4 Unique Gay Teen Portrayals in 20th Century Popular Fiction
Today author Pete Schaus runs down a list of four of the most intriguing depictions of gay male teenage characters or storylines featured in popular American literature published before the millennium.
Pete’s new book Brainwalker is an upcoming horror/fantasy novel featuring an LGBT protagonist, and is currently available for purchase on Kindle or iBooks. - Lauren
1. Stephen Conlin, A Density of Souls (2000)
When A Density of Souls was released in the fall of 2000, it proved to be a watershed moment in the representation of gay teen protagonists in popular fiction. Stephen Conlin, the sensitive-but-troubled central character of Christopher Rice’s first novel, proved to be a revolutionary figure in a time when most depictions of LGBT teens were less than nuanced, if they could be found at all.
Although Stephen was gay, his plotline eschewed the typical coming out narrative. Stephen was depicted as being just as complicated as his fellow peers. He engaged in active sexual relationships. And, most surprising of all, he played a prominent role in a thriller/suspense story when characters with same-sex identities were virtually non-existent in the genre.
Part of the reason such a shockingly transgressive depiction of gay teen sexuality was allowed to exist in a time when the country was still reeling over Ellen DeGeneres’ coming out announcement several years earlier was because of the novel’s status as the debut work of the son of famed author Anne Rice (of The Vampire Chronicles) and poet Stan Rice. The book’s release was greeted with extensive media coverage and an impressive marketing campaign.
Although detractors cited the significant print run of A Density of Souls as the byproduct of nepotism, Rice proved himself to be a formidable author. And by trading in on the goodwill engendered by his famous surname, Rice delivered a groundbreaking queer narrative to a mainstream audience that was years ahead of its time.
Reading this book at the age that I did spoiled me in a way, as I expected all depictions of gay characters in modern literature to be as complex and three-dimensional as Stephen Conlin in A Density of Souls.
2. Patrick Hockstetter/Henry Bowers, It (1986)
In Stephen King’s 1986 novel It, an ancient evil terrorizes the youth of Derry, Maine by manifesting itself as their greatest fears, most frequently assuming the form of Pennywise the Clown. Although none of the protagonists (the so-called “Losers’ Club”) are described as being gay, and the book’s depiction of homosexuality can’t really be considered that progressive, there is a homoerotic subplot in It that is nevertheless intriguing.
At one point in the book’s sprawling 1,138 page narrative, Beverly Marsh (the only female member of the Losers’ Club) stumbles upon neighborhood bullies Patrick Hockstetter and Henry Bowers engaged in sexual activity. Because of the aggressive small town disregard for homosexuality, especially given the novel’s 1950’s time frame and mid-eighties publication date, the prospect of being outed proves itself to be a significant enough fear for the two boys that it allows It to manifest itself, killing Patrick in the process and sublimating Henry to the point where he can be used as pawn by the ancient evil to do its bidding at a later point in the narrative.
This harkens back to a plotline at the beginning of the book where the hate crime assault of a gay man allows It to awaken from a period of hibernation that spanned the course of several decades.
Although the novel’s gay content is considered controversial by some, the concept that King toys with of homophobia as the symptom of a greater evil was surprisingly complex for popular mainstream fiction of the time, especially in a decade where AIDS paranoia was so rampant through the United States.
When It was adapted as a miniseries for TV in 1990, the homoerotic subplot between Patrick Hockstetter and Henry Bowers was eliminated, and the inciting incident of a gay man being murdered was replaced by the abduction of a young girl. However, producers of a big-screen remake for Warner Brothers have confirmed these elements will remain intact in their forthcoming adaptation of the novel.
3. Patrick, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999)
There are aspects of Patrick, the gay best friend to protagonist Charlie in Stephen Chbosky’s revered 1999 coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, that remain problematic. There’s the tendency throughout the novel to depict the character as a Manic Pixie Dream Gay of sorts. There’s also the somewhat lecherous behavior he displays towards Charlie in the second half of the book.
But despite these questionable elements, it really is quite an accomplishment for a gay teen to be presented as the epitome of cool, not to mention a beacon of acceptance, in a novel that has usurped The Catcher in the Rye as a generation-defining text for young people over the past twenty years. So perhaps the best way to approach Perks is not from the perspective of a gay teen seeking representation, but of a straight teen receiving their first introduction to gay characters, as well as the unique struggles and complications that go along with having an alternative sexual identity.
Chbosky course-corrected some of the book’s controversial elements in the 2012 film version, which serves as one of the rare instances where an author was given the privilege of adapting and directing their own novel for the big screen. In the movie, Patrick (played beautifully by Ezra Miller) is depicted as less of a lech and more of three-dimensional figure, which can be said for most of the supporting cast, as the change in medium allowed Chbosky to free himself of the first-person perspective of the novel, and explore the peripheral characters in greater depth.
Combined, both versions of Perks present a multifaceted view of a story that has captured the hearts and minds of young people worldwide over the past two decades.
4. Gene Forrester, A Separate Peace (1959)
Author John Knowles has publicly denied any intentional same-sex subtext to his seminal 1959 coming-of-age novel A Separate Peace. But for close to sixty years, gay scholars have ascribed a homoerotic narrative to Knowles’ classic story of private school friendship that is beloved by high school English teachers across the nation. And it’s easy to see why.
Narrator Gene spends much of the book describing his confusing feelings towards his handsome, athletic friend Finny, which makes sense given the novel’s setting in a time when the word “gay” was rarely acknowledged and almost never spoken. The fact that these conflicting emotions prompt Gene to commit a violent act of sabotage that destroys his friend’s physical exceptionalism has led many to believe that, by doing so, Gene was attempting to extinguish his own feelings of gay attraction towards Finny.
Whether or not any of this was intentional on Knowles’ part is almost besides the point. Many popular interpretations of literature have usurped the author’s original intent. So even if homoeroticism wasn’t ingrained into the narrative, the prospect of approaching the novel from a new perspective provides the reader with the opportunity to develop an additional appreciation for an already-celebrated work of classic American fiction.
But, if you ask me, A Separate Peace is pretty much the Nightmare on Elm Street 2 of high school Lit.
