From the ‘Tap-Tap-Tapping-of-Little-Feet’ file, The New York Times (Dec. 3) returns to the never-ending saga of the Restroom Exploits of Sen. Larry E. Craig. It seems eight men have come forward to say they have had sexual advances from, or encounters with, the senator, who is still fiercely fighting charges. The men are identified by name in the Idaho Statesman, a newspaper in Craig’s home state. One of the men is Mike Jones, the former male escort involved in the sex scandal with the Rev. Ted Haggard, the disgraced former leader of the New Life Church. Craig and his staff are having hissy fits and denying allegations, but the Statesman is standing by its story.
From the ‘Let’s-Kill-the-Messenger’ file, the four young male actors of the movie Kite Runner have been whisked out of Afghanistan, according to The New York Times (Dec. 3). The movie, based on the book of the same title, portrays a childhood betrayal and a ‘culturally inflammatory rape scene.’ Besides this male rape scene, the same character is sexually molested by a corrupt male official later. Some in the Afghan government and the boy’s parents feared reprisals and had heard death threats about the boys.
Gay writer Andrew Sullivan, in a piece on Barack Obama in the Atlantic (Dec. ’07), makes an interesting analogy re Obama’s life: ‘… I confess… Obama’s account of understanding his own racial experience seemed more like that of a gay teen discovering that he lives in two worlds simultaneously than that of a young African American confronting racism for the first time.’
From the ‘Don’t-Cry-For-Me…’ file, The New York Times (Dec. 3) reports that ‘In Macho Argentina [there’s] a New Beacon for Gay Tourists.’ Osvaldo Bazan, author of History of Homosexuality in Argentina From the Conquest of America to the 21st Century, believes the liberalization of his country started in the ’90s, when Argentina’s economy fell to pieces. He says, ‘When people are eating out of garbage cans it really doesn’t matter if you are gay or not.’ Now you can get a same-sex civil union in Buenos Aires, stay in the exclusive (gay) Axel Hotel, go see Spanish drag queens and, yes, visit any one of a number of gay tango bars.
Though in the progressive state of New Jersey, which recognizes gay civil unions and has tough anti-discrimination laws, Newark, the state’s biggest city, is a hellhole for gays, lesbians and the transgendered. The New York Times (Dec. 2) lists these liabilities: no gay gathering places (even bars) except for one semi-anonymous (no address given out) drop-in center, virtually no gay organizations (PFLAG failed there), threats to the mayor when he helped raise a rainbow flag at city hall and ‘many churches in the city remain [ing] openly hostile to homosexuality.’ Some very tough gay folk are hanging on in Newark but even they disguise themselves (as straight thugs, for example) or think about leaving. Maybe they should think about Buenos Aires.