Roy Cohn is not a homosexual?
Once again the definition of the label “homosexual” is questioned and placed on the examining table in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.
“Roy Cohn is not a homosexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks around with guys.” (Millenium Approaches, 46) This quote is part of a striking dialogue between Roy Cohn, a powerful, well-connected lawyer who has just been told he has AIDS, and his doctor, Henry.
According to Roy his sexuality is not determined by acts. The labels of “homosexual” and “heterosexual” refer only to an identity. The fact that a man has sex with other men does not mean he identifies with the homosexual culture and community.
This would seem to go along with Kinsey’s recognition that words are limited. As Kinsey states in the Kathy Peiss book: “It would encourage clearer thinking on these matters if persons were not characterized as heterosexual or homosexual, but as individuals who have had certain amounts of heterosexual experience and certain amounts of homosexual experience.” (370)
Still it appears that, according to Kinsey, Cohn would be categorized as someone who has had mainly homosexual experience. Yet Cohn would not see that as fair ground for being considered a homosexual man.
This continues to pose the question of what constitutes a person as homosexual: acts or identity?
Tags: acts, heterosexual, homosexual, identity, labels
