Pynchon and homophobia

[John Boylan]

  The stance of the 60's left toward homosexuality was a carry-over
from 30's Marxists linking inversion to upper class decadence, and
decadence then to Facism and National Socialism.
  So in the 60's you get this odd spectacle of a left-wing artist
who is also gay, like the Italian movie and opera director Luchino
Visconti, making THE DAMNED, which ties in aristocratic effeteness
with homosexuality, incest, and transvestism, and links all *that*
to Nazism.
  BTW, I dislike the term "homophobia" -- it implies that those who
disagree with us are not just wrong, but are mentally  ill.