The February Vanity Fair features an over-the-top essay by James Wolcott, ‘The Gay Divide’ which equates the recent election’s red state/ blue state status with the theory in Richard Florida’s book, The Rise of the Creative Class. In short the red states are the most homophobic and least creative. Wolcott concludes, ‘Yet no matter how sword-drawn the battle lines, how hard pundits and preachers exploit polarization … the country is evolving into a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-faith, omnisexual, creamy rainbow swirl.’ Wolcott also quotes Dan Savage from the Portland Mercury (11/11/04) ‘The Republicans have the federal government—for now. But we’ve got Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City (Bloomberg is a Republican in name only), and every college town in the country. We’re everywhere any sane person wants to be. Let them have the—holes, the Oklahomas, Wyomings, and Alabamas. We’ll take Manhattan.’
From the ‘Good-Name-Bad-Bod’ file the Chicago Sun-Times (1/8) reported that the band Gays In the Military was hired to play a gig last August in their skivvies. A picture was provided. Unfortunately. The group may or may not play well but they would pass neither the military nor the Halsted Street physical.
From the ‘Don’t-Cry-For-Me-Argentina’ file, the BBC News (1/13) says that Buenos Aires has become THE new vacation spot for gay tourists. City officials believe 20% of their 5.25m visitors are gay. The city has gone so far as to plan a 5-star gay hotel, legalized same-sex unions, and encouraged an enormous gay pride parade (in our winter). Evita could probably handle this but Juan Peron, her fascist hubby, is, no doubt, spinning in his tomb like a ferris wheel.
Murray Hill is so into his Borscht Belt comic role—a 50ish paunchy patriarch—that he doesn’t want to be called … a drag king and in fact says The NY Times (1/9) he won’t even reveal his feminine birth name. He is given, when not hosting various venues, to such acts as rollerblading maniacally between night-club tables to the Flashdance song, ‘What a Feeling.’
Two local Chicago columnists have commented on the refusal of Florida to allow gay adoptions: Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune (1/16) lists people allowed to adopt in Florida—single adults, those with serious illness and/or disabilities,drug addicts, and even child abusers. Not gays. Obviously Florida believes ‘Kids are better off with no parents than with gay parents.’
Neil Steinberg in the Chicago Sun-Times (1/12)—’A child should have a mother and a father … Well, yes and a … pony and a sailor suit and an old swimming hole. But lots of kids … don’t have any parents at all, and to exclude a sizable portion of potential adoptive parents based on your religious bigotries is not only un-American, it’s cruel.’