Angels in America The two parts of Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America, paint a painfully truthful picture of what gay men experience. In most cases, they suffer either from inner anguish or from public torment. Sometimes they have to endure both. Being gay in America is a double-edged sword. If you publicly announce that you are gay, you are ridiculed and mocked by the ignorant in society; but if you keep your homosexuality a secret, you are doomed to personal troubles. Kushner's work attempts to get America to take a hard look at itself and, hopefully, change its ways. Fear of public scrutiny forces many gay men to lead lives of denial and secrecy. Kushner describes a society, much like ours today, that looks down on homosexuals and other minorities. By setting the play in the mid-80s, a time when gay bashing was at its peak, it manages to capture the prejudice against gay people and everything surrounding them. The early 1980s were also the time when AIDS was a new disease that was first brought to the attention of the general public. By setting the story in New York, a melting pot of different cultures and people, Kushner proves that not a single group of people comes into contact with homosexuals. All of these geographic and atmospheric forces help create the mood of the piece. This environment pushes the characters to act the way they do and make the choices they do. Angels in America focuses on the gay community, which is one of the most policed ​​minorities in the world today. Kushner is able to convey his point of view more effectively through a wide range of powers. Its characters belong to several social levels and are at different points in their lives. This technique gives him the opportunity to show that homosexual men do not all hold the same jobs and are not of the same race, the same age or the same religion. In doing so, he succeeds in showing that homosexual men are the same as everyone else. The only difference is who they choose to share a sex life with. Modeling reality again, several characters are confident in their sexuality but reluctant to admit it. Roy Cohn and Joe Pitt represent the stereotypical homosexual who refuses to publicly acknowledge his sexuality. They show how gay men sometimes go to extreme lengths to deny their homosexuality. Both of them not only lie to others, but they lie to themselves. There is a certain sadness in the fact that some gay men prefer respect from strangers rather than being honest with themselves. Why do so many gay men live in denial? The answer is simple. The answer is fear. Fear is the driving force behind many gay men's secrecy. The fear of how others might perceive them and the fear of how they will be received is overwhelming. Roy Cohn is a powerful, ruthless, and well-connected lawyer, and he is also a secret homosexual. The reason for his double life is rooted in fear. When he is confronted with his homosexuality, he denies it. He begins to rationalize his lifestyle by saying, “Roy Cohn is not a homosexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks with guys” (Kushner, Millennium 46). He further attempts to hide his sexuality when confronted with the fact that he has AIDS. His denial and rationalizations continue when he states, “AIDS is what homosexuals suffer from. I have liver cancer” (Kushner, Millennium 46). Even when his life is in danger, his charade continues. Roy Cohn and Joe.