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 -Eldest Son in 1973 Reality-TV Series At Age 20, He'd Been Out, Proud and Outrageously Candid An American Family Predated American Beauty by 26 Years |
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By Jack Nichols
Instead, just as the series did air, Bill and Pat Loud got divorced. Bill later remarked that An American Family had turned, in fact, into a "tragedy". It was, nevertheless, a family's inability to cohere that was watched with morbid fascination by a nation hungry for true-life portrayals. Lance Loud later observed: "In 1970, television ate my family."
Lance Loud was interviewed by Leo Skir in GAY (February 26, 1973) and photographed by Christopher Makos. Asked if he'd attended New York's GAA (activist) meetings he replied: "Yes, I think so. Twice. But I get mad at people yelling. I'm very self-centered. I want to be happy. And then I'll do things to help other people. But I guess that's a line everybody uses. Then when they're rich they just turn aside and don't notice the poor…You know, (since the series has aired) all the boys in the country have been calling me. I got a call from New Orleans. He said he had to talk to someone. He was straight. But he knew being gay was what he wanted. He wanted to call me to thank me for what I'd done. I asked him to call me back collect and he did. I told him hot details of my life. I figger it was what he wanted. I know if I called I'd want someone to give me some recognition of my own humanity…"
"1973," agreed Loud. |
