The Independent (5/5) reports that Irshad Manji, the lesbian Muslim writer who has called for a reformation for Islam, is the target of many death threats, including an Arab man who pantomimed a gun to her head recently in an airport. Her book, The Trouble with Islam has enabled a journalist to say: ‘Irshad Manji does not drink alcohol and she does not eat pork. In every other respect, she is Osama Bin Laden’s worst nightmare.’
As you watch this or that show go off TV into the land of syndicated re-runs, ponder this about a show that went off the air years ago: The NY Times (5/2) is still wondering ‘Was He or Wasn’t He’ about whether Felix of Odd Couple fame was gay. (Others are still wondering about the actor who portrayed him, Tony Randall.) The lead says it’ll give a final answer to whether prissy Felix was or wasn’t, but, well, it doesn’t.
The May Smithsonian has Oscar Wilde making cameo after cameo appearance in, of all places, legal records. (And not about his sodomy case.) A photo of Wilde in knee breeches on a trip to America in 1882 was filched for advertising. Napoleon Sarony, the photographer who invented the genre of celebrity fotos, sued all the way to the Supreme Court and won.
A big ol’ picture of Ald. Richard Mell and his lesbian daughter, Deborah, graced the Trib (4/28). The accompanying article in his somewhat profane Chicagoese was head-lined ‘If your child comes to you and tells you this [that they’re gay] and you have a problem with it and it becomes a real issue, You Really Don’t Deserve To Call Yourself A Parent.’