It was a career defining moment in the ’80s that saw American journalist Eric Marcus decide to spend the rest of his life documenting the phenomenal history of the LGBTQ+ community.
However, the 64-year-old reveals on Metro.co.uk’s Smut Drop podcast, that his astonishing back catalogue of interviews with some of America’s leading queer figures were very nearly never recorded.
Speaking to host Miranda Kane, Eric recalls that he only decided to document the LGBTQ+ history of the US due to the rampant homophobia of the era.
‘I was working at CBS News in 1988, and I found out that they would not put an openly gay person on camera,’ he explains. ‘That’s where I wanted to go with my career.’
Aware that such homophobic attitudes would never let him achieve what he wanted in his broadcasting career at the time, Eric instead pursued other creative avenues.
‘I was commissioned to write an oral history book by Harper Collins. So I set out to interview lots of people who are involved in some way in what was then called the Gay Lesbian civil rights movement,’ he explains. ‘And for the two editions of that book, I interviewed more than 100 people, using broadcast quality equipment.’
Knowing how important his interviews were, Eric pulled out all the stops in making sure they could stand the test of time in case his work was archived in the future.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct4h_Qirsfn/
Thankfully, his resourcefulness – from using the best quality recording equipment and keeping two different copies of each interview to prevent any from being lost or damaged – meant that he had a rich catalogue to draw from when he started the Making Gay History podcast in 2015.Particularly after the New York Public Library had digitised his work.
‘Over the past six years, we’ve had 5.5 million episode downloads in 220 countries and territories around the world,’ Eric explains.
Prominent LGBTQ+ campaigners that have featured on Making Gay History include Barbara Gittings – alongside her partner Kay Lahusen – who served as part of the movement to get the American Psychiatric Association to drop homosexuality as a mental illness in 1972. Ellen DeGeneres also features on the podcast’s third season, where she candidly discusses coming out in the public eye in the 1990s.
Having started conducting his interviews in the 1980s, Eric acknowledges it was a tumultuous time for LGBTQ+ people, with many of his interviews looking at marriage equality, whether the community were being allowed to serve in the military and trying to have anti-discrimination laws passed.
‘But the main focus was on AIDS,’ he explains. ‘It was such a terrible time. But for me, personally, I had friends who were dying, left and right.
‘I made a list when I set out to start working the book of the men, I knew who were ill who I wanted to interview, who are almost certainly going to die. It was a real race against the clock.’
While Eric’s book, Making History, and its reprint in 2002, sold 35,000 copies amongst both its editions, he adds his own ‘internalised homophobia’ saw his work on the LGBTQ+ community ‘feel lesser’ when compared to his other journalism.
Pride Month 2023
Pride Month is here, with members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies celebrating their identities, accomplishments, and reflecting on the struggle for equality throughout June.
This year, Metro.co.uk is exploring the theme of family, and what it means to the LGBTQ+ community.
Find our daily highlights below, and for our latest LGBTQ+coverage, visit our dedicated Pride page.
- Map shows London Pride parade 2023 route and best places to stand
- 5 things you (probably) don’t know about the ‘world’s largest sexual minority’
- New rainbow plaques will stop ‘hidden LGBTQ+ histories’ from being ‘lost forever’
However, the amazing stories he’s shared has made Eric feel like he’s established a strong kinship with his peers.
‘It took me a long time to feel that this work was equivalent to mainstream history, mainstream journalism,’ he says. ‘But I was so inspired by so many of the people I met, who were working to make the world we have now before I was born, and they did it at a time when it was so incredibly dangerous when there was no reason to believe that the world would ever accept people like us. So I often think of my think of them as my buddies, even though most of them are gone.
‘I feel this enormous responsibility to share their stories which I get to do through the Making Gay History podcast.’
Smut Drop
Smut Drop is a weekly podcast with host Miranda Kane from Metro.co.uk, touching on sex, dating and relationships.
With no holds barred, it’s the home of sex positive chat, where Miranda will be joined each week by sexperts and special guests to explore the world of the erotic.
And we want to hear from you, too! As part of our podcast we’ll be sharing listeners’ experiences, thoughts and questions on a different theme every week.
So if you want to be involved in something brilliant – either anonymously or using your bold and beautiful name – drop us an email to [email protected] or slide into our DMs on Twitter @smutdrop.
With new episodes dropping every Wednesday, you can download Smut Drop from all your usual places.
Source: Read Full Article
