From the ‘Frankly-My-Dear…’ file, The New York Times Book Review (March 30) reveals in a new bio, David Bret’s Clark Gable: Tormented Star, that the male lead in Gone With the Wind (the movie) was ‘gay for pay’ and ‘rough trade.’ The reviewer calls the book ‘ … breathtakingly trashy’ and says Bret doesn’t like Gable, his acting or his fans. (He condescendingly provides an eight-page synopsis of GWTW’s plot.) The review also says that while Gable only ‘ … used gay sex for career advancement,’ some of his sexual partners, like Rod LaRocque (love those old-time movie names) had no clout at all. (Sex for fun? In Hollywood?) Read at your own risk.
The Advocate (March 28) in a file that might be called ‘Whose-Daughter-Said-What?’ says the daughter of Raul Castro, Cuba’s new president, is urging the Cuban National Assembly to adopt an extremely liberal LGBT rights law. The bill would recognize same-sex unions and inheritance rights but does not push for same-sex marriage. Her father is supportive of her work (she’s the head of the National [Cuban] Center for Sex Education) and there is some chance of the bill passing, as the Cuban government is allowing some fringe changes on the edge of society.
From the ‘Polish-Panic’ file, the online magazine The Gully (April 2) reports a homophobic rage in Poland that has been simmering for several years. Many of the conservative anti-gay organizations in Poland, such as the League of Polish Families (LPF) have—what a shock!—close ties to anti-Semetic groups. Here’s a quote from the LPF: ‘The fatherland is in danger … Poles are dying, there are no new generations, lesbians, gays and pedophiles do not reproduce.’ (Their punctuation) In spite of liberal supporters such as Nobel Prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska, marchers at a gay pride parade had acid thrown at them by members of All-Polish-Youth, the militant arm of the LPF.
From the ‘Couple-of-Cuties’ file, The New York Times (March 28) looks at two new flicks: Shelter deals with Zach, a sensitive (we should probably capitalize that) graffiti painter who is ostensibly straight until he hooks up with surfer Shaun. ‘Coming out has rarely looked so pretty,’ the Times stated. Meanwhile, A Four Letter Word is a film that ‘coasts along on … good-natured raunchiness’ with lots of nude shots of guys and a slap at hypocrisy as a promiscuous male slut tries to reform himself for a new boyfriend.
From the ‘Where-Is-All-This-Going?’ file, Mental Floss Magazine (March-April) has an article entitled ‘The Demise of the Y Chromosome.’ This is the part of our genetic structure that makes guys guys. No, it’s not a feminist plot—it’s that when genes on chromosomes go bad, they’re eliminated. The other chromosomes (X) can exchange their bad genes for good ones; the Y’s can’t. The X has 1000 to 1400 protein-making genes; the Y has 27. In 5000 generations (10 million years) —and my math comes out different but I won’t argue with math folks—all the boys (the gay ones too) will disappear. Better push those scientists (especially the cute ones) to work on this.