All men are homosexual, some turn straight. It must be very odd

Hear the fierce and uncompromising words of Derek Jarman, artist, filmmaker, and prophet of truth, who declared: “All men are homosexual, some turn straight. It must be very odd to be a straight man because your sexuality is hopelessly defensive. It’s like an ideal of racial purity.” These words are not meant as simple jest, nor as mere provocation. They are the voice of one who had lived at the edges of society, who had suffered for his identity, and who chose to answer the silence of repression with the thunder of bold declaration.

The origin of these words lies in Jarman’s struggle as a gay man in twentieth-century Britain, a time when homosexuality was still shadowed by shame, prejudice, and persecution. He sought to expose the fragility of what society called “normal.” By comparing rigid heterosexuality to an ideal of racial purity, he revealed the folly of treating sexuality as something fixed, absolute, and pure. Just as the obsession with race has led to cruelty, division, and violence, so too does the obsession with a defensive “straight” identity close the door on honesty, complexity, and human truth.

At its heart, Jarman’s saying proclaims that desire is fluid, mysterious, and shared by all. To claim that “all men are homosexual” is not to erase the existence of heterosexual love, but to remind us that attraction is not confined by rigid lines. It is to challenge the walls men build to protect their sense of masculinity, walls so fragile that they must be constantly defended. In calling heterosexuality “hopelessly defensive,” Jarman was not mocking love between men and women, but pointing out the insecurity that arises when society forces identity into boxes rather than allowing it to breathe freely.

History itself reveals the truth of his words. In ancient Greece, love between men was not hidden, but honored as part of education, friendship, and courage. The Sacred Band of Thebes, a legendary army of paired lovers, proved that such bonds could form the strongest of loyalties. Yet centuries later, the same bonds were condemned, and those who bore them were shamed into silence. Jarman’s voice recalls the wisdom of the ancients, who knew that human sexuality is diverse, and that the attempt to impose “purity” leads not to strength, but to hypocrisy and oppression.

The meaning of Jarman’s quote is both personal and universal. Personally, it is the cry of a man who refused to apologize for who he was. Universally, it is a challenge to all who cling to rigid categories of identity, reminding them that what they defend so desperately is often nothing more than a social construct. To live authentically is to reject false purity, to embrace the truth that desire flows in many directions, and that love cannot be reduced to rules imposed by fear.

The lesson for us is clear: beware of defensiveness in your identity, whether in love, in race, or in belief. When a man must constantly defend what he is, it is a sign not of confidence but of fear. Live openly, without shame, and allow others the freedom to do the same. Do not imprison yourself in rigid categories, for human life is vast, and its expressions of intimacy are as diverse as the stars in the sky.

Practical actions follow. Cultivate compassion for those who live differently than you. Examine your own beliefs about love and ask whether they arise from truth or from fear. Speak out against prejudice, not only when it wounds you, but when it wounds another. And above all, seek honesty in your own sexuality, for in truth there is strength, and in pretense there is only fragility.

Thus, Derek Jarman’s words endure as both provocation and prophecy: “All men are homosexual, some turn straight.” Whether taken literally or metaphorically, they break the walls of defensiveness and reveal the futility of clinging to false purity. His voice calls us to courage—the courage to live authentically, to embrace the full mystery of human desire, and to tear down the illusions that divide us. For only then can love be free, and only then can life be lived without fear.