Two collages: one shows what could not be photographed in 1963, and the other shows what can be lived now.
For gay men, a getaway is a specific kind of safety. In a place where nobody knows you, nobody can tell your boss, your family, or the press. You can hold hands at dinner. You can ask for one bed and not explain it.
That safety has limits. Being unknown is not the same as being safe. That is a reality gay men still have to contend with today.
Rock and Lee Leave Town
From 1962 to 1965, Rock Hudson, Hollywood's biggest leading man, dates Lee Garlington, a young film extra. In Hollywood, they pretend to be straight. The studios hire detectives to find out which male stars sleep with other men.
In 1963 they go to Puerto Vallarta, then a quiet Mexican beach town. Nobody there is looking for Rock Hudson's boyfriend. For a few days, they are two men on a beach. Even so, each photograph they take is a risk. One print in the wrong hands ends a career.
One collage focuses directly on Rock and Lee's getaway. Photographs of Rock and Lee on the beach fill the frame, each one posed, none of them touching. Teddy and Rusty stand in with a kiss. It shows what the photographs of Rock and Lee never could.
Safe, Not Free
The pattern holds for decades. Gay men build entire towns around being somewhere else: Palm Springs, Key West, Fire Island, Provincetown. Palm Springs becomes a refuge for Hollywood men two hours from the studios.
The danger still travels, in smaller forms. A host who will not rent to two men. A local who stares too long. A photo posted without asking. And every getaway ends on Sunday night, back where people know you.
Teddy and Rusty Check In
In this triptych collage, Teddy and Rusty book a midcentury BNB with a saltwater pool and a mini putting green. Nobody there knows them. That is the reason for the booking.
Every wall in the house is glass, floor to ceiling. They leave the curtains open. They are not ashamed, and they love the natural light reflected in each other's eyes.
The three panels are then merged into one image, with text added for emphasis. The added text reads like a guest review:
Teddy and Rusty enjoyed every bit of their weekend BNB midcentury getaway with saltwater pool and mini putting green.
Every bit is accurate. The putting green never gets a visit. Five stars. Would book again.
Rock and Lee had to leave the country to be a couple for a few days. Teddy and Rusty only need a reservation. The danger is still out there. For one weekend, it is far enough away.
— Behan