Now, what evil person, when it was reported in the Chicago Sun-Times ( April 26 ) that Eminem will pose naked in the June British edition of Cosmopolitan with only a strategically placed stick of dynamite said, "Why Marshall, if you're going to use marital aides, there are certainly things that will be kinder to your little blond tush than dynamite."
If you're going to get your picture in the paper for things you're not usually known for, perhaps the way to go is the one used by oh-I'm-so-straight-and-my-girlfriend-says-so Ricky Martin, who, with a number of other prominent Latinos, protested the bombing of Viegues Island in Puerto Rico with a full-page spread in The New York Times April 26. Now Mr. Martin, that took some courage—surely about the same amount as coming out would.
The Chicago Tribune magazine April 15 had an article, "The 30-Year Itch" about long-time marriages breaking up that covered all the bases, except one: I have among my acquaintances four people, three men and a woman, who separated from longtime heterosexual relationships so that they could be in a same-sex relationship. Surely, this could be a significant separation factor.
The Chicago Sun-Times ( April 25 ) reports that while James "Pate" Phillip and Gov. George Ryan were fussing at each other over ( ?? ) whether they could personally put Timothy McVeigh to death, Ryan said to ( and about ) Phillip: "You know, you're kind of a pansy yourself, and I bet you couldn't do it." Sounds like typical testosterone poisoning to me. The symptoms equal frequent silly macho posturing with intermittent homophobia ( see Cubs player story this issue for yet another example ) .
From the National-Enquirer-Look-A-Like Department, the Chicago Sun-Times of April 25 has a little item of the Miss Universe contest being thrown into chaos because Miss France may be a man. Elodie Gossuin has to prove she is neither a transvestite nor a transsexual and is alleged to be a transvestite cabaret dancer. Perhaps she could work at the Baton is the Miss Universe gig doesn't work out.
Look out, Trocadero Troupe, you've got rivals—The New York Times ( April 9 ) tells of Les Ballets Frandiva, another all-male ballet ( in drag ) company. And like the Trocs, the names are exquisite; Alexandra Ferrari, Janie Sparker, Tiffany Ann Cartier, Yoko Moshimoshii, Helene Aymondatopoulos, Heather Sowatt, Tatiana Deblockkova, Ginger Snapps, and Nina Minimaximova. They perform in New York and like the Trocs specialize in ballet parodies, which while hilarious are technically perfect.
The Chicago Tribune ( April 30 ) reviewed a documentary with a more serious take on transvestites. Benjamin Smoke is the story of the last days of a Georgia drag queen who was also an avante-garde musician, and who is dying of AIDS.
The New York Times reports April 21 on a somewhat ironic case where a Jordanian-American family tried to break up a young woman's lesbian relationship and send her back to Jordan. Stopped by the police and courts in Salt Lake City, the parents and brothers of Muna Hawatmeh were stopped in the act of taking her to the airport after beating her. Gay-rights leaders said it was not a hate crime because of the cultural circumstances—one could use the same argument for Nazi Germany.
The April 20 Times reports that marijuana buyers' clubs in NY, where people, many gay, have formed medical cooperatives to obtain the drug for relief of pain from illnesses including AIDS, have split on legalized drug use.
Did the TV show as reviewed in The New York Times, When Billie Beat Bobby, ever get around to King's lesbianism? No, but probably because the TV film stopped after the actual contest between King and Riggs, and that was years before King came out in public ( after a palimony suit filed by her female lover ) .
The NY Times reports on the growing trend of gay proms April 23. The teens like having "regional" proms, which make it easier because if they went gay to their own proms, "you might be the spectacle of the whole thing."
Jim's e-mail address: daunsenbere@prodigy.net