sister_luck (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sister_luck) wrote2008-10-23 07:19 pm
sister_luck) wrote2008-10-23 07:19 pm
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It isn't always about sex. Or is it?
A young male politician is quoted as saying that a recently deceased, right-wing politician "was the man of my life".
On the surface, this is a translation issue - Petzner called Haider his Lebensmensch and he says that Haider called him that, too. Now, if he'd meant 'man of my life' he'd have said der Mann meines Lebens. Lebensmensch is a trickier concept - something like a soulmate perhaps, the one person that makes your life complete, but it doesn't necessarily imply, as 'man of my life' does, that the relationship is sexual in nature. It does go beyond male friendship, and at least to me, it is a romantic notion of friendship. Though, in Austrian German maybe Lebensmensch might have a specific meaning that I don't know.
On the other hand, Haider - who was married with two children - always had pretty young men around him and there were rumours about his sexual orientation. Petzner's tearful interviews (which I've only read about, not seen) showed real grief according to most reporters, and they were enough to start the rumour mill going again - add to that that Haider was reportedly seen in a well-known gay bar (or as the euphemism goes: Szene-Lokal) on the night of his death.
I despised Haider for his anti-immigrant views and for associating with old Nazis and for being a smarmy populist. I never cared one way or the other about his private life. But when does the private become political? Is this all just gossiping that borders on libel (as one commentator put it)? I confess that my natural curiosity got the upper hand and had me searching for more news about this, but ultimately, does it matter?
Apparently Haider never once targeted homosexuals in his many rants against minorities. So, it's not like the cases of outwardly homophobic politicians who turn out to be less -phobic and more -sexual. He never spoke out for gay rights either, which isn't a surprise, as that would have cost him votes - gay rights and right-wing populism are rather unusual bedfellows.
Haider died in a car crash - driving at more than twice the speed limit while drunk. That's all I need to know. Whatever his sexual orientation, my opinion of him won't change.
On the surface, this is a translation issue - Petzner called Haider his Lebensmensch and he says that Haider called him that, too. Now, if he'd meant 'man of my life' he'd have said der Mann meines Lebens. Lebensmensch is a trickier concept - something like a soulmate perhaps, the one person that makes your life complete, but it doesn't necessarily imply, as 'man of my life' does, that the relationship is sexual in nature. It does go beyond male friendship, and at least to me, it is a romantic notion of friendship. Though, in Austrian German maybe Lebensmensch might have a specific meaning that I don't know.
On the other hand, Haider - who was married with two children - always had pretty young men around him and there were rumours about his sexual orientation. Petzner's tearful interviews (which I've only read about, not seen) showed real grief according to most reporters, and they were enough to start the rumour mill going again - add to that that Haider was reportedly seen in a well-known gay bar (or as the euphemism goes: Szene-Lokal) on the night of his death.
I despised Haider for his anti-immigrant views and for associating with old Nazis and for being a smarmy populist. I never cared one way or the other about his private life. But when does the private become political? Is this all just gossiping that borders on libel (as one commentator put it)? I confess that my natural curiosity got the upper hand and had me searching for more news about this, but ultimately, does it matter?
Apparently Haider never once targeted homosexuals in his many rants against minorities. So, it's not like the cases of outwardly homophobic politicians who turn out to be less -phobic and more -sexual. He never spoke out for gay rights either, which isn't a surprise, as that would have cost him votes - gay rights and right-wing populism are rather unusual bedfellows.
Haider died in a car crash - driving at more than twice the speed limit while drunk. That's all I need to know. Whatever his sexual orientation, my opinion of him won't change.