Encyclopedia
Discussion
research guide
editors & contributors
write the editor
Hughes, LangstonLangston Hughes, whose literary legacy is enormous and varied, was closeted, but homosexuality was an important influence on his literary imagination, and many of his poems may be read as gay texts.
Beat GenerationThe writers of the Beat Generation, many of whom were gay or bisexual, endorsed gay rights as a part of their rebellion against inhibition and self-censorship.
Comedy of MannersThe Comedy of Manners, which flourished on the Restoration stage, has been particularly amenable to twentieth-century gay male writers as a vehicle for social satire in both dramatic and nondramatic works.
Sedaris, DavidUsing his and his family's experiences, particularly his childhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, and his own wacky perspective on life, David Sedaris has become a world-famous humorist, comedian, writer, playwright, and radio personality.
Novel: LesbianFrom the great modernist writers of the 1920s and 1930s to the pulp writers of the 1950s to the lesbian writers of today, lesbian novelists have had a powerful impact on the lesbian community.
From its beginning, the nineteenth century in England had a purposeful homosexual literature of considerable bulk, both male and female, though it was fettered by oppression.
Persecuted for his homosexuality by the Castro government he had once championed, Cuban novelist, essayist, and poet Reinaldo Arenas challenged all types of ideological dogmatism.
Baudelaire, CharlesLast updated on: 12/13/11
Paul Varnell. Photograph by Rex Wockner, courtesy rexwockner.com.
Chicago activist and journalist Paul Varnell died on December 9, 2011 of complications from pneumonia and a stroke. A columnist for Outlines, Windy City Times, and Chicago Free Press, he also served in a variety of capacities as a member of the Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Chicago AIDS Task Force. His work appeared in Reason, the Advocate, Lambda Book Report, the Chicago Reader, and some anthologies. In addition, he was a founder of the Independent Gay Forum.
Varnell was born April 16, 1942 in St. Louis. He graduated from Cornell University and attended graduate school in English at Indiana University. He taught for several years at Northern Illinois University, but because he never completed his dissertation, he never received tenure and eventually lost his position there.
Varnell moved to Chicago in the early 1980s, and threw himself into gay and AIDS activism. In the 1990s, he began writing for the Chicago gay press.
Varnell was a friend of fellow journalist Rex Wockner, who were fellow columnists for the now-defunct Outlines. Wockner described Varnell as "one of the most independent persons I ever have known. It wasn't easy to get close to him, and I figure I got as far as anyone did. He was a journalist, he was an opinion columnist, he was a thinker, he was a libertarian and, I think, a Libertarian, he was an intellectual. He liked classical music, he was a voracious reader. His columns raised the intelligence quotient of all the gay papers he appeared in."
Varnell was a founder of the Independent Gay Forum, which was intended to give voice to a gay conservative point of view, and for several years edited their website.
Fellow contributor to the Independent Gay Forum, Jonathan Rauch described Varnell as "exceptionally thoughtful and decent. It seemed as if there was nothing that didn't interest him, nothing he didn't know something about. . . . in his quiet way he was a pioneer and leader among those who made the world safe to be non-leftist and gay . . . partly through the power of his logic, partly through the gentleness of his touch."
Varnell is survived by his father and stepmother and his friends Ted Sigwald and Greg Nigosian, among other relatives and friends.
For more information about Varnell and his activism in Chicago, see Tracy Baim's story about him in Windy City Times: Paul Varnell.
learn more about glbtq contact us advertise on glbtq.com
glbtq™ and its logo are trademarks of glbtq, Inc.
This site and its contents Copyright © 2002-2013, glbtq, Inc.