The Crooked Man

The Crooked Man was a short story written by Charles Beaumont.

The short story "The Crooked Man" presents a dystopian future wherein heterosexuality is stigmatized in the same way that homosexuality then was, with heterosexual people living furtively like pre-Stonewall gay and lesbian people. In the story, a heterosexual man meets his lover in a gay orgy bar; they try to have sex in a curtained booth (she dressed in male drag) and are caught.

The Crooked Man was published by Playboy, in 1955, accompanied by an illustration by LeRoy Neiman.

In the documentary, Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel (2009) Hugh Hefner says the "story was turned down by Esquire [magazine] for being too controversial" and after Playboy published the story "it was misunderstood in some quarters. Some people felt that it was homophobic. From our point of view, the message of the story was that if it is inappropriate to persecute a heterosexual in a homosexual society, than it is equally inappropriate to persecute a homosexual in our society."

The story was reprinted in The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy (1966).