Limited participation in gay community in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Wooten explains that it was during his years in graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that he was first exposed to an openly gay community. Nevertheless, Wooten argues that his participation in that community was somewhat limited. Ultimately, Wooten felt at that time that he must either choose a career in academe or a life that allowed full participation in the gay community. Wooten also briefly describes some of the outlets available to gay students and faculty, such as gay bars or T-rooms on campus.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Cecil W. Wooten, July 16, 2001. Interview K-0849. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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So, when do you first remember interacting with a person who was openly
gay, or people knew was gay, in town or where ever. It might have been
after Kinston.
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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Oh, yeah, it was, I think that it was when I was in graduate school.
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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Really? So, not in France or anything?
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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No, not at all, I think that it was when I was a first year graduate
student. I had a colleague who was from New York who was openly gay. In
fact, we would go to the gay bar in Chapel Hillߞ
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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Was this the Tempo Room or Pegasus?
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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It was Pegasus. He was interesting to me, becauseߞand actually
interacting with him had an important effect on me. He felt that he had
to choose between being a classics professor and being gay. He felt that
they were mutually exclusive. This was in 1967.
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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This was in Chapel Hill.
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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Yes, in Chapel Hill. He felt that he could not be an academic and be
openly gay. So, he went through this big conflict over which was more
important to him, and he finally dropped out of graduate school and went
to New York and worked as a bank teller, because he decided that him
being gay was more important than being a classicist. I realized
thatߞit seemed to me that the conflict that the was feeling
was legitimate, and I really wanted to be a classics professor, so
consequently, what I did, was that I didn't really ever talk
about being gay. It became irrelevant and I devoted all of my time to
studying, and I realized though in Chapel Hill, and I think it was the
first time that there was a kind of gay community. I mean, for example
Murphy, where my office was, was the big T-room on campus
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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Exactly. When I finally found out about that, I went down there and the
urinals are still down there are the walls
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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Yeah, yeah, exactly, I know.
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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They are probably going to be the last vestiges, which will be ripped
apart by the grant, or the gigantic referendum that was passed.
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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ߞAnd it was a conflict for me, because particularly on the
weekendsߞ
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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You couldn't even go to the bathroom.
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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I know, it was funny, when we were first in graduate school, the
chairman of the department warned us not to go to the bathroom
downstairs. [Laughter] I remember, there
was this funny feeling of being very excited that this was available,
but also being very frightened that if I engaged in that, then my
professional career might well be ruined. It'sߞ
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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So, what did it look like down there, I am sure that you must
haveߞ
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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Well, it just looked like a normal bathroom.
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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There weren't any glory holes.
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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Oh, yeah there were glory holes
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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Were there glory holes, or were there peep holes?
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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There were peepholes. I must say, that I never went down there that
much, because I realized that there was this huge temptation and I
didn't want to.
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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Well, I guess that another department would have been one thing.
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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Yeah, and I just didn't want to yield to it. Because, I did
feel that I had a choice between being gay and being a professional
classicist, and I wanted to be a professional classicist, and had been
since I had been in the second grade.
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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Were there any professors around that were gay, or that people knew that
were gay?
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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The only one that I knew of was this man Jacque Aurdre, who was the
chairman of the French Department. I wasn't sure about that,
it was just rumored that he was gay. He was very professional, he never
had sex with students, he was not openly gay on campus, but it was
generally known that he lived with another man and he was very sporty.
He had a mustang convertible and very elegant. He was French, and I had
a class with him. He was a nice man, but I was not
friends with him. He did not make any attempt to be a friend of mine,
because he basically did not associate or interact with students for
reasons that I can understand. So, when I was in graduate school, I
think that was the first time that I became aware of the gay community.
But, I did not have any part of it, because Iߞ
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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But, you did mention that you had gone to Pegasus some.
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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I did go to Pegasus a couple of times with this friend of mine.
- CHRIS MCGINNIS:
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Who could not decide, but finally decided toߞ
- CECIL W. WOOTEN:
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Again, it was very exciting, but scary, because I saw then that there
was this world that was very tempting, but I saw that as an alternative
to a professional career.