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Documentary Reveals Cory's Fall
15 Oct
Summary
- Donald Webster Cory wrote 'The Homosexual in America' in 1951.
- His book was a bestseller, igniting the early gay rights movement.
- The film 'Odd Man In' explores his later estrangement from the movement.
In 1951, Donald Webster Cory published "The Homosexual in America," a groundbreaking nonfiction account of gay life in the United States. The book became a bestseller and is credited with igniting the early gay rights movement by framing gay people as an oppressed minority deserving equal rights. Cory was celebrated as a father figure to the movement for his message of self-acceptance.
However, by the mid-1960s, Cory's perspective underwent a significant change, causing him to clash with the very movement he helped to inspire. This divergence led to his repudiation by former allies, marginalizing him in historical accounts. The documentary "Odd Man In" seeks to understand this complex trajectory.
The film, directed by Matt Nadel and executive produced by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Caroline Waterlow, reconstructs Cory's life through the perspectives of his former student, Elliot Friedland, and his son, Fred Sagarin. "Odd Man In" premieres at the Woodstock Film Festival on Thursday and will later air on PBS's Independent Lens, aiming to illuminate the legacy of this consequential yet controversial figure.
