The night evokes mystery, desire, and anonymity. The night invites our darkest impulses to be released as they would be completely inappropriate for the day. Although gay men will indulge in their desires at any time of the day, the night comforts us like our childhood blankets. Why did John Rechy title his landmark first novel City of Night and another text, The Coming of the Night? What did night evoke for Rechy? Rechy came of age sexually in the late 40s/early 50s. What might it have been to explore homoerotic urges during that historical period? Furtive glances in public restrooms leading to 90 seconds of passion before an unwelcome intruder shattered the reverie? Secret rendezvous at certain bars risking a vice squad bust? As queer people, especially those of us who came of age after the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders, we have to remember the high risk our queer antepasados took to blaze the trails of desire, identity, and activism. Men and women have been arrested for merely being in a gay bar, forced to register as sex offenders for dressing in drag, committed to mental institutions, given electroshock therapy and chemical aversion therapy. Some people were even given lobotomies. A generation later, the authorities let a generation of gay men suffer and die from AIDS. The night for Rechy symbolizes the subaltern, the people rejected by their families and society for the simple reason of not living heteronormative existences. During the day this generation of jotería must have lived lives of bland heterosexuality but revealed their true desires under the cloak of darkness. The queer antepasados are nearly forgotten by the current generation who spit on their memories by their lack of historical knowledge. In my ten years as an educator, I have always made my jotería known. Never has a young queer Latino ever come to my office hours and ask me what was it like to be gay when I grew up. This current generation of young gay Latino men thinks it knows it all. Both of Rechy's works evoking Night illustrate the need for reading the works of our queer ancestors. Rechy's other novel, The Coming of the Night, is a Masque of the Red Death-type tale that personifies the HIV virus as a malevolent force moving westward from the East Coast. NIght in this case evokes nightmares. The nightmare of AIDS, the stigma of AIDS, and the response from the general public. My generation of gay men, particularly those 5-10 years older than me is still wandering the night, having been discarded like refuse by their families. Having seroconverted over twenty years ago, I am wandering my own nightscape guided only by the warmth of my loved ones and my own Rebel Shadow Beast. Eventually, the night will envelop me and there is nothing left but shadows of desire and memory.
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