To the editors:
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Mr. Kramer states that the idea of someone being fired because they have AIDS is so illegal that the movie’s basic premise is “ludicrous.” On the front page of January 17th’s Tribune is the story of a Schaumburg mortgage company’s ex-assistant V.P. who is suing in U.S. District Court, alleging that he was fired for having AIDS. Frankly, I think the movie’s protagonist would have been given the boot for being gay, disease or no. You know, Mr. Kramer, that all sorts of discriminatory practices are tacitly accepted in workplace politics.
Yes, the film does pander to Middle America by not having a gay sex scene. On the other hand, remember a mid-80s film called Making Love? The two men looked embarrassed and silly groping each other. Then there was Kiss of the Spider Woman where you got hilarious, in the dark, let-me-lift-my-leg-for-you-darling dialogue. TV’s The Jim Jones Story got away with plenty because of its reckless gusto, but even then the sweaty stuff had to pretend it was perverse soul-saving and not sex.
E. 44th St.
