Where did his character come from? Was the real Roy Cohn a homosexual? I feel so confused on the series, yet it was really good and consisted of some great actors. How do the politics and AIDS and gays all tie in? I feel so shallow in not knowing this info.
shareThe fact is that yes, Roy Cohn was a homosexual, albeit a closet case. He never admitted to anyone that he was, and neither admitted that he had AIDS, even when presented by medical facts by his doctors he denied it and claimed he had liver cancer.
All this you see in the movie and a lot of it is taken from Roy Cohns autobiography.
How it all ties in? Well, as you might agree it's kind of difficult to really label this fantastic play. It's very emotional and it basically tells the story of different lives in this year in time, 1985-86. AIDS was starting to spread widely across the States at this time and since there was simply no working medication for it people infected with this horrible disease very often passed away in a horrific manner. Only a few people had access to AZT (which was one of the first and succesful treatments of AIDS) as one is told in the movie.
What it all boils down to is a heart-warming story about the fates of different cultures coming together, exchanging thoughts, experiences, sharing lifes cruelties and joyful moments, talking about and experiencing The Big Questions (religion, race, politics etc.) and sometimes you get The Big Answers.
If it's the first time you've seen the movie I deeply recommend you to see it again. You'll find new things in the story for every time you watch it and you get a better feeling of the characters aswell.
After seeing 'Angels in America' I read about Roy Cohn in Wekepedia. Tony Kushner's portrayal of this man in 'Angels' seems remarkably accurate...and not exagerated!
There's some bonus material on the DVD for 'Good Night and Good Luck' which shows the real Roy Cohn in a clip from the actual HUAC hearings. As I recall, the clip's from 1953. Cohn is sitting next to Senator MacCarthy (his 'right hand man'!), looking young and smoothly groomed.
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Just wanted to add that he actually did have a big hand in the "Rosenburg" trial & death sentence; hence the appearance of Ethyl's spirit as he is dieing & simultaneously being disbarred.
shareAs I understand it, having the orientation "homosexual" means one is sexually attracted to members of the same sex. I'm sure that really really helps when one is having sex with someone of the same sex; but you don't have to have that orientation to sleep with someone of the same sex. The point being, without knowing much about Cohn, he could have been bisexual. He could have even heterosexual (if he was not actually sexually attracted to men, but just liked to sleep with them. I don't believe this happens often if at all, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility) and still sleep with men and still have AIDS.
"Blending is the secret"
The label one attaches to Cohn isn't as important as the fact that he couldn't admit to himself that he did sleep with men and he did have AIDS.
Very true.
"Blending is the secret"
But he wasn't going around sleeping with women. He slept with large numbers of men. He hired male prostitutes. He didn't hire female prostitutes.
It's not as if evidence turned up that he had a few encounters with men, and the world responded by saying, "That settles it, he's gay, and that's that." There was every indication that he was gay, rather than bi.
I get what you're saying, but still. I prefer women but I'm still bisexual because there are men I adore as much as I adore women. Prefering men 8 times out of ten still makes Cohn bi, in my book because 2 times out of ten he would be with a woman. I don't know enough about Cohn to know how many women he was with, though.
"Blending is the secret"
Prefering men 8 times out of ten still makes Cohn bi, in my book because 2 times out of ten he would be with a woman. I don't know enough about Cohn to know how many women he was with, though.It depends on what you mean by the phrase "be with." If your definition of "be with" includes "take Barbara Walters out for dinner to some very public restaurant where they were sure to get their photograph taken for Page 6, and then drop her off at her home so he could go back out to do drugs at Studio 54 and have sex with some guy in the bathroom," than yes, he was "with" women. Otherwise, he was not bisexual. share
I mean as in have sex and enjoy it enough to want to repeat the experience. Which I guess only Cohn could tell us whether or not he had ever enjoyed sex with a woman.
Mostly I'm being devil's advocate here because as a bisexual I think people rush to categorize people as either gay or straight when the truth is actually somewhere inbetween more often than we think it is. Sexuality isn't always as cut-and-dry as that.
"Blending is the secret"
as a bisexual I think people rush to categorize people as either gay or straight when the truth is actually somewhere inbetween more often than we think it is. Sexuality isn't always as cut-and-dry as that.That's fine, and a useful point of view to bring to bear in some circumstances. I made an argument much like it on the The Kids Are All Right board recently. But in the case of Roy Cohn, it's pretty irrelevant. He was a gay man, and all the denial, public beards, and self-hatred in the world didn't, and doesn't, change that. share
Where on earth do you get the idea that Cohn is "Bi?"
Obviously he had sex with men. Does "adore" mean that you are having sex with men and women? I don't want to be mean but you are totally interjecting untruths, maybe even about yourself, in the stuff you are saying. TMI about you. If you are one sex and you sleep with the other sex you are hetero. When you have sex with the same gender then you are gay, if you have sex with both then you bi. You can "adore" anyone you want. That's irrelevant unless you mean you are having sex. Roy Cohn, in life, was an awful man who could have stopped the Rosenberg execution but he pushed for it. One example of his work: He had a man prosecuted and thrown out of the Army because the guy was gay. He actually worked to prosecute gays - nice guy
Dawn
According to sociologists, the sexual orientation a person claims to have is the one they are. A man can only ever sleep with men, go to a disco every Friday, and drive a hot pink car, but if he says his sexual orientation is hetero, then it is. His sexual *behavior* would be gay, but sexual behavior and sexual orientaion are different things.
I'm no fan of Cohn. I think he was an evil *beep* But I am also against people telling other people what orientation they are.
"Blending is the secret"
A man can only ever sleep with men, go to a disco every Friday, and drive a hot pink car, but if he says his sexual orientation is hetero, then it is.
Just quoting my sexuality professor. The person in question definitely BEHAVED like a homosexual, but one's orientation is SO personal we ought to be much more hesitant when proclaiming what someone else's is.
"Blending is the secret"
we ought to be much more hesitant when proclaiming what someone else's isI certainly agree with this, as many people make judgments about other people's sexuality based on superficial things (like choice of shoes and haircuts) as well as the complex circumstances of their relationships.
Nothing personal against your professor, but I wouldn't want to overlook the much more likely explanation of Roy Cohn being an incurable liar. Forget his sexuality for a second and look at the rest of his life. The man built a career on lies and associated with a notorious liar who kept talking and talking about a list of communists he could never produce.
shareThat's right. Cohn had a long history of deception.
share[deleted]
Read the book on Cohn by Nicholas vonHoffman to learn more. He was not only a hiding homo, he was indiscriminate with his numerous partners, even having sex with one knowing they were infected with some other STD. In AiA, he talks about a case of crabs he had. He got them all the time. There is some information in the book on his sexual frequency as well and other habits.
sharei dont know enough about Cohn but why is he so hated in the play? Why would Louis' parents be disappointed if he said kaddish for him?
"... have mercy, for I've been bleeding a long time now"-Michael Jackson
He was a right hand man in the communist witch hunts, in which innocent people were attacked. Much like the salem witch trials, anyone with doubts or independent thoughts were labled "communists". The whole ordeal was an insanely embarassing part of American history.
shareRoy Cohn was an individual who provided vital legal support and advice for drunken fascists in the 1950s. Since his mind was polluted, it is no surprise that he was in denial about his own sexuality and physical health.
shareA friend who knew Roy Cohn once told me a story about he man...
In the early 1970's Roy was taken by a young man who he helped...a real estate developer and when he would introduce that young man to his friends he would say "someday this kid is going to own this town!" The friends would laugh because it seemed so ridiculous, but that young man, was Donald Trump.
A despicable person like Roy Cohn (who helped Trump get concessions from the city for his first major real estate venture for the Commodore Hotel) helped create Donald Trump. Right now, Cohn is laughing from hell...