UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles from Hom(E)Ophobia to Hom(E)Oerotics: Searching for a “Substitute for Salvation” In
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles From Hom(e)ophobia to Hom(e)oerotics: Searching for a “Substitute for Salvation” in the Corpus of John Rechy A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Chicana and Chicano Studies by Omar González 2019 © Copyright by Omar González 2019 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION From Hom(e)ophobia to Hom(e)oerotics: Searching for a “Substitute for Salvation” in the Corpus of John Rechy by Omar González Doctor of Philosophy in Chicana and Chicano Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Professor Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Chair Several years before the chants of “¡Si se puede!” and “Chicano Power!” echoed through the fields of central California and against the pavement of East Los Angeles, a burgeoning Chicano writer named John Rechy from El Paso, Texas, disrupted the established rhetoric of racial binary politics with works such as “El Paso del Norte,” Evergreen Review (1958), and “Jim Crow Wears a Sombrero,” The Nation (1960). These articles represent two of the earliest works describing the racial apartheid experienced by Chicanas/os in Texas written from a Chicano perspective. Rechy then exposed another taboo, the homosexual underground of the pre-Stonewall Rebellion (1969) era, when one’s presence in a gay bar elicited harsh retribution from the state—from sex-offender status registration to involuntary electroshock therapy. Rechy’s debut novel, City of Night (1963), is a semi-autobiographical tale of a nameless protagonist navigating urban America as a hustler defying a society that criminalized queer ii bodies, desires, and lives. Rechy, a participant in this twilight world of hustlers, drag queens, and scores offers a bleak, unfiltered view into the subaltern sexual underground of post-war America during an era when “gay rights” was a foreign concept. In the face of rising violence against queer brown bodies, most notably the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre, the 2013 murder of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, and soaring HIV rates, I utilize interdisciplinary methods to propose a theory of “hom(e)oerotics.” Hom(e)oerotics is a decolonial framework drawing from themes from Rechy’s corpus to accomplish the following outcomes: construct a queer Chicano literary genealogy, interrogate the intersection of Chicanx and LGBTQ+ activist history, and examine the historical and contemporary toxicity of gay male masculinity and sexuality. I ground critical queer Chicano theory in Rechy’s works to name, explicate, and heal the multiplicity of violence exacted upon the bodies of gay Xicanx men, as Chicana lesbians have accomplished for their community for decades. iii The dissertation of Omar González is approved. Hectór Calderón Alma Lopez Renee M. Moreno Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Committee Chair Univeristy of California, Los Angeles 2019 iv Opening Petition I ask for permission from the antepasados, the ancestors—those with whom I share DNA and those queer hermanx who died of AIDS with whom I long to share a dance, a kiss, and an embrace in the next realm. In Yoruba, the ancestors are eggun, and always come first. Les pido permiso. I ask for strength from the feminine energy of the universe concentrated in three key figures—a triumvirate of powerful women: la Virgen de Guadalupe as Tonantzin, the goddess of the Americas; Oshún, the Yoruba orisha of the river representing love, beauty, and sexuality, who is my spiritual mother as I am initiated into the mysteries of Lucumi aka Santería; and Santa Muerte, the patron saint of Death, oft-maligned and misunderstood, the protector of those living in the shadows of the margins/the margins of the shadows, those who dare transgress societal norms and thrive on the energy of moonlight…when magic happens. Les pido firme. I ask for life energy from Sylvester James—the fabulous queer Black disco singer who succumbed to AIDS in 1987—who continues to inspire me to dance, to celebrate, to live until the serpent in my veins awakens and decides to devour me whole. Le pido vida y energía. v Dedications I dedicate this work to many. First, I honor the ancestors, for in my spiritual tradition, the dead come first. Secondly, I am greatly indebted to those mortals who guided and mentored me. This list is abridged, as an exhaustive list would take volumes. My committee, especially Alicia Gaspar de Alba (Profe), who pushed me to my intellectual and creative limits. To Alma Lopez, for your constant encouragement and generous spirit. To Hector Calderón, who also recognizes the genius of John Rechy. To Renee Moreno, my mentor, friend, and kindred spirit. Others I would like to recognize are supporters from California State University Northridge: Christina Ayala Alcantar, Lara Medina, Mary Pardo, Juana Mora, Peter J. Garcia, Marta Lopez Garza, Denise Sandoval, Yarma Velazquez-Vargas, Gabriel Gutierrez, Rudy Acuña, Antonio Gallo, Carlos Hernandez, David Rodriguez, et al. Thank you for your constant encouragement. To my dearest and closest friend—W.J. Scott. To my chosen family, especially, Priscilla Hale, Pablo Alvarez, Gibran Guido, Phil Rodriguez, and Raul Coronado. To my cats—Spooky, Marci, and Fluffy. To my biological family. To the memories of Horacio, Gabriel, and Anthony. To the city of “El Chuco.” Finally, to the genius of John Rechy. Thank you for your works of inspiration. Ashé. vi Contents Introduction: Escaping the “Enemy Camp”: John Rechy’s Corpus as a Path from Hom(e)ophobia to Hom(e)oerotics ............................................................ 1 Chapter One: (not) “Being Boring”: Rechy’s Corpus as the Foundation of a Gay Xicanx Literary Genealogy vis-à-vis Anzaldúa’s “Mestiza Consciousness” .............................................................................. 57 Chapter Two: Reading Rechy as Tlacuilo: Reviving Ghosts of the Sacred Historical QTPOC Space of allgo ...................................................................... 156 Chapter Three: From Rushes’ Meat Trucks to tumblr’s Bug Chasers: Heeding Rechy’s Warnings of Toxic Masculinity and Violence-Based Sexual Practices ............................................................................ 261 Conclusion: Hom(e)oerotics—The First Search: Deciphering the Rechyan Enigma of the “Substitute for Salvation” ........................................................ 339 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 347 vii Tables and Figures 1. Table 1—“Sixty Years of Searching for a Substitute for Salvation in the Corpus of John Rechy” ............................................................................ 9 2. Fig. 1-1 ........................................................................................................................... 109 3. Fig. 1-2 ........................................................................................................................... 109 4. Fig. 1-3 ........................................................................................................................... 109 5. Fig. 1-4 ........................................................................................................................... 109 viii CURRICULUM VITAE Omar Gonzalez ACADEMIC BACKGROUND: M.A. 2008 Chicana and Chicano Studies California State University, Northridge Graduated with Distinction GPA 4.0 Thesis: Constructing an Ofrenda of My Memory: An Autoethnography of a Gay Chicano B.A. 2006 Chicana and Chicano Studies Cum Laude California State University, Northridge PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Fall 2018 Teaching Fellow LGBTQ Studies Program University of California at Los Angeles I taught a class of my own design based on my dissertation in the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department. Summer 2018 Teaching Fellow Chicana and Chicano Studies Program I taught the course CCS 100SL, the departmental service-learning course, during the first summer session. August 2008 to Lecturer present Chicana and Chicano Studies Department California State University, Northridge I am a lecturer within the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department. I teach Developmental Reading, Developmental Writing, First-Year Composition, Chicana/o Culture, Mexican Literature in Translation, Chicano Literature, Race and Critical Thinking, and Cultural Differences of the Chicana/o. ix ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS/PANELS: “The Lost Syllabus: Inserting HIV Subjectivity in Chicana and Chicano Studies.” “Curing the Queer”: From Pathology to Resistance. QGrad Conference, LGBT Studies Department, Royce Hall, University of California at Los Angeles, November 2015. “Wonder Woman, Pancho Villa, and the Shifting Rio Grande: Transnational Jota/o Identity, Desire, and Pleasure on the El Paso/Juárez Border.” Queers w/o Borders. QGrad Conference, University of California at Los Angeles, October 2014. “Queering the City of Angels: John Rechy’s City of Night Turns 50.” “What We Talk About, When We Talk About Queer.” LGBT Studies Symposium, Royce Hall, University of California at Los Angeles, October 2013. “‘Silence=Death, Action=Life!’: Exposing a Critical Gap in HIV Education among First-Year Chicana/o College Students.” National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies Conference, Chicago, March 2012. “Brown Masks, Red Memories: Recovering the Testimonio of an ‘Undocumented’ Tigua Chicana.” National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies Conference, Chicago, March 2012. Publications Book Review. John Rechy’s After the Blue Hour. Queer Cats: A Journal of LGBTQ