MARCUS MILLER

Gay Revolution

Pleasure Reader, 1969

Dr. Ashbury knew one thing about his new drug, methialine: It changed ordinary men into raging homosexuals. He knew it because he had experienced the transformation himself. Dr. Ashbury had always suspected that this was true, but he wondered how methialine brought this ingredient to the surface and made it dominant. And this was only one of the questions that tormented him. Once men had tasted methialine and become homos, was this effect permanent? Was there an antidote to reverse the process? And most important, what would happen if he slipped his drug into the water supplies all over the world, filling the globe with homosexual love? Since Ashbury was a practical man, he decided to try it and find out.

This plot summary—well, teaser, really—for the 1969 Gay Revolution shows how sophisticated the gay pulp imagination had become. Published during the birth of the Gay Liberation Movement, Gay Revolution draws upon two paranoid themes that surface in the popular culture of the period. The first is embodied in the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), where one by one the protagonists realize that the entire world is turning into “pod” people, and they can do nothing to stop it. Easily interpreted as a parable of encroaching fascism or communism (although the political sentiments of the filmmakers were liberal), it pushed enough cultural buttons to be remade two more times in the next forty years. The second paranoid narrative was one that ran rampant in the second half of the sixties: The fear that hippies would put LSD into a city’s drinking water, and soon the whole country would be tripping.

In Gay Revolution, Marcus Miller turns these fears on their heads and creates a world in which personal, social, and political salvation comes with what is called “the Transformation.” We meet Bill and Adam, two CIA agents, whose job it is to track down the nefarious Dr. Ashbury and find a solution to the nightmare of queer contamination. If this plot had been used a decade earlier, it might have resulted in the standard Body Snatchers story of predatory homos taking control. In Miller’s novel, however, the Transformation actually brings about positive change: Crime has nearly disappeared, sex has replaced violence, and the world is returning to something that looks safe and reasonable. Adam, however, still has some concerns:

When he thought about their jobs, he began to get a little worried. Perhaps the country might still have need for the CIA, but from where things stood, things did not look too encouraging. Russia seemed to be in a different mood since a new brand of leadership had seized power and the lifeblood had been drained out of the cold war. It was very difficult for any country to maintain an interest in the cold war when hot sex was abounding at every street corner. He began to wonder if Dr. Ashbury hadn’t the right idea after all. People who indulged in pleasures of the flesh had little desire to kill, unless, of course, inspired by jealousy or hurt feelings. There was always that possibility. The thought of countries reacting similarly fanned a small spark of hope that their jobs would be saved.

Miller takes the slogan “Make Love, Not War” to its logical conclusion. But Miller goes much further and critiques heterosexuality itself—obviously, heterosexual sex is not doing anything to make the world a better place. By reversing the traditional narrative’s perspective—this is Body Snatchers from the pod person’s point of view—Miller raises the vital question that is always faced by opponents of sexual freedom: Who wouldn’t want to have a good time? The answer from moralists and status quo defenders has always been that if everyone did what they wanted, the world would fall apart. But by imagining a world in which the reverse is true—in which things actually become much better—Miller advances a strong argument for the politics of pleasure. Like the science fiction novels of H. G. Wells, Philip Wylie, and Samuel Delany, Gay Revolution uses the phantasmagoric as political critique. But even more than that, Miller’s moral is about a unified world. At the end of the novel, after Bill and Adam have made the Transformation and become lovers, we are told: “But all Adam could see were the years of pleasure ahead of them. Years which would be filled with meaning once more instead of haunted days trying to live like an alien in this world. Now they belonged, truly belonged. They belonged to the world and not just to each other.”

Marcus Miller published sixteen gay-themed novels and a number of heterosexually themed books between 1966 and 1970, including Boy Meets Boy, Gay Stud, Gay Swap, Locker-Room Lovers, and Mother Truckers. Most of them were published by the Adult Books and Phenix Companion Books series of Greenleaf Classics. All of his novels are out of print.

In this chapter Bill and Adam are hot on the trail of the enterprising Dr. Ashbury and are beginning to realize how widespread the Transformation has become.

Chapter 7

In the restaurant, Bill Crane was paged shortly after he’d placed his order. He went to the telephone booth which the waitress had pointed out to him and picked up the receiver. The last person he would have expected to be on the other end of the line was Governor Piper.

Adam ate heartily, his spirits having risen when he felt he was at last back among his own kind of people. The waitresses and all of the airport personnel seemed ordinary heterosexuals and he was pleased. Everything seemed all right … until he saw his companion returning from the telephone booth. Bill’s white-faced expression was grim and immediately affected Adam’s appetite.

“What’s wrong?” he asked hesitantly, anxious to ward off bad news.

“Real bad,” Bill sighed and took his seat again. He fumbled for a cigarette and, catching sight of his food, pushed the plate to one side in disgust.

“That was Governor Piper,” Bill continued after exhaling a cloud of smoke carelessly into his companion’s face. “He just got word that Washington … well, it’s all queer … including our boys. He wanted to warn us not to take the plane out. He even intimated that they may be out looking for us because he’s had word from Washington to dismiss the state police from Fairview and to reopen the highways to traffic.”

Adam Hood’s face drained of color. He put his fork down, his appetite completely ruined. His hand trembled so violently that the fork fell to the floor with a clatter, and he too lit a cigarette. The shock had been too much for him to be able to say a word. It was too enormous a tragedy to be assimilated entirely in a few seconds. Finally, his voice returned.

“Where do we go from here?” he asked.

“I really don’t know,” Bill sighed. “We’ll think of something. Right now, I think I’m going to drink some of this coffee and we can both think about it.”

They both consumed two cups of coffee each and several cigarettes later had still not come up with any ideas.

“Adam, what will happen to the human race? At this rate, it will die out in a few generations! Hasn’t anyone thought of that? And what about the animals? I didn’t notice any in Fairview, but suppose the animals who have drunk this water are affected. Will it upset the delicate balance of nature?”

Adam Hood took a deep drag on his cigarette and looked at his companion. “Well, in any case,” Adam said, “we wouldn’t be around to see it die out. I grant you that those are valid questions, but artificial insemination would also work equally as well. I don’t believe whoever is behind this wants everything to die out. There has to be a mastermind or a master plan behind all this rigamarole. I don’t know what his motive is, but you can bet that it’s a good one, at least, to the person who thought of it.”

*   *   *

For several minutes they did not try to keep up the conversation because of the landing of a large transcontinental jet whose whistling engines drowned out every other sound. The giant plane taxied nearer the building and jockeyed into position, helped along by several small tractors as it sidled up to the exit ramp. Adam took more notice than usual, for it was very odd for a plane of this size to land so near to him. He’d always been on them or at airports where the view was obscured by various other buildings, and the only thing he’d ever actually observed was the plane touching the ground. The actions of the ground crew amused him. But he also had another reason. He was fearful that other agents may have been sent to pick up him and Bill. But then, he thought, they probably think that it’ll catch up with us eventually. Why should they go to that much trouble?

Some of the passengers from the plane began to stream in through the restaurant door and Adam watched them carefully, but they were only the usual passengers, businessmen, women with children, elderly ladies, and one or two gray-haired men. But they bore the distinctive air of the people of Fairview.

Adam and Bill exchanged glances. They did not have to voice their opinions. All of the passengers were obviously queer to them. It wasn’t that their actions were of the opposite gender, but their general relaxed attitude gave them away. All the heterosexuals employed at the airport wore the same worried expressions which Adam and Bill had seen on each other’s faces, on the faces of the state troopers and the governor. These people were smiling and chatting gaily, just as though the tragedy which had overtaken civilization hadn’t happened, or was a great boon to mankind.

“Don’t drink any water,” Adam warned. Bill nodded in understanding.

“Do you think this is how it’s spreading?” he asked.

Adam nodded.

“Place to place. In this day and age, it would be possible to spread it completely around the world in a matter of two or three days.”

Adam noticed that five or six men had gone into the men’s room. Five minutes later, none had returned. He imagined the group orgy that must be going on.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Bill. “This place is beginning to make me nervous.”

Adam nodded. They got up, paid the check at the cashier’s desk, and then returned to the government car. It had gotten hotter as the sun rose higher and Adam flicked on the car air conditioner as they drove from the airport.

“Adam, what are we going to do?” The tone of Bill’s voice sounded odd to his partner, almost bordering upon panic. He had never quite heard that sound before in Bill’s voice, no matter how tough the going had gotten, and they had been in some tight spots together in the past.

“I think we ought to get a motel room, take a good hot shower, get a paper, and turn the television set on full blast. That way, we can get some idea of how this thing is progressing. We don’t really know what the latest news is.”

Bill agreed. Neither of the two men had had any sleep the previous night and they were beginning to feel tired. The import of what had happened hadn’t helped to lighten the fatigue, either.

*   *   *

They chose a motel on the outskirts of the next largest town. Adam noticed that the owner eyed them suspiciously as they registered, looking them up and down as though fearful that they were two traveling queers from Fairview, but he said nothing.

Once inside the motel room, Adam stripped hurriedly and stepped into the shower while Bill laid across the bed poring over an early edition of a newspaper he’d picked up from a box at the airport.

Refreshed from the shower, but still almost falling asleep, Adam brushed his teeth as Bill came in and unceremoniously sat on the toilet reading the paper.

“Adam, you won’t believe this,” Bill said. “There’s an article which says that the Pope has called a council meeting of Vatican dignitaries to decide whether or not the Church will continue to condone heterosexuality! Can you believe it?”

Adam did not answer, for at the moment he was rinsing his mouth. Then Bill, disgusted with the many articles in the paper which were complete turnabouts from what he was used to reading, threw the paper down on the floor and prepared to take his shower.

At the moment, Adam wasn’t really interested in reading the paper or in hearing any more about the tribulations of mankind. He just wanted some sleep. His mind was reeling with memories of things the way they used to be. All of his friends and acquaintances in Washington, even old man Perkins, the hypochondriac, were now queer. It was hard to imagine, hard to believe. Little by little, with the adaptability of the human mind, he was beginning to accept the reality of the situations, but these things took time. He threw himself across the bed, and in moments his heavy-lidded eyes closed and he was asleep.

He slept soundly, but his dreams were troubled. In these dreams, he was continually running from groups of people who screamed as they ran after him, holding glasses of water which they were trying to make him drink. He was followed by Perkins, the hypochondriac in the CIA office, and several of his coworkers. They were all smiling and cheerful as they begged him to drink heavily of the water. He struggled as he ran, fell, got up and ran again, only to be eventually caught. He fought to get free, but four men held him down while Perkins poured the water down his mouth. Adam awoke with a start, his body drenched in sweat. When he looked about him, he realized that he’d been having nightmares. Bill was sound asleep on the adjoining bed, his blond hair falling on the pillow and his face as innocent as a babe’s.

Adam got up from the bed and picked up the towel which he’d used earlier. It was still damp, but with it he managed to absorb the cold sweat covering him. He turned the television set on, keeping the sound down to a minimum so as not to disturb his partner.

His attention was immediately arrested by a cleanser commercial which depicted a female plumber displaying the glories of the product to a pretty young housewife. Near the end of the commercial, when the camera had shown how the cleanser had demonstrated highly superior performance over its leading competitor, the female plumber put her arm about the housewife’s shoulder and kissed her. A masculine voice was then heard to say that if one used Nova Cleanser, anything could happen!

For the first time, Adam realized how swiftly New York was catching up with Fairview, only with their television networks, they were able to reach the masses. Apparently, Madison Avenue had adapted to the current trend. They surely didn’t waste any time.

The program was just beginning. In spite of his own feelings about what was happening, Adam could hardly suppress a smile as the title of the show unfolded: As the World Turns Gay. He hated soap operas, but he was anxious to see what the TV boys had done to them. He wasn’t surprised to find that the characters in the stories who had been so normal just a few days previously were now affected by the water and the story had been hastily rewritten to conform to this fact. A handsome young doctor was explaining to his alcoholic wife (who hadn’t drunk any water) why he was leaving her in favor of his longtime buddy.

Adam switched channels. He found a camera ad which was devoted to displaying the versatility of the equipment at a group orgy on the beach. Boys and girls were displayed together, but each sex more or less stuck to itself, although there appeared to be friendly conversation between members of both sexes. Two young boys avidly watched as two girls performed an oral ritual as old as Sappho and photographed them in action. One of the photographer’s friends was eagerly stroking his eager flesh and reaching around greedily to touch his buddies, who were equally as exciting.

On another channel, Adam’s attention was once more arrested. He immediately recognized the United Nations Security Council and it was apparent that a debate was in progress. A Russian was in the process of delivering a long oratory, his voice droning on and on in a language which Adam always found completely unintelligible.

“The Soviet Union’s representative,” a voice broke in in English, “claims that his country has long been devoted to the type of love erroneously titled ‘Greek’ and that it was in his country that homosexuality flourished before it had spread to its neighboring nations. The representative of Greece has hotly contended this argument and claims to have positive evidence that Greece has for ages been correctly termed the cradle of homosexuality. But, as this meeting has continued, it has become increasingly apparent that other countries such as Turkey, Iran, France, and Egypt wish to make similar claims.

“Fortunately,” continued the narrator, “the differences of opinion are of a totally different nature than the issues which formerly came before the Council. Russia has relaxed her effort to dominate the world due to internal struggles which every nation on earth is experiencing at this very moment, as power, formerly held by heterosexuals, is being wrested by normal, peace-loving peoples of the world. The new Russian premier, Alexei Cogsugeroff, has assured his people that the barriers will soon be lifted and that they will once again be allowed to travel the world freely and unencumbered. Washington has reiterated that if Russia truly wants peace, it is amenable to discussion. Already, talk is that many atomic installations are being dismantled throughout the globe.

“Cuba has openly declared that its ports are once again open to American tourists, although there has been no significant change to date. The American people, rejoicing in their newfound freedom, do not seem at all anxious to travel at the moment.”

Adam listened with unbelieving ears, yet he knew that the spoken words were not a dream. This was actually happening! As the full import of the United Nations meeting soaked into his consciousness, he thought of his relatives in the affected cities. He hated to think of his brother-in-law, an ex–football hero, engaged in some nefarious activity in a men’s room somewhere, or his young nephews wallowing on the beach with their buddies as he’d seen the youngsters on the camera ad doing. Yet, he knew in his heart that this was precisely what they were doing, for the men in his family had always been highly sexed. He refused to let himself think about his sister or any other female relative, for that matter. He found it too repulsive to contemplate. The men, well … at least, men had always been sensually inclined.

He tried to let his mind drift toward childhood memories, for he had had a pleasant childhood, and then, the world had been sane. He was preoccupied with these thoughts when Bill awoke.

Adam looked at his partner as the man rubbed his eyes and stretched his limbs. Then, he saw the old, familiar expression return to his face when the man’s mind once again returned to the dilemma in which they found themselves.

“Jesus, what’s that? The UN?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said Adam. “You should hear the latest. Russia is claiming to be the cradle of fruitdom and some other countries are fighting back. Cuba has announced an about-face and is willing to join the world again. Everything’s screwed up.”

Bill Crane moaned and laid his head in his hands.

“Oh, God, what will we do? What will we do?” he asked of no one.

“It looks like the beginning of the end,” Adam said flatly, lighting a cigarette. “We can’t go on like this indefinitely. Sooner or later … well, we’re bound to come into contact with the chemical, one way or another. I suppose it’s inevitable.” When he saw Bill’s chagrined look, he added, “Might as well face up to reality, Bill. Something as big as this can’t be sidestepped. It’s not like avoiding narcotics and refusing to take anyone else’s cigarettes. We have to have water to survive and…” He didn’t finish the sentence. No sense in torturing both of them.

“There has to be an antidote to this,” Bill said. “Adam, if a drug can do something like this, then another drug could undo it. Doesn’t that seem logical? I mean, everything seems to have an opposite.”

“Sure.” Adam smirked. “But you and I aren’t chemists. We don’t even know what the original drug is, for that matter, and we couldn’t do anything about it even if we did know. Bill, it seems to me that if Washington isn’t doing anything to find this antidote, then apparently they’re either satisfied with the new status quo, or else, there isn’t any alternative drug. We have some of the finest scientists…”

Adam paused in midsentence. From the trend in the conversation, he immediately recalled his acquaintance with Dr. Orenson in Los Angeles. He was a professor at an obscure college just outside L.A., yet he was one of the country’s foremost authorities on drugs and pharmaceuticals. Adam had first made his acquaintance while on a narcotics case, and a friendship had grown up between them, although they only corresponded at Christmastime.

“Wait a minute, Bill,” Adam said. “I’ve just thought of someone. If Dr. Orenson hasn’t any idea of what this drug is, then no one has.”

Adam immediately began to rummage through his wallet for a small card on which he had written the doctor’s telephone number. After three minutes, he finally found it and placed a long-distance call. He let the telephone ring six times and was just about to hang up when the receiver was lifted off the cradle on the other end of the line. Adam was relieved to hear Dr. Orenson’s resonant voice.

“Dr. Orenson, this is Adam Hood. Yes, the agent with the CIA. I and my partner are in a motel in the Midwest where we were sent to investigate the start of … well, of everything that seems to be happening all over the country and the world. Things seem to be out of hand at the moment and we’re cut off from Washington. I called because I knew that if anyone knows anything about what this drug or chemical is, it has to be you.”

“Yes, Adam. Nice to hear your voice.” Dr. Orenson seemed pleasant enough, but as Adam talked on and it became apparent that he was not affected by the drug, the chemist’s voice chilled somewhat noticeably.

“Why are you so insistent, Adam? I mean, after all, if our own government and those of other countries seem completely satisfied with the arrangement, why try to continue the fight alone? For what purpose?”

“Dr. Orenson…” Adam hesitated. “I hate to ask, but have you … I mean…”

“Yes, Adam, I’m affected, if that’s what you mean. It slipped up on us rather suddenly, and then I began getting those headaches which were troublesome, but soon over. Of course, I know what the drug is and I even spoke to the man who is responsible for putting it into the water supply, but you needn’t worry about it being harmful.”

“Who is it, Doctor?” Adam was insistent. “Who is behind all of this?”

“What good would it do to tell you?” Dr. Orenson asked. “Adam, I’m afraid that you’ve gotten yourself all in an uproar over nothing. This is the best thing that could have happened to mankind all around. Can’t you see it? Or are you too blinded by your own heterosexual prejudices to believe that anything could be superior to your own way of thinking?”

“Dr. Orenson, who is the man?” Adam ignored the words which bit into his ego. To hear them from this man whom he had so admired made them doubly biting.

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. “All right,” Dr. Orenson sighed. “I suppose if you meet him, he might be able to satisfy your curiosity and convince you of the humanitarian aspect behind his ambitious scheme. His name is Ashbury. Dr. Alton Ashbury. He is originally from the East, but at present he’s here in Los Angeles. I believe he’s awaiting the arrival of the president, who had flown to Hawaii to avoid … the inevitable. I understand that the entire island has been affected, including our august Chief of State and that he is now amenable to speaking with Dr. Ashbury to gain a new perspective in order to run the country along totally different lines.”

Adam felt his stomach sink down to his knees. So, even the president was queer! Well, with all of Washington gone the way of the world, it probably was inevitable, as Dr. Orenson had suggested.

Try as he might, Adam found it impossible to be uncivil to the chemist. He had admired and respected him for too long a time to suddenly turn against him, especially when he was affected by something which had nothing to do with choice. It wasn’t as though he had been queer all along and then had come out with the revelation.

“Dr. Ashbury is staying at the Ambassador in downtown Los Angeles,” Dr. Orenson volunteered. “You’ll not find it difficult to meet him. Of course, he’s usually surrounded by a group of admiring people, but he’s not guarded or any of the silly nonsense of the past. I believe that even the president will eventually do away with his personal bodyguards. Times will be different, Adam. You’ll see.”

Adam found it impossible to share the chemist’s confidence in the security of the new world.

“Doctor … just between old friends…,” Adam stammered. “My companion and myself would like to avoid contact with this drug. As it is, we’ve avoided drinking water like the plague. I suppose we could live on fruit juice or some other substitute liquid … but, well, do you know of any sure way that we could keep from inadvertently coming into contact with it?”

“Well…” Orenson paused. “I suppose you could manage to live on the fruit juice, but it would become monotonous. Then, too, it will be almost impossible to avoid contact through your food. Many dishes are cooked with water added and I don’t mean only soups. Eventually, you’ll become affected, no matter how hard you try. Soft drinks will become just as sufficient as a glass of water from the tap and so will beer. You can’t consume alcohol only, and your body will require liquid. So, you see, Adam, I’m trying to tell you that the best thing would be to stop fighting it. It’s not really so bad as you believe.” Then his voice assumed a confidential, intimate tone as he advised, “Why don’t you just drink some water and have it over with. You and your friend. You’re torturing yourself needlessly over this matter.”

“No, thanks, Doctor,” Adam sighed. “As long as we’re breathing, we’ll fight it.”

Orenson’s voice sounded resigned. “Well, if that’s your wish, it’s your life and not mine. I was only trying to spare you the unnecessary torment of living left-handed in a right-handed world. It won’t be pleasant, Adam, but I wish you good luck.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Adam said and hung up.