New York, NY— Award-winning journalist, author, artist and activist Leroy (Roy) Aarons (1933-2004) was a man ahead of his time. Having worked to improve diversity in newsrooms by training ethnic-minority journalists since the early 1970s, Aarons gave voice to another long-neglected minority in 1990. That year he led a national survey that showed most gay journalists were closeted in mainstream newsrooms, and founded the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA)—mere months after his own dramatic coming-out before a convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE).
Aarons' bold and courageous activism and advocacy, which greatly influenced his writing, is more relevant today than ever against the backdrop of current events. His powerful 1995 book, Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms With the Suicide of her Gay Son, has been adapted for the small screen; it will debut on Lifetime TV on January 24, 2009 and repeat the following day (check schedules for local listings).
His seminal work, which powerfully depicts the ramifications of rejection on gay children, remains highly relevant today. A new study from San Francisco State University shows that youth whose parents responded negatively to knowledge of their children's sexual orientation were more than eight times as likely to attempt suicide, six times as liable to suffer severe depression and more than three times at risk of drug abuse.
The issue of negative societal messages is more timely than ever as the nation considers the consequences of California 's Proposition 8 to outlaw gay marriage. The big-screen release of Milk, about the gay icon Harvey Milk who worked tirelessly in the 1970s against the state's Proposition 6, offers another reminder. That proposition, which was defeated, was meant to ban gay teachers from California classrooms.
Aarons' heart-rending film Prayers for Bobby depicts a mother (played by Sigourney Weaver) so gripped by rigid religious beliefs that she could not accept her son's gay nature and even tried to use religion to change his orientation. The Griffiths' painful story—Bobby's suicide, and Mary's eventual realization of how her lack of acceptance contributed to his death—culminates with her transformation into a courageous and effective activist with PFLAG, the national organization of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
Aarons' life work, including his years at the Washington Post and the Oakland Tribune , where he led his team to a Pulitzer Prize in 1990, is described in detail on the newly launched official Web site www.leroyaarons.com. Among his works is the play Aarons co-authored with Geoffrey Cowan , Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, which drew on his insider knowledge of the case from his reporting at the Post.
Other Aarons' works include libretti for two operas, Monticello and Sara's Diary, 9/11, and several plays that have yet to be produced. For more information, visit www.leroyaarons.com. Persons interested in purchasing or licensing Aarons' works may contact Aarons' life partner Joshua Boneh through the Web site.
For more information: E-mail Marian Rivman or contact Marian by phone at (212) 580-3678.
