Growing up, Mark Julien, Ed’08, was bullied because people thought he was gay. So as a defence mechanism, he began acting homophobic while in high school to prove to others that he was straight.
“I wanted to distance myself from being anything close to being gay,” says Julien, who is a graduate of the ACE (Artist in Community Education) Program at Queen's.
It wasn’t until he started studying at the Ontario College of Art and Design that Julien finally gave himself permission to explore his sexuality and could admit he was attracted to men. Eventually he overcame his fear of letting people know who he really was and opened up to friends and family.
So to help others find the courage to come out of the closet, Julien wrote the graphic novel Justin Case and the Closet Monster. It’s about two closeted gay men who struggle to come to terms with their sexuality. The two are content to live their lives in the closet until some mythical creatures, members of The Closet Monster’s Guild, visit and help the men discover who they really are.
Julien’s big regret was that he waited too long to tell his father that he was in a wonderful relationship with a man and he was finally happy. Julien’s dad suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and by the time Julien was ready to come out to his father, the disease was too far gone and his dad wasn’t able to understand the conversation.
“That shame (about being gay) kept me from telling my dad who I truly am,” says Julien, whose father passed away in 2006. “It is my hope that my book will eliminate that shame in others and allow them to have the transformative conversations that my father and I never got to have.”
The novel received positive reviews from LGBTQ media outlets like The Advocate, and unexpectedly from Academy Award-nominated actor Sir Ian McKellen. On a whim, Julien’s husband (fellow alumnus Stacy Kelly, Artsci’93) reached out to publicist of The Lord of the Rings and X-Men star. They did not expect a response, but eventually the actor, who is a prominent and vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights, received a copy and happily provided a quote to help promote the book.
"What an original, entertaining, even hilarious book – a graphic work like no other. I hope it reaches those who need it most," said Sir Ian about Justin Case.
A Hollywood endorsement is impressive, but hearing how the book helped people is equally satisfying. Julien recalled a mother who said she used the book as a way to start a conversation with her son. Other readers reached out to Julien to say they wished they had a closet monster in their lives to them find their true selves.
