Perkins died of AIDS in 92, which I think is when the public generally realized he was gay. But it was kind of an open secret before that, at least among the queer people I knew.

My partner Lenny once drew a couple of analogies about Perkins in Psycho that are very close to what you draw in this story. For Lenny, Psycho was a queer film, because it spoke to his own need to mask and lie for so many decades.

He would be delighted to know that things are finally changing.