INDEX

1. Introduction...Pg. 2 2. Patricia Nell Warren and her historical context.................................. Pg. 3 3. Society and History through characters.. Pg. 5 a. Harlan Brown... Pg. 5 b. Billy Sieve. Pg. 6 c. Vince Matti... Pg. 8 d. Jacques LaFont.. Pg. 9 e. Straight allies: The Prescotts, Aldo Falconi, Armas Seponan and Mike Stella Pg. 10 f. Straight opponents: Society Pg. 11 4. Main gay historical moments in The Front Runner Pg. 11 5. Personal Opinion and Conclusion. Pg. 13 6. Bibliography.. Pg. 14

The Front Runner and the gay society during the 70s Pascual Rocamora Ortega

1. Introduction The Front Runner is a sport-romantic novel written by Patricia Nell Warren, published in 1974 and considered one of the best gay novels of our times. Harlan Brown is a tough, conservative track coach hiding from his past at a small college. Billy Sieve is a brilliant young runner who is homosexual and doesn't mind who knows it. When they fall in love, they enter a race against hate and prejudice, which takes them to the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and a shattering, shocking conclusion. (Synopsis taken from Goodreads) I chose this book because, as a gay student, Im really in touch with the minority that gay people are, and some goals like legal rights or social acceptation are still unachieved. This book is really moving and brings up a subject barely rear in gay literature: gay people in sports. Besides, the period when the novel takes place was the moment that the gay society and the gay culture started to rise. Patricia Nell Warren gives us a moving and wonderful love story with characters who portray some of the gay stereotypes of the moment: the closeted gays, the openly ones, drag queens The gay culture plays also a very important role as well as the sport world, with the special emphasis in athletics, whose followers are really old-minded. This author shows a really deep knowledge about the way gay men think, feel and act, which is pretty

impressive for a female author. This period is also very interesting for the awakening of the gay culture and the awareness for the rest of the population. The gay importance of this period began in 1969 during the Stonewall riots. Stonewall was a very famous club among the gay hidden society. During the night of June 28 th of 1969, some customers suffered a police raid and some of them were arrested for depravation. The gay community all together moved for the very first time against an abusive homophobic situation, fighting against policemen. From that moment, June 28th became the World Gay Pride Parade. Another really important moment of this period was the election and murdered of openly gay politician Harvey Milk in the late 70s, who proved the equality of gay people among straight ones. In this thesis Im going to develop how both gay and straight people saw the gay society during the 70s, analyzing the characters who portray several roles of gay and straight stereotypes of the moment, and the different episodes of the book, where we will see some of the main characteristics of the period as it goes on until the 1979 Olympic Games in Montreal.

2. Patricia Nell Warren and her historical context. Patricia Nell Warren is an openly lesbian writer and journalist. She was born in 1936 and grew up on the prestigious Grant Kohrs cattle ranch near Deer Lodge, Montana. Her bestselling gay novels -- notably The Front Runner, Harlans Race and Billys Boy -- started their print history in 1974 and continue today with groundbreaking choices of themes and characters. As an activist, she has been involved in womens rights and free-speech cases that went to

the U.S. Supreme Court. In recent years she turned to provocative editorials, writing about post-9/11 issues, youth, elders, AIDS politics and other issues. She also got active in politics, assisting with Democratic fundraising and serving as commission of education in the Los Angeles Unified School District. In 2006 she ran for city council in West Hollywood. Many prestigious awards have come her way, including the Barry Goldwater Award, the New York City Public Advocate Award, and the Independent Publisher Gold Medal. (Biography taken from The Bilerico Project). Nell Warren has been writing gay fictional novels since 1974, when she published The Front Runner. The 70s was the decade when the gay issue started to show up in the United States of America, so her books became very popular among the gay society. Nell Warren reflects gay peoples way of thinking and feeling in a very sensitive and real way in her novels, proving herself as a great storyteller, even when she is writing under the point of view of a man, like Harlan Brown in The Front Runner. Nell Warren has written around seven gay themed novels from 1974 until 2001, portraying in her stories a gay person or a gay group who have to fight their society in order to survive. The writer always reflects a judging society who tries to bring the gay people down. In The Front Runner, Patricia Nell Warren shows the 70s society, who was still adopting some of the huge transformations from the 60s, such the antiwar movement or the human right with the black people issue in the top list. Regarding the gay people, the 70s was really significant. According to some experts, the gay movement made a huge step forward in the 70s with the election of political figures such as Harvey Milk to public office and the

advocating of anti-gay discrimination legislation passed and not passed during the decade. Many celebrities, including Freddie Mercury and Andy Warhol, also "came out" during this decade, bringing gay culture further into the limelight. (Extracted from Wikipedia).

3. Society and History through characters a. Harlan Brown He is the narrator of the story, the protagonist. Harlan is a forty years old track coach who falls in love with one of his pupils, Billy Sieve. Harlan starts as a closeted homosexual who denies his nature because his beliefs and education, which was very common in that period of time and sometimes, unfortunately, does still happen nowadays. Harlan represents sort of the mature-gay society in that time: hidden at first and opened at the end. In the beginning of the novel, Harlan tells his background story to the reader. He marries a woman when she gets knocked up and he works as a track coach in Penn University. Like most of the closeted gay men of the moment, he travels sometimes to New York City in the weekends during the early 60s to have secret sexual relationships with other men. Thats when he learns who he really is but still doesnt accept it. In this period of time, the law persecuted gay people. In fact, every state in the United States of America had a sodomy law against gay people and it wasnt until 1970 when these laws started to be repealed or struck down, being the first one Illinois in 1962. Harlan lives hidden by these oppressive rules and he is even fired from his job when a male student accuses his of sexual arrestment. From that moment, Harlan moves to New York City and lives the actual changes that gay society starts to enjoy at that

moment: the Stonewall riots in 1969 and all the consequences that it brought. All this time Harlan lives hidden from public eye and the society, fearing who he is. It is when he gets a job in the fictional Preston University and meets Billy Sieve when his attitudes towards the gay issues start to change. Its relevant the fact that their relationship becomes public when Harlan transforms himself from a closeted old fashioned homosexual to an openly liberal gay, a transition which was also in the gay society indeed. Harlan stays neutral at the conflicts between the heterosexual people and the gay people in the book, showing himself verbal violent and threatening when the situation reaches the limits. The author is constantly talking about the American felling towards sport, and how proud they are about athletics and sports in general. Harlan Brown belongs to this sector of the society. In the end of the book, when Billy is murdered, Harlan loses almost everything he cares in the world. This could be translated in the assassination of Harvey Milk by Dan White, which affected the gay society on the moment by killing his firs outspoken person in politics. As Harlan recovers and keeps on his life, also gay society does, remembering all the effort done and all the fights fought.

b. Billy Sieve Billy Sieve is the co protagonist. He is Harlan Browns track pupil who falls in love with his coach. Their relationship is tested by society and the sport world while Billy tries to achieve his goal: going to the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

Billy represents the new wave of young people who embrace their sexual identity with proud and are not afraid to show it up among the society. He is not public opened, like he is telling everyone and everywhere that he is gay, but he does not hide it either. This tendency increased at the end of the decade in San Francisco, which has been always considered USAs gayest city, when Harvey Milk was elected for San Franciscos Town Hall. Billy does not go to the press and tells them about his sexual orientation, but he does not lie either, and when he is asked, he answers with the truth. He is proud of who he is but he does not want to be labeled only as gay, but more as a runner, a student and mainly as a human being. As being so liberal in a society which does not want him, Billys fate is clear from the beginning of the story. He is the most exposed person in the relationship because he is the one going to the Olympic Games and the one who raises the attention. Taking in consideration these circumstances, and the fact that he is gay, the oppression of the conservative straight people will try to reduce Billys dream. At the end, when we can see that the gay pride, justice and the evolution of the society is clear when he wins the 5.000 meters final race, it all goes down with his assassination during the final race of the 10.000 meters. Here we can see that society has not changed and it is not ready to have an openly gay champion among them. Another important Billys characteristic is his peaceful nature: he is a Buddhist. This comes from the hippie wave from the 60s, when new ways of living and thinking were introduced to the people, specially young one who started to embrace the new and out with the old.

c. Vince Matti Vince is Billys best friend, but not his lover. They have been running together for a long time and they both go to Prescott College with Jacques LaFont to finish their studies and to chase their dreams. Vince also represents the new young gay society as Billy did, embracing their sexual identity and being proud of it. Vince differs from Billy in several terms. First, Vince is defeated by the society when he is not allowed to go to the Olympic games after being discovered of taking money from sponsors (something which was forbidden). He surrenders to them. By this moment, Vinces attitude changes a lot when he goes from a pacifist to be part of some gangs who use violence and extreme fight to rise up gay rights. In Christopher Isherwoods novel A Single Man, Professor George explains in one of his classes: A minority has its own kind of aggression. It absolutely dares the majority to attack it. It hates the majoritynot without a cause, I grant you. Vince Matti develops such a way of thinking: after suffering all types of injustices for being gay, he starts a political fight pro-gay rights, which turns into a straightphobia and a total reject to heterosexual people for what they did to him. This transition in the character gets its highlight when Billy dies; after that, Vince goes totally for the gay rights fight. After the gay movement started to rise, so did the extreme thinking of both sides: homophobic and

straightphobic. Several were the small radical and violent groups pro-gay who did not give a good perspective for the cause. Vince is in love with Harlan, Billys boyfriend. He starts flirting with his coach at the beginning of the story but when Billy and Harlan start their relationship,

Vince also stops, but his feelings are still there. Part of his frustration is also because of this. This love story is important for the following-up books, Harlans Race and Billys Boy, proving, in some way, the free sexual felling of the gay community in some terms.

d. Jacques LaFont Jacques is a good friend of Billy and Vince. He is one of the three who go to Prescott searching Harlans help. Apart of being a friend, Jacques is also Vinces lover and their relationship is quite disturbing because of the need but refusal that each one has for the other. Jacques is young, attractive but insecure. He represents the gay young people who were too afraid to be in the public eye of the gay movement. In fact, Jacques tend to be really stressed because of the pressure that the entire group is constantly under. As this segment of the gay young society, Jacques tries to hide who he is, only being and feeling comfortable among other gay people when they are in their privacy, but also comfortable but not happy when he pretends to be straight among heterosexual people. Jacques ends up leaving the team by his own decision because of the stress he suffers and the constant pressure for being in the public eye. He ends up marrying a woman named Eileen who knows everything about his past and accepts it, and having a daughter called Anna. But as we know later in the sequel of The Front Runner, Harlans Race , he is still in love with Vince and desires him, keeping his sexual instincts locked.

e. Straight allies: The Prescotts, Aldo Falconi, Armas Seponan and Mike Stella. Straight people reacted in three different ways regarding the uprising of this new gay wave: supportive, indifferent or against. These characters are a clear example of supportive people who were considered liberals and, in some occasions, faced unsupportive people in some legal ways. The Prescotts are Joe and Marian, a couple who are also the founders of Prescott College. They hire Harland and accept Billy Sieve, Vince Matti and Jacques LaFont in the school even knowing the scandals and their private life, which can threaten their school. Even when everything goes public, they are still in Harlans side, fighting for Billy to reach the Olympic team at the Games. Aldo Falconi is one of Harlans friends who works in the Olympic Committee. He helps Billy and Harlan form the inside, telling them all the movements that the responsible ones for the Olympic Team are organizing to eliminate Billys chances to join the team. He is not very supportive with the whole idea of the public eye relationship, but he is a fair man and believes in justice, so he does not hesitate to help Harlan and Billy in every way he can. Mike Stella and Armas Seponan are two other runners that Billy meets in his race towards the Olympic Games. Mike Stella becomes Billys straight-best friend and a supportive key in the American Track Team. As a young liberal, he is a faithful representation of the young straight society of the moment. With the hippie wave still in their minds, young people (most of them) were open about the new progression of the society and the gay people were the ones who rose at that time. While Mike is supportive and helps Billy in a personal way, Armas does it at the professional field. Being the number one runner at the moment, he

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wants to compete against Billy to prove himself. Thats why he shows up at Billys meeting at the Olympic Committee when they try to stop Billys way to the Olympic Games and how he wont go if Billy does not go either.

f. Straight opponents: Society The big antagonist of the story is society itself, when it gives its back to Billy and Harlan when they try to enjoy and live their love. Sport world is really criticized in the book as they see gay sportsmen and sportswomen as natural enemies of the sports, and must be stopped in order to perpetuate the American raze. This mean society is represented in the people who try to stop them in their Olympic race, like Bob Dellinger, a runner who tries to injure Billy in the selection race for the Olympic Team; in the people who try to break their relationship, like Billys biological mother who wants to kidnap him; or the people who wants to kill them, like Richard Mech, the man who kills Billy at the end of the story.

4. Main gay historical moments in The Front Runner The elimination of sodomy laws all around the United States of America: The novel talks about a national abolition which takes place in 1975 (the books is published in 1974) so it is a fictional historical moment. The sodomy laws were eliminated gradually state-by-state, starting Illinois in 1962 and finally Missouri in 2006, nearly 40 years later. The Continental Baths Concerts: Actress and singer Bette Milder once said Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still

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proud of those days [when I got my start singing at the gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride. This bathhouse was really famous in the beginning of the 70s when starts like Bette Milder started to perform there, being a forefront of the gay liberation movement. The parts of the book when the protagonists are in this place are a clear proof of liberation and tolerance of the gay society. LGTB or queer studies programs. In the book it is told that Prescott opens the first LGTB Study Program to teach and talk about the gay movement in 1975. This is also a fictional historical moment, as the first program of this kind of studies was hold at the University of California, Berkley, in the spring of 1970. These kinds of programs have become really popular nowadays, but they started to work in the 70s. In the book, Billy Sieve is the person in charge of this program at Prescott College. The Stonewall riots in June 28 th 1969. During these riots the gay community became one all together to face the discrimination and oppression that they were suffering. Thats why the Gay Pride Day is celebrated this day. In the book, Harlan is one of the people who were near the Stonewall and fought in the riots. The 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad. This is again a fictional historical moment. In the book, this is where Billy is murdered, in the final race of the 10.000 meters. There were no important accidents at the real Olympic Games.

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5. Personal Opinion and Conclusion The Front Runner is mainly a touching and wonderful love story which proofs not only to be relevant to the gay community but also for the entire society. In my opinion Patricia Nell Warren success in portraying the gay culture and society of the moment, representing in a very realistic way the oppression and fighting against the gay community but also the way that it rises and strikes back, become the main way of change at that moment. The book is also relevant to understand how gay people were (and still are) rejected at sports. It is also important the way that all the characters change from being more close minded to have a full view of the issue and accept it. The final part of the story, when Harlan is racing in this very last track race, is not only fighting against the other runners, but also against that part of the society who still does not accept it. But as Harlan says, it is not that much difficult to win that race at the Madison Square Garden, as it is not any more to fight against the people who does not accept him.

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6. Bibliography

- Goodreads. The Front Runner. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/343738.The_Front_Runner - ISHERWOOD, Christopher. A Single Man. Ed. Minneapolis, 2001. - KINSER, Jeremy. Will Bette Milder Talk About the Continental Baths? .The Advocate. December 5th 2011. http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2011/12/05/will-bettemidler-talk-about-continental-baths - LOVETT, Joseph. Gay Sex in the 70s. Documentary. USA. 2005. - The Bilerico Project. Patricia Nell Warren. http://www.bilerico.com/contributors/patricia_nell_warren/ - The Huffginton Post Patricia Nell Warren http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-nell-warren - Wikipedia. The Front Runner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Front_Runner - Wikipedia. The 1970s, Social Movement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s#Social_movements - Wikipedia. 1970s in LGBT Rights. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_LGBT_rights

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