BrooklynEagle.com – by Brooklyn Eagle
Brooklyn – Harvey Forbes Fierstein was born in Brooklyn on June 6, 1954, to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Eastern Europe. His father, a handkerchief manufacturer, died in 1976. His mother, Jacqueline, was a school librarian in Brooklyn. Harvey grew up in the Bensonhurst section. He attended Seth Low Junior High School. Partly because he had considered becoming a painter and partly to please his parents, Harvey studied art at the Pratt Institute after graduation from high school. At age thirteen Harvey realized he was gay and his family took the news in stoic stride. He told Jack Kroll of Newsweek (June 20, 1993): ?The very first gay couple that I knew ? had been together about thirty years ? my formative years were spent seeing that gays were just like straight people. Except we had a better sense of humor.?