Gay seniors embrace a newfound openness

Marvin Levin was speaking to his psychiatrist in November 2003. The conversation halted briefly as Levin looked away, collecting a thought that had waited decades to surface.

“You know what?” he said, looking up at his doctor. “I’m gay.”

At age 61, married more than 30 years, this was an unlikely admission.

“It was the first time I’d ever put words to that,” Levin said. “It was like an epiphany. And then I looked back on my life and said, ‘You dummy, of course you are.’ ” Levin, now 67, grew up in Chicago, part of a conventional Jewish family. He found himself interested in the gay lifestyle — still highly taboo at the time — but resolved that he was “straight but curious.”

Conforming to the social mores of the time, he married in his mid-20s. “I can’t really say I was madly in love. This was a woman I knew and we had the same sets of values and beliefs. It seemed a good fit.”

Together they had two sons, were active in their synagogue, entertained regularly and worked through the ups and downs of marriage.

“I was Mr. Straight,” Levin said. “There were certain things in life that you do, and I would just go ahead and do them. I was fascinated by this other world. The gay world had this attraction. But I just never did anything with it. It was just there.”

In the 1970s, Levin began suffering from depression. He went into counseling and got on medication but could never identify the source of his unhappiness. Until that day in 2003, in his psychiatrist’s chair.

“My wife at first was shocked,” he said. “But she was also glad I’d finally figured out why at times I was non-functional. She’s a wonderful woman and was very supportive of me through all of this.”
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Chicago Tribune

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Backlash to lenient sentence in gay bashing case

A group of local activists have planned a rally June 18 outside the Edward Brooke Courthouse to protest the sentence of Fabio Brandao, a 29-year-old Framingham man who pleaded guilty to taking part in a brutal gay bashing in the South End on Aug. 24. Boston District Court Judge Thomas C. Horgan imposed a two-year suspended sentence and mandatory completion of an anger management program on Brandao, but the Anti-Violence Project and the grassroots LGBT group Join The Impact Massachusetts plan to demonstrate to send the message that they believe the sentence was too lenient. Brandao pleaded guilty to nine charges, including four civil rights violations; he and three friends ambushed a group of four people in their mid-20s on Columbus Avenue who were returning home from the Roxy nightclub, and the assailants kicked and punched two of the men in the head, leaving them with cuts, bruises and mild concussions. Brandao and his assailants allegedly called the victims “faggots” during the assault.”It’s just inconceivable that Brandao could have left two men brain-injured in the street on Columbus Avenue and then walk out of court with an anger management assignment. It shocks the conscience, and it points to a deep-seated problem the Anti-Violence Project has struggled with since 1986, and that’s that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people don’t get equal protection under the law,” said Don Gorton, chair of the Anti-Violence Project. See Backlash to lenient sentence in gay bashing case
Bay Windows

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Gay rights advocate punched in Felton

A 22-year-old man advocating gay and lesbian rights was allegedly punched in the face in front of New Leaf Market in Felton on Dec. 10 between 2:10 and 2:20 p.m.

A 22-year-old man advocating gay and lesbian rights was allegedly punched in the face in front of New Leaf Market in Felton on Dec. 10 between 2:10 and 2:20 p.m.

The man’s nose was bloodied, and he refused medical assistance on the scene.

The suspect, a white man in his mid-20s estimated to be 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 220 pounds, reportedly fled the scene in a black pickup after the incident.

Deputies are treating the incident as a felony battery and hate crime.

“The victim is associated with a group that works for human rights to achieve gay and lesbian equality,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Mario Sulay.

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Scotts Valley/San Lorenzo Valley Press-Banner, CA