Rainbow on the Lea

About the Book

Gay concerns do not interest many of us because they are not an integral part of our lives. At least, not as far as we know. In Rainbow on the Lea, a small conservative town is shaken by what its citizens don’t know.

A respected teacher, Randy Michaels, is attacked near a gay bar one night in a small Oregon town. Friends, finding him unconscious, take him to the hospital when police and ambulance fail to respond to their call.

Grocer Sam Coleman, hearing about the attack on his short-wave radio, wonders if his son is being taught by a homosexual. Sam gets to work organizing a group of citizens who want to get gay teachers out of schools.

The police get reluctantly involved in the Michaels case the next morning. Officer Ken Thayer, the sole gay sympathizer on the police force, calls Marilyn Michaels to report the attack on her husband. Meeting Marilyn at the hospital, Thayer finds her in denial about Randy’s being gay. Thayer also is surprised by his strong physical attraction to Marilyn.

Randy is soon out of the hospital and back at school. He goes home from work to find his house on fire. Thayer tells Marilyn that someone is out to get Randy. That night Marilyn asks Randy if he is gay. When he confirms her suspicions, she suggests that they go to church, where they hear a blistering anti-gay message.

The Colemans are also in church. As they walk home afterwards, the pastor’s son, Carl, reminds Jon Coleman that he is being blackmailed. To avoid expulsion from school because of an insulting drawing on the blackboard, Jon breaks into the Michaels’ home and ends up in jail. As he is being questioned by Ken Thayer, a furious Sam Coleman barges in and demands the release of his son.

Sam’s anti-gay town meetings now result in the termination of teacher Stephen Connor, Randy’s lover. Unemployed and ill with AIDS, Stephen kills himself. Randy fears that no clergyman will be willing to have a funeral for Stephen. Bartender Elmo offers to have a memorial service at his home.

The memorial is picketed by religious hecklers until Ken Thayer drives them off.

Unable to get Randy fired, Sam Coleman has his son Jonathan transferred to another class.

After a school sports event Sam finds his son kissing another boy. Sam beats Jonathan and locks him out of the house. After a cold, sleepless night, Jonathan commits suicide. Sam leaves town for a year. When he returns he speaks to Randy at Jonathan’s grave.

About the Author

Odette Courtney-Green was born in California. At age fourteen she developed multiple sclerosis. As a young adult she learned a family secret: her father was gay. Because of a strong Protestant family background, the news came as a general shock. Odette Courtney-Green now lives in Oregon. She is the mother of four children.