s e x ua l i t y83family back in El Paso certainly had not. In fact, the town homophobia hit home viscerally when its media unsympathetically portrayed his uncle Carlos murder as a gay sexual tryst gone wrong. That Islas father distanced himself and his family from the incident and from Carlos was an indication to Islas that the moment to come out to his parents would have to wait. For the most part, Islas and Bergh realized their dreamo live a normal, domestic life together. However, within this gay-afming domestic space, Islas childhood demons haunted him, and deep-seated behavioral patterns would surface and eventually destroy their relationship. Islas assumed the role of the father: the emotionally reserved, selh taker. Bergh assumed the role of the mother: the sentimental, giving nurturer. Islas love was selh and non-monogamous; Bergh love was selss and singular. At one point Bergh writes Islas, truly believe and feel that I love you, not with a love that is locked about you but with a love that is broad, that at moments caresses you with all that I can feel as intimate from the depths of my being, that at other moments seem not there, but ever present, waiting as with undulating sea to be with you again and once again and . . . all under the golden sun�(undated note, box 2, folder 2). Islas could not handle this selss love, rejecting Bergh as he slipped more and more into playing the role of the tyrant at home and having random sexual encounters with other men. Islas played the tyrant, often verbally abusing and degrading Bergh as his father had done to his mother and as he himself had done to his younger brother Mario. Bergh played his part well, performing the victim role by complaining to Islas constantly of his physical ailments like his urning stomach�and oated tongue,�which he said were a consequence of Islas abusive behavior. As the years passed, Islas and Bergh stayed together, role-playing the tyrant/victim dyad more and more. By the early 1970s, their relationship was near its end. Islas had become an emotionless narcissist who brought home his lovers to remind Bergh of his distaste for commitment; and Bergh sank deeper and deeper into physical illness. Within this environment, Islas became the monster he most feared in his father. Bergh ally ended the relationship, and on March 30, 1973, he writes Islas a farewell note: tired of being dumped
