It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives

IT IS NOT THE HOMOSEXUAL WHO IS PERVERSE, BUT THE SOCIETY IN WHICH HE LIVES

A film by Rosa von Praunheim

Are you from Berlin?

No, it's my first time in Berlin.

Do you like it here?

It's too early to say.

Do you already have a room?

- I'm staying at a hotel. - Hotels aren't comfortable in the long run.

When I travel, I prefer to stay with friends.

And when they come to Berlin, they stay at my place.

I have a small apartment, not far from here.

Is it hard to find an apartment around here?

I guess it's always hard if you don't know your way around.

But I was lucky...

Not like with other things.

The truth is, I'm very lonely.

I could walk forever, just talking to you.

Being on your feet all day, you must be pretty tired by now.

I don't live far from here.

We could have a cup of coffee.

You have such beautiful hands... such soft skin...

At first I didn't have the courage to talk to you.

But when you looked deep into my eyes,

so gently and tenderly, you encouraged me.

I'm so glad you came along.

It's so nice to hold you in my arms.

I'm often alone and lonely.

You can't imagine how much I long for a true friend.

But it's hard to find someone... sincere.

I like you, my boy.

I'm so glad we've met.

You seem so natural and honest.

That's rare.

Most guys are callous and phony.

Speaking of love while already thinking about the next guy.

I've been let down many times, believe me...

But I never stopped looking for a true friend.

Gays don't want to be gay.

They don't want to be different.

They want to live as kitschy and bourgeois as the average citizen.

They long for a home

where they can live with an honest and faithful friend

in a cohabiting relationship.

The ideal partner has to be clean, honest, and natural.

A pure, lively boy.

Kind and playful... like a German shepard.

Gays demand each other to be aesthetes, to care about their appearance.

It makes them proud and distinguishes them from the rest.

Condemned as sick and inferior by the bourgeoisie,

they try to be even more like them,

in order to wear away their feeling of guilt

with an excessive amount of middle-class virtues.

They're politically passive and conservative,

in gratitude for not being beaten to death.

It's not the homosexual who is perverse, but the situation in which he lives.

Gays are ashamed of their nature.

For centuries, christian upbringing has taught them they're nothing but pigs.

Hence, they escape this dreadful reality

into a romantic world of kitsch and ideals.

They have glossy dreams

about someone who'll help them escape their daily hardships

into a world of love and romance.

A homosexual relationship,

as much as both partners want it,

is doomed to fail.

They hide like criminals, forced to start their relationships

by having sex without foreplay.

Pure sex ignores the partner's individual needs.

It merely serves as an object of one's own lust.

With a bit of luck, this condition is mutual.

But it's not enough to establish a satisfying relationship between two people.

Clemens desires Daniel and his boyish body,

which, in Clemens' eyes, pleasantly differs through it's firmness

from the soft curves of a woman.

As long as he can remember, he's always been attracted to men.

He loves Daniel's boyish, shy behavior

and his unspoilt nature.

Daniel struggles with a feeling of sin,

which, caused by his strict upbringing, lies heavily upon him.

He won't dare to look at Clemens...

because he likes him a lot...

which confuses him...

and he doesn't even know why.

Clemens's love for Daniel, and the satisfaction of his touch,

give him a feeling of purity...

the beauty and purity of a man-on-man relationship.

To prove it, he'd love to throw open the windows

and show the whole world how beautiful

love between two men can be.

I'm so happy, Daniel.

Me too.

I don't want to let you go.

Do you think we'll stay together?

All of this is new,

and I didn't know it would mean that much to me

to sleep with a man.

Is this really your first time?

No, it's not, but until now I couldn't admit to myself

that I was really interested.

For the first time I'm truly happy.

Are you sure?

Tomorrow you might change your mind.

With Daniel, a new life began.

He was the only one who ever really felt something for me.

I'll always love him for that.

Our love was all we cared about.

Whatever happened around us lost it's meaning.

I finally realized

how dreary and gray my life had been.

I never really knew what love was.

I kept on living without a purpose.

The power of his love tied me stronger to him.

I didn't want to be without him.

Every hour spent alone seemed like some kind of punishment.

I was tormented by feverish desire.

Our embraces afterwards felt intoxicating.

We spent most of our evenings at home,

watching TV to further our education.

Both of us did the housekeeping,

and time just flew by.

On weekends, I spent hours in the Cafe where Daniel used to work.

On our days off, when the weather was nice,

we went to the countryside, dreaming the day away.

Or we just drove aimlessly through the city.

When it rained, we wrote letters, or read.

"Dear Mother,

"this is my 4th month in Berlin.

"Time just flew by.

"Working at the Cafe is fun.

"I've rented a room at a friend's apartment.

"We get along just fine.

"He has shown me around the city.

"Especially the surrounding areas with their many lakes

"and forests amaze me."

Gays attempt to simulate a middle-class marriage.

Instead of hating those responsible for their misfortune,

they wish for a lifelong relationship granted by church and state.

A middle-class marriage is based on the upbringing of children

and the oppression of the wife.

Gay marriage can't be anything but a ridiculous imitation,

as the lack of mutual duties is being replaced

by a romantic and unrealistic love.

That romantic and idolizing love is nothing but self-love.

Most gays don't realize

that the love they feel is in fact self-love.

The partner is seen as an idol of one's own hopes and longings.

They're neither trying to understand nor pay attention to them.

They even burden their partner with their own problems.

Gay marriage fails due to the rivalry of two conceited men,

who were raised not to follow their interests together,

but as competitors.

The lack of mutual duties,

and the inability to get along,

due to being self-centered,

will soon lead to the tragic end of a romantic friendship.

What remains is loneliness

and a vast void,

that will soon be cluttered with new imaginary and vain dreams.

Four months have passed since I came to Berlin.

I've decided to leave Clemens.

I know it's a big mistake, as I still love him like on the first day.

We often act contrary to our feelings, despite regretting it deeply afterwards.

In the small Cafe where Daniel used to work,

he was approached by a wealthy man, whom he soon trusted.

He was fascinated by his knowledge and sophistication.

The spruceness and neatness for which he'd learned to cherish Clemens

and which he, without admitting it, found stifling,

laid the foundation for an unforeseen world of art and culture.

Overwhelmed by a feeling of something big and important,

he agreed to join his benefactor on a longer trip,

and afterwards moved into his villa.

The so-called "Pedagogical Eros",

with which older gays justify sleeping with young men,

simply means an authoritative relationship of dependancy

between a smart ass and a helpless, silly boy.

Education and art,

once dead serious leisure activities of the rich,

are being gratefully received by gays as a getaway from their problems.

The popular belief that gays are artistically more gifted than others

is, in fact, an old wives' tale.

They only engage so much in art,

because they believe it makes their life more endurable.

To them, art is shallow and ineffective, just like when Heydrich played the piano.

As long as education and art are means of the rich and powerful

to belie human and economical issues,

they must be radically rejected.

And as long as gays think they're special,

while they imitate the rich, they must be rejected as well.

Upholding the oppression of homosexuals is especially crucial to rich gays.

They welcome the helplesness of the oppressed,

because it makes it easier to lure them into their beds.

Do you know, do you know

where the lemon blossom grows

In dark foliage

the golden orange glows

A gentle breeze

blows from the azure sky

Still stands the myrtle

and the laurel, high?

A gentle breeze blows from the azure sky