"The Homosexuality Thread"

[christine~]

Just in case you weren't around for the 2-days-plus warning that the thread was going to be deleted, this post is just to advise everybody why it's gone ~ because the discussion was ~ in the view of a few people (including myself) ~ much too personally revealing.

Any questions, any questions at all? Please email me (address is in my member profile) or message me through this board.

Thanks!

christine~

[ripvanwinker]

HI Christine.

I'm new to the board and missed your "way too personally revealing" thread. ( I don't think you should be embarrassed by being intimate. After all, isn't that what Lennon's songs were?) Anyway, I hear and read all this stuff about Brian "Liking it rough." Wasn't it common for gays to frequent restrooms back then? What evidence is there to suggest he "liked it rough"? As far as I can tell, he wasn't forthcoming to anyone about his sexual habits. BTW, I'm bisexual.
Thanx

[Emily]

Hope you don't mind me answering instead of Christine--I know that she's rather busy at the moment.

Brian wasn't publicly forthcoming about his sexuality but he was fairly open with his friends, and they're the ones who give us the information about him having liked "a bit of rough." People like Peter Brown, Geoffrey Ellis, Derek Taylor, Tony Barrow and others have testified to his preferences.

Peter Brown (as you may already know) was an old friend of Brian's from Liverpool who considered himself to be one of Brian's best friends. He and Brian seem to have gone cruising together and indulged in rent boys together, so I expect he is in a position to know these things. His book is very sensationalistic in tone--and I'm sure that Christine will tell me off for quoting him--but he lays it out clearly: "The only sex that seemed to spark Brian's real interest was rough and degrading, with people who would just as soon spit on him as touch him."

If you want more citations I can give you them, but I don't believe there's much debate about the question.

And welcome to the board!

[matisse]

...sounds like a feeling of guilt that he desperately wanted to be punished...poor guy I don't think he was happy with his love life, and I doubt he would be today. Maybe it was his personality, not his orientation, that kept him so melancholic...

[christine~]

Nov 4, 2008 16:21:17 GMT -5 ripvanwinker said:

I don't think you should be embarrassed by being intimate. After all, isn't that what Lennon's songs were?

Hi ripvanwinker ~ So sorry it took so long for me to get back with you. On Nov 4, 2008 I underwent a divorce. My daughter and I were booted out, and we have had some troubles being on our own. We are now settled in a little apartment and finally have time to get online a bit. Life is still sporadically upsetting, we are both still unemployed, but whatever goes around comes around ~ and the ex will get his rotten paybacks eventually.

Per your comment:
It's not that I'm embarrassed to be intimate online! However, one should never spew their personal secrets all over the internet, like feces flung by monkeys. It's just inappropriate, not to mention adolescent.

Not that I always behave in such a mature manner, LOL. What I was most concerned about was the information about ANOTHER person who would most definitely NOT want his personal life revealed. I have no right to blab about what's not my business, even though he was closely connected to my own life experiences that we were discussing in this thread.

Also, please don't assume just because I admire Brian Epstein so very much, that it follows that I'm a Beatlemaniac. Whatever Lennon (or the others) preached has absolutely nothing to do with what I would ever personally espouse or follow.

I love Brian's Boys like brothers (or sons), and I would never hate them ~ if only because Brian would disapprove and be hurt by it. However, I can get very angry with the Boys from time to time (like a mom or sister would) ~ especially at the way they sometimes treated their dearest friend and manager when he was alive, and how they neglect to give him his share of credit to the present day (unless pushed to do so).

Before 1964, I was a lover of primarily classical and jazz, and really disliked "rock & roll and other children's music" (to quote the great Tom Lehrer). From 1964 to 1970 I bought all the Beatles LP's and listened to Beatles music ~ however, that stopped when Klein disrespected Brian's prior wishes and released the compilation albums in 1973. I recognized that move as a cheapening of The Beatles for his own personal profit, and refused to contribute any of MY money to that rubbish!

Nope, you can't call me a Beatles fan, or (most especially) a Beatlemaniac, even though I did accompany two Beatlemaniacs to the 1966 Detroit concert.
My friends tempted me to go with them by saying Brian might show himself! (...He didn't. )

BTW ~
Much of what John Lennon spouted I do take with a huge barrel of salt!

Cheers!

christine~