There are several Chicago connections to all the gay-related fuss in the Episcopal Church. The presiding bishop of the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion is James G. Griswold. The Rev. Griswold was previously the bishop of Chicago and while here, though straight himself, was and is perfectly friendly to gay Episcopalians. He preached a number of times to Integrity, the gay Episcopalian caucus. The other connection is from the Economist magazine (7-12) quoting Canon James Rosenthal commenting on the irony of the most liberal wing of the church, the American pro-gay branch, giving a voice [that is, money] to the most illiberal branch, the Nigerian church that has threatened schism if the pro-gay notions continue. Rosenthal is the Anglican Communion’s spokesman and is fondly remembered by both gay and straight Episcopalians here in Chicago where his career started.
In this ‘gay’ summer, it is no surprise to read one of the most conservative columnists, Andrew Sullivan, gay himself, do a giggly switcheroo. Sullivan in salon.com (8-1) has decided (1) he’s a bear, and (2) he likes it. He does a mini-survey of beardom, beards, bellies, etc., and quotes Camille Paglia on the subject, ‘In their defiant hirsutism, gay bears are more virile than the generic bubble-butt junior stud, since body hair is stimulated by testosterone. But the bears’ fatness resembles not the warlike Viking mass of a Hell’s angel but the capacious bosom of the earth mother. The gay Bear is simultaneously animalistic and nurturing, a romp in the wild followed by nap time on a comfy cushion.’ Overall Sullivan is awed by how friendly they are.
Just released on DVD is the 1994 Australian movie, starring Russell Crowe, The Sum of Us. One can forget via his present macho posturing that he’s a fine actor who plays a loveable believable gay man in this flic. When he kisses his boyfriend The NY Times in purple prose says it all ‘… The soft meeting of their lips is both tender and immediate.’
Maureen Dowd in The NY Times (8-3) proposes by way of a gay friend, a Queer Eye critique for some of the Bush administration: ‘In his own sort of antediluvian way, Rummy is a metrosexual,’ And the Pres? ‘His hair … looks painted on. … The corner of his eyes are starting to look lined. Botox alert.’ And when he walks off Air Force One with Barney, ‘… that canine puff of air that most drag queens wouldn’t be caught dead with, it’s like he’s half-way to a Chanel rabbit fur handbag.’