PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
Victoria Schneps-Yunis
CEO & CO-PUBLISHER
Joshua Schneps
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Matt Tracy
matt@gaycitynews.com
DIGITAL EDITOR
Tat Bellamy-Walker
tat@gaycitynews.com
FOUNDING EDITOR
Paul Schindler
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Duncan Osborne (News)
Donna Aceto (Photography)
Christopher Byrne (Theater)
Susie Day (Perspective)
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Nicholas Boston, Kelly Jean Cogswell,
Steve Erickson, Andy Humm,
Eli Jacobson, David Kennerley,
Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S. Leonard,
Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass,
Brian McCormick, Eileen McDermott,
Mick Meenan, Donna Minkowitz,
Christopher Murray, David Noh,
Sam Oglesby, Nathan Riley,
David Shengold, Ed Sikov, Yoav Sivan,
Kathleen Warnock, Benjamin Weinthal,
Nicole Akoukou Thompson
ART DIRECTOR
Leah Mitch
ADVERTISING
Ralph D’Onofrio
718-260-2524
rdonofrio@schnepsmedia.com
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Gayle Greenberg
Andrew Mark
Julio Tumbaco
Miriam Nieto
Laura Cangiano
Kathy Wenk
Jeannie Eisenhardt
Lenny Vigliotti
Elizabeth Polly
Please call 718-260-2524 for
advertising rates and availability.
CO-FOUNDERS EMERITUS
Troy Masters
John Sutter
Gay City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender NYC, is
published by Schneps Media. Send all inquiries to:
Gay City News, One Metrotech North, Third Floor,
Brooklyn, NY 15201 Phone: 212-22-1890
Written permission of the publisher must be
obtained before any of the contents of this paper, in
part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed.
All contents © 2021 Schneps Media
Gay City News is a registered trademark
of Schneps Media
Fax: 212-22-2790
© 2021 Schneps Media
All rights reserved.
FOUNDING MEMBER
P E R S P E C T I V E
What It Was Like to Be Gay
in the UN in the 70s and 80s
Sam Oglesby, with his 16-year-old dog Jo Jo, experienced discrimination in the United Nations.
BY SAM OGLESBY
I joined the United Nations
Development Program in
1973. It was the dream job I
had always wanted: I would
travel, live in fascinating countries,
and help to make the world a better
place. I couldn’t have asked for
more.
The only glitch in this perfect picture
was my sexual orientation. I relegated
my gay sexuality to a private
realm, the “closet,” but eventually my
persona would emerge. How would
I deal with this “abnormal” orientation?
Or, more precisely, how would
I be dealt with by the United Nations
and my colleagues?
My fi rst three assignments — Thailand,
Myanmar and Indonesia — were
“safe” posts with large offi ces where I
was a junior staff member. With safety
SAM OGLESBY
in numbers playing to my advantage, I
could work hard during the day at the
offi ce, then disappear in the evening,
enjoying my personal life.
One straw in the wind, however,
was my farewell party in the United
Nations Development Program’s
Bangkok hub when a speech was
given that ended with a humorous
play on words in Thai language saying
that I never fl irted with women.
The assembled staff roared with
laughter at the punch line, and although
I smiled appropriately, I felt
my face turning red with shame. I
somehow hoped that ignoring awkward
situations would cause them
to go away.
Subsequent assignments in Myanmar
and Indonesia were rewarding
gigs — especially Indonesia, where I
met the man who would become my
life partner of 38 years and eventually
my husband. But even in Indonesia
there were uncomfortable moments
in the offi ce, reminding me
that I was “different” and that even
“liberal” UN crusaders could be homophobes.
At an interview panel, on
which I was a senior participant and
interviewer, I was shocked when a
colleague, also on the panel, posed
a question to the interviewee, the job
applicant, saying, “I see that you are
35 years old and that you are single.
Can you explain WHY you are
single?”
I cringed and wanted to lash out at
my “fake-liberal” colleague who was often
beating the liberal drum on predictable
issues like anti-apartheid. But I bit
my tongue and said nothing. It was a
bitter lesson that told me one could be
politically correct on all of the “right”
issues, but still be homophobic. Back
then, in the early 1980s, being gay was
to be a member of a “swamp” that didn’t
merit dignifi ed consideration. Being gay
was a “dirty” sexual thing.
In 1986, my next assignment as
deputy resident representative in The
Kingdom of Bhutan was a promotion
and should have been cause for celebration,
but it was where my career
took a downturn. In a small post, I
was now a high-profi le, 46 year-old
bachelor with a male partner. It was
the wrong place at the wrong time.
Menacing incidents began shortly after
my arrival in Thimphu, the capital.
My male housekeeper was brutally
beaten by a Bhutanese who also
happened to be a United Nations
staff member. To me, this signaled
a direct threat, a “warning” and a
gesture of deep disrespect to my person
and my offi cial position. Not long
after this beating, another insulting
slight occurred. Representing
the UN, I approached the Bhutanese
Foreign Minister at an offi cial reception,
extending my hand to him in
greeting. Without speaking a word,
he turned his back to me and walked
away.
I was still reeling from these incidents
when my boss called me into
his offi ce saying he had received a
call from our New York Headquarters.
Our big boss, the director in New York,
said he had received information from
Bhutan that due to my promiscuous
homosexual behavior, I was spreading
AIDS in Bhutan. An investigation
regarding this hideous rumor revealed
that another staff member, disgruntled
➤ OGLESBY, continued on p.19
APRIL 8 - APRIL 21, 2 18 021 | GayCityNews.com
link
link
/GayCityNews.com
link
