I have thought about this in the same context that I wondered why, after Alma discovered that Jack and Ennis were lovers, she apparently didn't march that all over town, either. Looking back on how things were in this country in the 1960's, you literally never heard about people being gay from year to year. It was just something that people never, ever, spoke about. Maybe once in a while you would hear some comment (I remember my mother telling me that most Nazis were homosexuals and that's why they were so horrible) but mostly, you would never hear anything, one way or ther other. It just wasn't done, to even mention that this could occur. Now of course since there is SO much more openess about all kinds of topics, you hear the good but you also hear the bad. People's antennae are up to the subject, whereas they absolutely weren't before.
Maybe I'm wrong - it isn't like Aguirre was this tasteful, polite character after all. He seemed like a guy who would call a spade a spade. But it might also just be in line with the fact that back then, homosexuality was an incredibly deep, dark secret, so awful that it couldn't be mentioned AT ALL, much less accepted or (gasp!) celebrated.
Jane in CT
