BY KRISTOPHER KARCHER
“You accept me…Why can’t you accept her?”
- THE OUTING by
Afrika Brown
Happy Pride
month! Where members of the LGBTQ community celebrate the pride they’ve learned
to have for themselves and their community after years of both social and
governmental oppression. The community is certainly making progress in their
fight for civil rights—19 states now recognize same sex marriage—but let’s not
forget the battle is far from over. There are still 31 states where same sex
marriage is banned or not recognized, but there are even more pertinent issues.
In 29 states, it is completely legal for a company to fire you for your sexual
or romantic orientation. In 34 you can be fired for being transgender. Yes the
fight is nowhere near over, but progress is being made, and for the first time,
it seems that these rights could be gained in the near future.
What may
always be a fight, however, is the acceptance of one’s self, and family and
societal acceptance. After an LGBTQ youth accepts his or her (or something in
between) self, he or she has to deal with the possible rejection of family, friends
and the general public. We’ve seen it all before: Bullying, parents
disapproval, getting kicked out are all possibilities. But sometimes the
rejection is completely blind sighting.
Afrika
Brown’s THE OUTING deals with two sisters, one gay
(Jasmine) and one straight (Jizelle). When Jasmine comes out to her sister,
Jizelle loses it, even though one of her best friends is a gay transsexual.
Salome, her friend questions her, Jizelle replies with, “You know I have always
been fucked up… my sister has always been like a second mother.
I don’t know why, but I’m repulsed.
I can understand wanting to love and be with
a man.
But this just seems like
bullshit.”
It seems to
be different when it’s in the family. That’s been the case with many LGBT
youth. “You accept _____, why don’t you accept me?!” is a question too many
LGBT youth have to ask their parents or siblings. What makes Jizelle not able
to accept Jasmine? Is “You know I have always been fucked up,” a good enough
answer? Does having trouble accepting a family member’s “newfound” sexuality
make someone a bad person? Should there be some type of grace period for
friends and family to let it all sink in?
Comment and tweet us at
@rianttheatre.
THE OUTING will be performed in the Strawberry One-Act Festival in Series E at the Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street, NYC on Sunday, August 24th at 4pm. For tickets go to www.therianttheatre.com
To listen to a podcast interview with Afrika click the link.
What began as just an issue with
the homosexual community, HIV/AIDS is now an epidemic that exists in every part
of the globe in every sexual orientation, race, gender, and culture. Not only is HIV/AIDS an incredibly important
topic to have in the media, but very relevant thanks to the recent airing of
The Normal Heart on HBO. The new
adaption of the 1985 play by Larry Kramer, sheds light on the earliest cases of HIV/AIDS in the gay
community. A silent killer, no one really knew what it was; just that it was
mainly in the homosexual community. Some guessed it was sexually transmitted,
but many thought you could get it just in the air. After a while, the disease
was nicknamed the “gay cancer.” Gays at the time had just found their sexual
freedom, and they were now losing it to some invisible force picking them off one
by one. The epidemic made them afraid of the government, the medical system,
and each other.
The 1980's were a terrifying time for the community. And some are still scarred. Recently I saw TONY Nominated Mothers and Sons, a beautiful play by acclaimed playwright, Terrence McNally. The story follows a mother (Katherine) surprising her late son's (Andre) old lover (Cal) with a visit. Cal now has a husband and kids, but is still obviously haunted with thoughts of his old partner, who died of AIDS. Though many themes (such as LGBT acceptance) run rampant through the play, I did not expect McNally to touch on HIV/AIDS when I sat down in that theatre. McNally examines 3 different generations and how they dealt-or didn't deal with-the AIDS crisis. Katherine, of whom rejected her son's sexuality and didn't know how to deal; Andre, who was older and experienced the crisis of the 80's; and Cal, who was younger and didn't really experience the crisis until the 90's, when people had an idea of what they were facing. The different experiences each of the three characters faced beautifully defines different generations dealing with the disease..jpg)
THE OUTING, like many plays in the LGBTQ genre, deals with the AIDS epidemic, but on a more modern timeline, somewhere around the late 90s early 2000s. Salome, one of Jizelle's best friends, is infected by her ex, who left her and told her by writing it on her bedroom wall. Salome announces she's going to retire for a bit to take care of her health, and then, theoretically, she's going to be okay. At the time the play takes place, AIDS is no longer a death sentence, but it still blacklists a person. There is still that rejection. But in her community, Salome finds acceptance and support. New plays about HIV/AIDS are just as important as the old ones, because they are documenting the experiences we have with the disease now as well as further educating those who know too little about the epidemic. 
In today's world there are documented cases of patients being cured of this disease. Though nothing is set in stone and there is no set vaccination, we are progressing in ridding of this plague. Unfortunately, not enough people are talking about this. If there was a vaccine that cured cancer, it would make world headlines for a month. Why do you think so many people talk so little of the HIV/AIDS crisis? Yes, President Kennedy ignored using the word like Voldemort for quite some time, but it's 2014, why is this still an issue? AIDS will continue to be a problem until it's just as heavily funded as breast cancer or leukemia. So why don't people care? Is it because it's primarily an STD or attained by drug use? Do you think that's fair? Comment below or @RiantTheatre.
THE OUTING by Afrika Brown will be performed in the Riant Theatre's Strawberry One-Act Festival in Series E on August 24th at 2pm at the Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street, NYC. For tickets go to www.therianttheatre.com