Gay Banker interviews Will of DesignerBlog

I've interviewed quite a few fellow bloggers now, all gay men apart from the last one who was a teenage woman called Saf. But now there's only one more interview to do. The last interview victim is Will of DesignerBlog, who requested the interview in a comment to one of my postings last month.

Will is a 61 year old guy who lives in Boston in the USA. He came out as gay when he was about 35, but didn't meet his long term partner Fritz until he was in his early fifties. Judging by what he writes in his blog though, they're a perfect match for each other. Professionally, he's been working at MIT for over 30 years, as a theatrical designer, teacher and arts administrator.

To help me write pertinent interview questions I try and read the interviewee's blog including all the archives, but in Will's case I admit that this hasn't been possible. He started blogging almost three years ago in August 2003 and there's a huge amount to read. Luckily he did the standard blogger meme and posted 100 things about himself, so that helped enormously. Rummaging around in his archives I also found the answers to 30 adult questions which were very interesting too!

So Will, here are my interview questions:

1. You've mention a couple of times (1, 2) that being gay saved you. So what do you think would have happened to you if it hadn't been possible to come out as gay, e.g. if you'd been born 50 years earlier perhaps, or if you lived today in much less tolerant country?


2. In the parts of your blog that I've read you talk a lot about your life, politics and gay issues. But I haven't found anything about your love of theatre, which I assume from your job that you must have! So what's your favourite play that's been written during your lifetime, and what's your favourite play that was written before you were born?


3. According to the 100 things, you were married for ten years, so you've obviously had heterosexual sexual experiences! My readers always expect a bit of adult content to my interviews so can you give us a paragraph or two comparing your experiences of straight sex to gay sex?


4. You also mention in the 100 things that you came out as gay around the same time you accepted that you are an atheist. But I've not read anything else in your blog about how you came out. So can you tell us your full coming out story?


5. Imagine: you can be transported back in time to witness one historical event of your choice. Which historical event do you choose and why?

I got an e-mail from Will yesterday to say that he's going to be on holiday with his partner Fritz for the next two weeks, so it may be a while before we get the answers. Anyway, that's the last interview that I'll be doing for the foreseeable future. Interviewing other bloggers by blog has been good fun :-), so hopefully some of the bloggers that I've interviewed will be keeping this interview meme alive!

Update [1-Aug-2006]: Having returned from holiday, Will has posted some excellent answers! Enjoy :-)