On the Way to Pride: In Las Vegas, a Deeply Closeted Film Industry Celebrity Prepares to Meet His Grindr Date and Advertised James Garner Look-Alike; While in San Francisco, a Navy Man Is Reunited with His Gay Self After Being Forever Separated from His Beloved in World War II
Two men. Two eras. One journey.
In the backseat, a World War II Navy man rides toward the life he was never allowed to live — flanked by his people, the Aquarian moon in the window, Jupiter 3 overhead, the drinks already poured. He’s smiling. He made it.
Across the frame, a deeply closeted film industry celebrity stands at the edge of a Las Vegas Pride pool party, eyeliner coming at him like a reckoning, the blood moon watching, the rainbow flags snapping in the desert heat. He ordered the drink. He’s almost there.
The first Gay Pride parade marched up Sixth Avenue on June 28, 1970 — two thousand people, one year after Stonewall, calling it Christopher Street Liberation Day. Eight years later, Gilbert Baker unfurled the rainbow flag at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade — hand-stitched, hand-dyed, eight colors for sex, life, healing, sun, nature, magic, serenity, and spirit. Harvey Milk had asked for something beautiful. Baker gave the world something permanent.
That was 1978. Today, 793 anti-LGBTQ bills are moving through 43 states. The Navy man already knows how this works. He lived through one version of it. He’s still smiling.
The Closet Series has been watching. The Pink winks knowingly. Jupiter 3 isn’t surprised. — Behan.
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