From the ‘Phyllis-Schlafly-Ungrateful-Child-Award’ file: You haven’t heard much of conservative Eagle Forum anti-gay Schlafly lately—she sort of shut up after her son came out. In that unkindest-cut vein, the Chicago Sun-Times (4/5) tells us of the marriage of David Knight to his boyfriend, Joseph Lazzaro, in San Francisco. Knight’s father is California State Sen. William J. ‘Pete’ Knight, who was the chief conservative architect of California’s Defense of Marriage Act. The older Knight severed the relationship with his son, a former record-setting Air Force test pilot. Lazzaro’s parents, on the other hand, were totally supportive.
From the ‘Non-Boring-Art-Song’ file: the NY Times (4/6) reviews a revival of ‘First Lady Suite’ in which various Presidential wives camp it up: Mamie Eisenhower whoops like Ethel Mermann, Jackie Kennedy muses about the immortality of her pink hat, and most tellingly ‘Eleanor Roosevelt warbles a Wagnerian love duet with her pal Lorena Hickok.’ Mrs. Roosevelt moved Lorena into the White House for the War years. Hickok gave up her newspaper career and there have always been suspicions of the ‘L’ word hovering about them.
The NY Times (4/6) and the Chicago Sun-Times (4/6) announced the Pulitzer Prize awards. Leonard Pitts Jr. won the prize for commentary. This columnist has always been sympathetic to gay causes, including gay marriage. For drama, Doug Wright for the play (which opened originally in Chicago at About Face), I am My Own Wife, about the life of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf, a German transvestite who lived through Nazi and then Communist regimes in East Germany.
Newsweek (4/5) announced with great fanfare the re-issue of Lynne Cheney’s 1981 wild west novel, Sisters. Sisters is more than a little lesbian-leaning. Her daughter, lesbian Mary, ought to approve—but perhaps the statement in the Chicago Sun-Times (4/6) that the whole thing had been shelved was due to hubby (and V.P. of the U.S. of A.) who doesn’t care for the slightly purple (and lavender) prose. A sample: ‘Let us go away from the anger and imperatives of men. There will be only the two of us, and we shall linger through the long afternoons of sweet retirement. In the evenings I shall read to you while you work your cross-stitch in the firelight. And then we shall go to bed, our bed, my dearest girl … . ‘
New star of TV’s The L Word, Mia Kirshner, according to The NY Times (4/5) may be able to say sex scenes with women are ‘more fun and easier. It’s nothing to be ashamed of … . There’s … a comfort level that is so beautiful. … I don’t care if people think I’m gay,’ but she’s been avoiding answering that obvious question for months. Can even pseudo-gay people have internalized homophobia? Of course, she does work in Hollywood—the land of institutionalized homophobia and has a career to worry about … .