From the ‘Deny-Deny-Deny’ file, the New York Times (8/6) reports on the rules to follow vis-a-vis the Gay Rumor: 1) ‘State emphatically what it is you are not,’ 2) ‘Scoff at the rumor with good humor,’ 3) ‘Note, for the record, your true feelings about the rumor: not that there’s anything wrong with that.’ Folks lately afflicted with the Rumor include Oprah, Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Michael Strahan (New York Giants), Tom Cruise (again and, ahem, again—maybe it’s the name), Jake Gyllenhaal, Mel Gibson (at least he wasn’t accused of being a secret Jew), and Dr. Daniel Mongiardo (Kentucky politician). Still, says the article, ‘… all the fuss over the Denial is one more indication of the stigma still attached to being gay.’
From the ‘Far-Away-and-Long-Ago’ file, Channel 41 (CBS), in a travelogue/history (8/2) about China, discussed how in the ’50s it was taboo for a woman to be any kind of a media model so that all print photo ads of housewives, movie stars, secretaries, etc., were all male models in drag.
Same file, different source: The New Yorker (7/3) reviews a couple of new bios of Benjamin Disraeli (one of Queen Victoria’s prime ministers). Disraeli, who reportedly once had to lecture Vickie on the existence of lesbians (she didn’t believe him), was a wit who liked to dress a la Johnny Depp as a pirate, wrote novels ‘gasping after gorgeous, ignorant young lords,’ had many friendships with pretty young men and defended the love lives of the Turks. The only question seems to be not whether he was gay, but whether he ever acted on his inclinations. The bios are Disraeli: The Victorian Dandy Who Became Prime Minister (by Christopher Hibbert) and The Politics of Pleasure: A Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli (by William Kuhn).
The New York Times (8/3) visits cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s family home in Beech Creek, Pa. Bechdel writes and draws the strip Dykes to Watch Out For, and her recent graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, features the house decorated by Bechdel’s closeted gay father. The Victorian house is in great shape, surprisingly, and her pop’s decor is still mostly there. Even more surprising to Bechdel was the warmness of people who remembered her as a child or who knew about the book (which chronicles her own coming out, and outs her deceased father).
On a personal note, my dance partner, Jamie Aubertin, and I would like to thank those who mailed, e-mailed, called us and kissed us on the street congratulating us for our gold medals in the Gay Games.