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 aul Monette was handsome and aristocratic in his bearing and spoke with engaged enthusiasm and committed rhetoric. He didn't want to be an AIDS poster boy, but his talents and education and background prepared him for his final role in life. He was one spokesman for the LGBT community at a time it was under trial. AIDS was crushing it. Conservatives ignored AIDS and in addition sought to take civil rights from the LGBT community. They urged adoption of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for gays serving in the American military. Monette earned headlines for ripping up a picture of the Pope when speaking at a National Gay & Lesbian Task Force conference in 1992.
Even though critically ill, Monette tirelessly appeared at readings, rallies, fundraisers, and Marches on Washington. He appeared twice at UCLA, first as a member of UCLA Extension panels on gay and lesbian literature. These featured other noted authors, such as Malcolm Boyd, Betty Berzon, Terri de la Peņa, Lillian Faderman, and Michael Nava. Monette also spoke under the sponsorship of the late Dan Calder, professor of English. At that meeting he previewed his last essays, particularly the touching "Puck."
He earned numerous writing and activist awards, some of which will be shown in the exhibit. He won three Lambda Literary Awards, the PEN Center West Freedom to Write Award, as well as numerous LGBT community awards.
He received three honorary doctorates, from State University New York
Oswego (1992), Wesleyan University (1993, through the auspices of
David Schorr), and City University New York (1994, through the auspices
of Joseph Wittereich). In Monette's Oswego speech, he delivered a
stirring conclusion. Producers Monte Bramer and Lesli Klainberg also
used these words to end their 1996 documentary about his life and
work, Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End. The film won
the 1997 Sundance Audience Award and is shown frequently on television.
That conclusion was: "Go without hate, but not without rage. Heal
the world."
He delivered his messages, statements of his one person's truth, at unexpected venues and in unexpected ways. He was critical of established religions, but one of his final appearances was to speak to an overflow crowd at St. Thomas Episcopal Church's Annual All Saints' Day AIDS Mass in Hollywood: "In the crunch of life and death where I find myself, I find that I need God as much as anyone. . One of the great difficulties of AIDS and being a person with AIDS is to somehow accept and live in spite of the process of diminishing."
His last writings included further allusions to the inspiration found during his 1984 trip with Roger Horwitz to Greece, when they visited Delphi. Monette wished to write further about the following:
What it means to develop a personal ethics, and how to go about the business of following the commandments incised in the walls of the Temple of Delphi: 'Know Thyself' and 'Nothing too much.' Striving to be like Socrates rather than Jesus, but then they are only different names for the same highest plane of the self where men become heroes.
Monette had presented himself and Roger Horwitz battling AIDS together like Greek warriors. Monette and those inspired by him have become heroes of LGBT literature and thought. His death was not the end of the influence of his work or of his life. He left money to create the Monette-Horwitz Trust, which since 1998 has given twenty-six monetary awards to individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions toward eradicating homophobia. His work continues to be read, studied, and critiqued.
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Program for UCLA Gay Literature symposium
Paul Monette talk at UCLA
Paul Monette's AIDS medications
Paul Monette's AIDS medications
Paul Monettte's calendar
Paul Monette papers at UCLA
Oswego doctorate address 1
Oswego doctorate address 2
Documentary about Paul Monette
Documentary about Paul Monette
GLAAD Tribute to Monette
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