Quotes from John Rechy

And now, it seems, they are all here: the handsome masculine ones desired alike by men and women; the gushing swishes, hands aflutter like wings; the few stray women secure among the men who will idolize them but not love them; and as in any group of homosexuals and those lured for whatever reason to them, there is here a mood of superficial good humor, of euphoria bordering on hysteria. So

No, I did not tell him about the raids on gay bars; cops invading private homes to arrest men having sex, the sexual act being illegal; entrapment, lying, aroused cops, years-long prison terms, suicides, violence.

I suppose you could say that Paul is a … hustler? His rich wife Corina paid him grandly when they divorced, wouldn't you say?" "That's called alimony," I laughed.

Yes, Hitler failed. But We will succeed. And women? Women will be out! They represent weakness!—but still they want to dominate their Masters—The Male!

Women are vampires! Vicious, draining blood-suckers!

Why are you so nervous, aint you been with a cocksucker before?—thats what I am, pal and I aint ashamed of it.

Women will have but one purpose: to give birth to more of Us. That Is All! They say the great civilizations collapsed when We threatened to take over. Theyve missed the point. They collapsed because We didnt go to the inevitable limit: which is complete

It was never about the money; at times no money was involved, just sex." "Then what?" "It was always about—" I had never asked that question of myself. "It was always about—" No word came, no answer. "Power.

And the first thing I did, why, I bought myself a flaming-red dress and higheeled sequined shoes and everyone thought I was Real, and Miss Thing said, 'Hurray, honey! youve done it—stick to it

And then, before I knew it, Duke was dead. . . . He was a truckdriver, and sometimes we were so poor we couldnt even make it: I had to hustle in drag in order to keep us going

But do you know, baby, that I have never been Really Married? I mean in White, coming down a Winding Staircase. . . . And I will! I will fall in love again soon—I can feel it—and when I do, I will have my Fabulous Wedding, in a pearlwhite gown

I want to tell you something before we leave. Im not at all the way you think I am. Im not like you want me to be, the way I tried to look and act for you: not unconcerned, nor easygoing—not tough: no, not at all.

And then I started driving to the beaches, I guess to make sure there was a whole world ready to welcome me when I finally decided to join it—if I ever decided to. I always came there with the intention of meeting someone. But then I would see a screaming fairy—and suddenly I'd be ashamed. It's very strange—but I couldnt bear to look into his eyes, afraid, I guess, that he'd look back at me with recognition.

A few of the people I had known were gone—even in that short time—back to the Midwest or to Times Square, or had been busted, or moved to Coffee Andy's in Hollywood, or gone to Golden Miami. They had disappeared, one day: One day youre here and thats fine, and the next day your gone and thats fine too, and someone has that very day come in to take your place whatever it might have been.

HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD IS THE HEART OF the heartless Hollywood legend. Like special moths attracted to the special glitter of the nihilistic movie capital, the untalented or undiscovered are spewed into the streets by the make-it legend.

It's too late. It's too late. Through the open door of the bathroom I see a watersoaked bag on the floor.

I stand on 42nd Street and Broadway looking at the sign flashing the news from Times Tower like a scoreboard: The World is losing.

Against a wall a faded blonde woman—an exiled angel, the hints of beauty still lingering on her palewhite face—sits with blackoutlined eyes burning into the bar.

Whatever a guy does with other guys, if he does it for money, that dont make him queer. Youre still straight. It's when you start doing it for free, with other young guys, that you start growing wings." . .

I remember him, already a defeated old man, getting up before dawn to face the unmusical reality of soiled bloody dressings.)

And somehow I became the reluctant inheritor of his hatred for the world that had coldly knocked him down without even glancing back.

And throughout the days that followed—and will follow forever—I will discover him in my memories, and hopelessly—through the infinite miles that separate life from death—try to understand his torture: in searching out the shape of my own.

Neil made a face of supreme disgust, and I felt anger mushrooming inside of me. "Things like that—which people cling to as memories," he said, "it's those things that keep men from realizing their True Nature.

Her family threw her out, years ago; they even offered to pay her to stay away." She added proudly: "But Kathy wouldnt take their money. Shes lived in a little hellhole in the Quarter ever since then—on her own . Ã¢â'¬Â¦ Those blackouts she has— Ã¢â'¬Â¦ Shes dying," she said abruptly.