It used to be that gay Western artists didn’t want to be known as gay, because it would likely ruin their careers, and it could even lead to their imprisonment. In the decades following the 1969 Stonewall riots, gay artists became more comfortable being open about their orientation, and some even embraced it as part of their artistic identity. While that is more or less the case today, it seems that a new phenomenon is emerging: “Post-Gay” artists, especially younger ones, are less likely to be openly gay than their older cohorts. Not because they fear stigma and reprisal, but because they don’t want themselves and their art to be pigeon-holed as such. Welcome to a new phase in gay liberation.

As I understand it, ”Post-Gay” refers to an era in which one’s sexual orientation is supposed to not matter in any way. We’re not completely there, of course, but all-in-all the tide is steadily turning in the direction of decreased homophobia. Take the recent abolition of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” for example, as well as the growing number of states and countries that permit same-sex marriage. Young gay people who grow up in an environment that is less hostile to their orientation take for granted the state of affairs, and see gay rights less as a “liberation” movement than do older gays who lived through the struggle.

Some young gay artists want to be accepted as artists first, and gay second (if at all), and so they may see their orientation as an inconvenience towards achieving career success. I see this happening with artists of other minority statuses as well, such as race. Whereas African-American artists were identified first as Black and then as artists, many of them today want the color of their skin to matter not a whit, and they want to be known only for their art.

Accelerating this situation in the gay community is the emergence of people who prefer not to identify with a male or female gender at all. And if that’s the case, how can that person be gay – or straight – when you can’t say they are attracted to their own gender? This is particularly a growing trend among people born female, and attracted to women. Whereas in the past they would have called themselves lesbian, some of them don’t see themselves as women and prefer the term “queer,” which is a looser category than gay or lesbian, and is even one that some marginalized straight people identify with.

Why does this even matter to me? Because I lead a gay & lesbian gallery tour once a month in Chelsea. Nine years ago my tours began with a gay focus in mind, before I decided to broaden the kind of art I showed, and my target audience. Since none of Chelsea’s 300 galleries are specifically gay-focused, I make it a point to ask all the galleries each season which upcoming exhibits are featuring gay artists. And I’m encountering more resistance to artists identifying as such, even than just a few years ago. It makes my job a little harder, and I have to dig around a little more.

In the end, the “Post-Gay” era may be for the best. Perhaps one day society will look on the gay-straight dichotomy much the same as we look at right-handedness vs. left-handedness. Which is to say, hardly worth mentioning. Or maybe we will have lost something special. I don’t yet know.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York Gallery Tours