IMPACT

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.....Although Harvey Fierstein may have few truly recognized plays, his impact and influence is undeniable. As far as acting, Harvey Fierstein is recognized as the first gay, gay character actor. As LGBTQ author and Associate Professor of English Don Lawson writes in his biographical article on Fierstein, “Fierstein’s greatest achievement is his ability to humanize drag queens, to portray them as characters worthy of an audience’s understanding and sympathy, and not as pathetic victims or exotic divas that they have so often been depicted” (Lawson). Prior to him, heterosexual males tended to play the gay parts, often times in a mocking or derogatory way, but Fierstein, being a homosexual himself, humanizes his gay characters, by making them not a joke but a reality, since they share part of his own reality. Fierstein is a self-acclaimed first “real live and out-of-the-closet queer on Broadway” (Rollyson). .....Fierstein is recognized for similar things in his plays. As Thomas Wiloch said, in his examination of Harvey in Gay and Lesbian Literature, “Fierstein’s gay characters are overwhelmingly down-to-earth and accessible to both gay and straight audiences”, noting that there are “few times in stage history when homosexuals have been presented as healthy people” (Wiloch). Although Fierstein is often criticized for his method of simply taking “recognizable characters into clichés,” making him “both loved and hated by the gay community, “ Frances Gray seems to commend him for his “campy” style, as it seems to make the overall statement that “homosexuals are just like heterosexuals, only rather more so,” commending Fierstein as a writer who “has consistently tried to write and perform roles that affirm personal dignity and encourage people to take pride in who they are and to respect others who may be different” (Gray), as he does on stage, on paper and in everyday life. Fellow playwright and Advocate writer, Charles Busch, praises Fierstein for giving, “the public, a vision of gay life that was outrageous yet completely accessible,” and “all the gay people, toiling in the theater, the possibility of unlimited dreams” (Busch).

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.....Fierstein’s impact as a gay rights activist has been loud and powerful, as he is constantly using the spotlight to highlight the injustices and prejudices homosexuals face. “As a visible spokesperson for gay people, queer theater, and AIDS cause,” Lawson claims, “Fierstein has achieved a celebrity that transcends the world of New York avant-guard theater,” believing, “Fierstein is one of the finest gay male playwrights working in theater today” (Lawson). Fierstein’s constant commitment to the gay community in his acting, writing and activism and has made him a recognizable face of acceptance, not just tolerance, for both the gay and straight communities. As Fierstein said to John Colbourn in 1999, “You don’t turn the world, but you do help shape it” (Fisher).