Sat 20 Feb 2016 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
American author Harper Lee, whose tomboy-ish narrator character in To Kill A Mockingbird warmed the hearts of generations of lesbians has died, aged 89. Lee won a Pulitzer Prize for the book, which was set in 1930s southern USA and centred on racial discrimination and segregation. The case of a black man defended on a murder charge by a white lawyer was seen in the book, and a subsequent movie, through the eyes of the lawyer's daughter, a strong and independently-minded tomboy called Scout. Lee, who was a close friend of the gay novelist Truman Capote, eschewed the usual trappings of 1950s femininity, preferring to wear no make-up and a short practical haircut. Scout and her best friend Dill in the novel were clearly based on Lee and Capote themselves. There is no record of her ever marrying. This has all led to suspicions in some circles that she was a lesbian but this has never been confirmed.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 20th February 2016 - 10:16am