Dillan DiGiovanni admires how Robert De Niro is coming out about his father’s sexuality.
The well-known actor, Robert De Niro, like many men, wasn’t able to reach a place of acceptance and respect for his father’s sexuality until recently. But, as the old saying goes, better late than never.
Having come to terms with the truth about his father, he has created a documentary as a tribute to his father’s life work as an artist entitled, Remembering the Artist, Robert De Niro, Sr. and it airs on HBO on June 9th, 2014.
The creation of this documentary represents two things for me. The first is that someone like De Niro, an actor who matches traditional traits of modern masculinity and who is associated with roles like a boxer in the film, Raging Bull, comes out in full acceptance of a highly stigmatized identity. Not only is he showing he’s on the right side of justice when it comes to LGBTQ rights, but, wow. Wow. He’s saying, “my dad was gay and it’s ok.”
The second salient point of De Niro making a documentary about his father’s career as an artist shows that he had, in fact, other identities apart of being a gay man.
He was a multi-dimensional person, his sexuality being one of those dimensions.
I can’t applaud De Niro enough for making such a bold, brave statement as this. Coming from someone so respected and admired in the industry, it holds so much weight. It’s so easy to place the pressure of social/cultural change on the shoulders of those living the stigmatized identities. It helps so much, I think, when people who fit the norms do a lot of the speaking out and talking to move us along as a nation.
Here is someone who had a lot to lose from sharing such a deep and personal family secret and he doesn’t make a simple statement to the press, he makes a damn documentary film about it.
I hope De Niro gets more public praise for such an incredible act of courage and honor. This guy just seems to get cooler with each passing year.
Connect with Dillan on his website and twitter.
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