Religion and HIV/AIDS

Angels in America by Tony Kushner shows the complexities of religion and being gay. Most of the characters that are gay and have a faith tradition that would make them stay in the closet. In the case of Louis he is Jewish and while around his family he acts straight but when not around his family he is openly gay. But then we look at Joe who was raised Mormon and has always been taught to shove down your feelings when it comes to gay feelings and thoughts.

No one likes Joe but I find his story to be most compelling. Joe was raised in a very Mormon family, his father was military and was not very kind. Joe always wanted acceptance and love from his father but as his mother tells him, he never loved Joe. In trying to get this acceptance he marries a woman that seems just like him, an outcast. He moves with his wife, Harper, to New York. Roy takes him under his wing; Roy is Jewish, a very successful lawyer, very conservative, and nasty man who is attracted to men. He teaches and coaches Joe to be like him but before he can truly become like Roy, Roy becomes ill and eventually dies from HIV/AIDS.  Roy treats Joe as his son always trying to advance his career.

Joe is finally getting that father figure who could love him and accept him. But Joe is struggling in his own way because ever since he knew about sexual feelings he knew that he was gay but in the Mormon way he buried those feelings and desires, turning them off as if they do not exist.  He shoved them down so far that he married the only other outcast, Harper, who is mentally ill and Mormon. So these characters have these deeply seeded beliefs that being gay is wrong yet some of them are able to over come these beliefs and be gay, while in Joe’s case it takes him a while and even then it finds it hard. He is gay yet a conservative Mormon that is writing decision that oppresses queer people. He finally leaves his wife and ends up with Louis. When he tells Roy of his living with a man Roy yells at him telling him to go back to his wife. He loses the respect and acceptance of the one father figure he had. This father figure makes it so he loses Louis because of his political standing.

When Joe is deeply rooted into his Mormon beliefs he can be independence, stoic, but the moment he lets him self be vulnerable, be true to whom he is, he loses his independence.  This happens because Religion was key in his life it was his guiding ship. He knew what to do because that is what his religion told him to do. His religion told him to turn off his feelings and desires to men and he did. The moment he broke free from those guidelines he lost his way because he didn’t know how to be gay, he only knew how to be a conservative Mormon.  In Louis’ case he already broke from his religion and accepted his gayness. He was living with Prior and even if he wasn’t openly gay around his family he had the support of a community, Prior and Belize. Joe had no one to help. When he needed it most. Louis leaves him and he is alone with desires that have been oppressed his whole life by his family and religion until he suppresses it him self.

Religion when it comes to being gay is one of the most oppressive forces. I know this. When I wanted to be with a girl I was told that it was a sin and that it was wrong. The only right relationship is between a man and woman. Tony Kushner drives this idea in his play very strongly especially with Joe but he also shows how accepting it can be when Hannah, Joe’s mother, helps Prior with his visions of an Angels. Even though she is strongly Mormon she is able to accept Prior and love him even though his gayness is against her beliefs. Religion is what we make it and I think that is part of Tony’s message. Religion can be oppressive or inclusive depending on the person. We are all searching and desiring from something bigger than ourselves.