ABSTRACT
The day after the revival of Promises, Promises opened on April 25, 2010, Newsweek posted an article entitled “Straight Jacket” on its website that began with the following provocation: “The reviews for the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises were negative enough, even though most of the critics ignored the real problem—the big pink elephant in the room.” The color pink has long been associated with the gay rights movement, but “seeing pink elephants” is a euphemistic phrase referring to drunken hallucinations caused by Delirium Tremens. On the gay culture website After Elton, editor-in-chief Michael Jensen posted a scathing response in which he described Setoodeh’s opinions as “shockingly retroactive,” and accused the critic of reiterating “tired gay-obsessions of the far right.” Critics and media commentators of the Straight Jacket affair, however, discussed “heterosexuality” and “homosexuality” as essential attributes, expressed either badly or well, rather than describing desire as multiplicitous, complex, or even confusing.
