JF: I personally feel that gay culture has lost something profound in the last thirty years, the fear of death notwithstanding. My generation missed the both the clandestine, back-alley culture pre-1950 and the explosion of “pride” and resulting bacchanalia post-Stonewall. What do you think of gays today?

MH: I just watched Queer as Folk on DVD and realized (again!) that I have absolutely nothing to do with what is portrayed there as contemporary urban gay life. Although it might be an exaggerated depiction, it seems to be true in its core. But my distance doesn’t mean that I despise it. Foucault once remarked in an interview shortly before his death that he missed the secrecy and camaraderie of gay life (and sex!) in the 50s. But let’s not forget that this life”style” was available only to a very small portion of homosexuals: those who were daring enough to submit to what could be a very dangerous and threatening zone. Not every gay man is a Genet. So I am grateful that gay lib opened up many different possibilities for following generations. That so many gays today seem more bourgeois than suburban middle class families might be sad, but who’s to throw stones here? Why should gays be any more interesting than anybody else: just because they fuck men?