By JIM EDMINSTER
From the “Down-Low-Boyfriend” file, the Chicago Sun-Times (July 29) reports that everyone’s snickering at a National Enquirer cover story that Oprah is “cheating” on main squeeze Stedman Graham with filmmaker Tyler Perry. And what do the two talk about? Fashion tips for large ladies?
From the “House-Proud” file, The New York Times Book Review (July 27) looks at Thrumpton Hall: A Memoir of Life in My Father’s House by Miranda Seymour. The plot involves a closeted, not-so-loving father who would rather fix up house than deal with family. Does this sound familar? It ought to. Not so long ago, the Times reviewed dyke author Alison Bechdal’s Fun Home”which has exactly the same plot. Bechdal’s not mentioned. Neither is the recent movie with a similar storyline (in which the house is all-important, the people not so much) Brideshead Revisited. The New York Times’ (July 20) look at the flick does say that, as opposed to the interminable miniseries (which was basically the novel read in real time) the two male love interests get to kiss each other. By the way, the fey (old word for “nelly”) co-star, Ben Wishaw, certainly is making a fuss that he does, does, does have a girlfriend in practically every interview he’s in. (Do they talk about fashion tips for skinny ladies?)
From the “Is-He-Or-Isn’t-He?” file, The New Yorker (Aug. 4) has a long profile called “A Soldier’s Legacy.” It’s of Alan Rogers, the recently killed serviceman who managed to compartmentalize virtually every section of his life: only his gay friends in AVER (American Veterans for Equal Rights) knew he was gay, and only his religious friends knew he was a Baptist minister. Only his co-workers in intelligence work knew how far he had advanced there. He had many friends from all sorts of places (including a good friend he met while the friend was selling peanuts on the street) who knew nothing about each other. And his family knew nothing about any of this. After his death, there was a major fuss at Wikipedia about this highly prominent soldier, as references to his sexuality were added, deleted and re-added. Many of the people who considered him their best friends are, to put it bluntly, homophobes. The article puts a great deal of the responsibility for this extreme closeted/uncloseted mess on “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell,” the armed forces’ attempt from the Clinton era to update its policy on gays in the armed services.
Gleaned from (yes, it’s true) the Hutchinson News (July 25), a small-town Kansas newspaper, is the article passed on from the Washington Post by Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett (Ret.), who defends gays and lesbians in the armed forces, saying they’re there now and always have been; that the armed forces should get rid of “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell”; and that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly like any other group in our country.