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March 10, 2003 10:25 PM

Fifty years ago this month, then-19-year-old George Mansour was arrested for having sex with a sailor at a private party -- his name was published in the paper and his acceptance to Boston University was revoked. This fascinating slice of recent history (don't miss the hilarious interview) coincides interestingly with current privacy-related news at home and abroad. [via uffish]
posted by RJ Reynolds (13 comments total)

That interview is great, he sounds like a really cool guy (although the super-casual sex is a bit scary), and a 44-year relationship is pretty impressive for anyone. His parents sound as if they were amazingly decent people, even by today's standards of acceptance. Interesting link, thanks RJ.
posted by biscotti at 10:54 PM on March 10, 2003

His parents sound as if they were amazingly decent people, even by today's standards of acceptance.

truly. ya gotta respect love like that.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:25 PM on March 10, 2003

Would this ("... a cop pushed open the unlocked door, drew his gun -- and found two men in flagrante. Off to jail for the night went John Lawrence and Tyrone Garner...") be the civilized nation of the USA, as opposed to, say, Iraq, that uncivilized abomination of ParisParamus's disdain?

Goodness, yes.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:57 PM on March 10, 2003

He's cute. He looks like Burt Reyonlds, in a way. We should declare war on the 1950s.
posted by internook at 12:37 AM on March 11, 2003

Interesting stuff. What a short 50 years it's been.

"Raising their plucked eyebrows and pursing their lips that retrained faint traces of hurriedly removed Chinese red as the faint odor of Chanel number 7 and Bewitching Hour wafted gently across the room in Central Criminal Court, five defendants, arrested the night before during a wild birthday sex party, who sat perched on the edge of their chairs like special bound copies of the Kinsey Report, entered not guilty pleas to charges of morals violations, then cast haughty glances of disdain at spectators who they were certain had already judged them."

Damn. This out-Bulwer-Lyttons most of the entries in the Bulwer-Lytton contest. Where do reporters learn to write like this?
posted by Slithy_Tove at 5:21 AM on March 11, 2003

"Q: Aside from the trauma of being arrested and convicted, did the arrest have any other effect on your life?

A [Monsour]: "My God, yes. I had graduated high school and was valedictorian. I had applied and was accepted at Boston University. When they discovered that I had been convicted on a morals change, they rescinded the acceptance. So because of this, I never went to college or had any education after high school. One hopes things are better now — but given BU’s recent decisions to ban gay-and-lesbian clubs from the Boston University Academy, one has to wonder.


Q: Were you completely crushed by this? You were 19 years old and were being prevented from getting an education.

A: Well, I guess the good part of this was that I just changed my whole attitude. I just said, "Fuck it, if this is what it means to be gay, I’m just going to do whatever I want and need to get ahead. If they aren’t going to treat me with any respect, why should I play by their rules?" The arrest really gave me the courage to face down people in charge and see through their completely bankrupt rules. I guess it turned me into even more of a rebel than I was before."

I love this guy. Hope he has safe sex, though.
posted by troutfishing at 6:32 AM on March 11, 2003

Some people didn't have it as lucky as this guy. 51 years ago this month, Alan Turing, codebreaker in WWII and computer science pioneer, was convicted of homosexuality, forced to undergo estrogen injections, and had his security clearance revoked. He killed himself the next year.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 6:35 AM on March 11, 2003

After what Turing did to help win the war, the British government should have provided him with his own unit of lithe and willing young sailors.
posted by pjdoland at 8:18 AM on March 11, 2003

Sixties morality. This is very funny.
posted by Summer at 8:50 AM on March 11, 2003

I wonder why the Brits had their knickers in a knot over sailor homosex? Aren't their public schools a hotbed of boys on boys? Hell, I thought half the nation had a fetish for disciplinary school masters and indecent acts involving clotted cream and jam...
posted by five fresh fish at 9:12 AM on March 11, 2003

All British men are gay. There can be no other explanation for why I haven't pulled in the past two months.
posted by Summer at 9:30 AM on March 11, 2003

[this is good] RJ!

However, I must be stereotypically gay and bemoan Mansour's good fortune in the looks department. Dean Cain at 19 and sort of a Connery/Reynolds thing going on at 70. All this, and casual sex, too!

Fucker.
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:06 PM on March 11, 2003

We've come a long way baby, thanks to the bravery of folk like Monsour. Great article!
posted by moonbird at 5:27 PM on March 11, 2003