From the History Lesson’ file: Neil Steinberg in the Chicago Sun-Times (2/6) quotes the Roman author of satires, Juvenal, who was up to the standard of any frothing-at-the-mouth Christian preacher in his hatred of gays. Steinberg points out parallel—Juvenal criticizes a gay wedding, critiques gay haircuts (‘their hair shorter than their eyebrows’), and even gay marriages reported as news of the day. Steinberg notes that Bible thumpers have been looking for a new class to feel superior to since Black folks are now off-limits, [a good thing!] and gays ‘… as they have for thousands of years, serve nicely. Though I can’t help wondering how a Christian and a pagan—and, for that matter, the Nazis—could find themselves all on the same page about the same people.’ On the other hand, some Christians have put themselves on the side of gays.
The Chicago Tribune (12-30) reports that the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Frank Griswold (formerly of Chicago) issued a ‘state of the church’ message that stated Episcopalians have always lived ‘… with divergent points of view regarding the interpretation of Scripture’ and that the debate over the role of gays in the Church is ‘something potentially positive and creative rather than a threat.’
Playwright Paul Rudnick who, The New York Times (2/1) says ‘… has taken an openly gay theatrical sensibility into the mainstream ‘has a new play Valhalla and has some interesting things to say in an interview.’ Valhalla is about the fabulously wealthy, crazy and gay King Ludwig of Bavaria. Rudnick says his two gay characters, Ludwig and an American WWII soldier are only secondarily gay. They are not ‘post-gay’ but ‘pre-label.’
Some of Rudnick’s other observations: ‘Harvey Fierstein years ago asked if a gay play was a play that sleeps with other plays. But Take Me Out [the gay baseball play] is a wonderful example of … something for everyone. And the gayness was useful because, again, it provided access to the wider emotional range that conventional heterosexual men have been discouraged from expressing. … Probably the only thing they [gay playwrights] share is a mild irritation at being called gay playwrights.’ Asked if he foresaw a day when a straight, non-gay play couldn’t get on Broadway, Rudnick’s answer was, ‘God willing.’
Two odd little movies to check out: the Chicago Trib (1/30) reviews an animé version of an often re-told story (Three Men and a Baby among others) Tokyo Godfathers has a teen run-away girl, an old tramp and an indigent drag queen. Great cartooning.
Osama reviewed by The NY Times (2/6) has a teen-aged girl who disguises herself as a boy to escape the Taliban in Afghanistan, ‘… beautiful, thoughtful and almost unbearably sad,’ the paper said.