could be poster boys for an analysis produced by authors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows the widespread degree to which men who have sex with men were abused as children.
Shilts
also conveniently ignores the fallout that can follow when adult sexuality is imposed on children. Milk and his partners live tumultuous, painful lives, rife with anonymous sex, public sex, bathhouses, prostitution, drugs, depression, alcohol abuse, suicide attempts and multiple partners. The pain and confusion of childhood sexual abuse festers on as their lives unfold
Where the Boys Are
Milk is not the only one who was wrongly sexualized – er, had a “sexual awakening” – at an early age. Shilts writes about Joe Campbell, one of Milk’s early relationships, “wending his way toward the gay subculture in 1945 amid the tattered seats of the Southland Theater on Chicago’s south side.” Campbell was only nine years old, selling himself to grown men for a quarter...
... Rodwell, an early member of gay activist groups, gets arrested for public cruising for sex, and the relationship with Milk started to fall apart as “Harvey Milk shifted his attentions to other young men.” In what was to become a sad pattern for several of Milk’s partners, Rodwell tried to kill himself.
Teach Your Children Well
Milk was 33 when he got together with his next partner – 16-year old Jack McKinley. At one point, Milk tried to “open an investment account as a guardian for a younger man who [he tells the broker] was his ward” – McKinley. The investment broker looks at Milk and says, “What you’re really talking about is opening an account for the boy you’ve got living with you. Right?”
Call me crazy, but I think the law typically frowns upon “guardians” sleeping with their underage “wards.”
McKinley struggled with depression and turned to drugs, alcohol and “sexual promiscuity.” He threatened suicide numerous times and was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as manic-depressive. He attempted to hang himself, but Milk arrived in time to cut him down from the rafters. Another time, he threw himself in front of an oncoming taxi; it’s a sad story of hurt and insecurity.
Milk’s business transferred him from New York to Dallas in 1967. Milk was now 37, and McKinley moved back to Greenwich Village....
...Campbell, Rodwell, McKinley, Turner, Smith….the list grows as Milk continued to help “troubled young gay men.” If you’re paying attention, you’ll note that Harvey’s partners stayed the same age while he grew older.
Shilts describes Milk as having “a fondness for helping the young gay refugees who were pouring into the neighborhood.”...
...Perhaps this is why the recent biopic with Sean Penn, Milk, skipped over the first forty years of Milk’s life. Keeping up with the ever-growing list of young men that Milk gets involved with is confusing in a book – and probably even more confusing in a movie. So the movie telescopes Milk’s dozen or so relationships into a couple.
The film ignores his sexually-addicted forays into bathhouses and public parks, and it doesn’t attempt to deal with his childhood sexual abuse....
The Life and Times of Harvey Milk | CitizenLink
