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A. L. Kennedy: not a lesbian

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IFOA

Not gay at IFOA

Authors are coming out as straight at IFOA

By Susan G. Cole

What's so bad about being a lesbian, anyway?

Anne Murray, set to be interviewed next Friday at the authors festival by her own co-writer Michael Posner, has made a point of using her new autobiography to say she's not queer. I believe her, actually, even if she does love Dusty Springfield and Olivia Newton-John.

And I believe Scottish writer A.L.Kennedy, too, who in her strangely unfocussed one-woman show Words, performed at IFOA on Saturday, proclaimed loudly as part of the performance that she's not a lesbian, either.

But why did she have to ridicule her dyke fan base at the same time?

It's one thing to joke about being programmed for an LGBT tent at a book fest – "Oh you have to rewrite the program to change that? I have to rewrite my whole life" – but referring to being cornered by an "earnest-looking woman" at a festival party, which in turn, prevented her from meeting some interesting men, is a bit much. There are so many interesting stories she could have told about not being a lesbian – being hit up by a hot one, for example, but still having no interest – to make her point without putting down an entire population.

The rest of Words was disappointing. Kennedy, who has some drama training that did show, told some amusing anecdotes about her path to becoming an author but she didn't have a strong enough throughline. The show is supposed to be about the power of words - nothing new there - but few of the observations were illuminating and the whole thing had a not entirely deserved self-satisfied air to it.

Good idea to include performance of this kind in the festival, though. New kinds of programming are always welcome.

Oct 25, 2009 at 12:22 AM

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Comments

Posted by Ann on 10/25/2009, 02:28 PM

To a heterosexual person, there is simply nothing worse on earth than being gay. Most would rather be considered a rapist, child abuser or murderer than to be thought of as gay. I guess it is a charachter flaw of some sort. One wonders why heterosexuals don't confront that flaw, as it really tends to damage the lives of the millions of gay children that heterosexuals alone create.

Instead, they choose to abuse, degrade, dehumanize and humiliate the gay children they created at any and every given opportunity. Always eager to point out their superiority to gays simply because they fall in love with people whose genitals don't match theirs.

This abuse, degradation, dehumanization and humiliation of their gay children is usually happening while heterosexuals are screaming their heads off about morality.

Makes perfect sense.

Morality indeed, folks. Morality indeed.

Posted by jane on 10/26/2009, 11:47 AM

Regarding Ann's post:

Ann, not all heterosexual people are alike. The distinction you're trying to make is based on politics and beliefs, not on who people have sex with.

Posted by V on 10/26/2009, 03:46 PM

Ann - your closed-minded generalization of how heterosexual people think is just as bad as people who do indeed feel that homosexuality is a sin and a crime. You are being a hypocrite.

Fighting ignorance with ignorance won't get you anywhere. Open your mind and smarten up.