Since it is a truism that the only way President Select Dubya will ever get a “mandate” is to call up a gay escort service, this leaves congressional Democrats, close to half of the total, with some clout. The Dems are aware of course that Attorney General designate John Ashcroft is as crazy as a box full of birds, but there are more designates to beware of. The New Republic (Jan 1-8) reminds us that Colin Powell, while a general under President Clinton, threw a hissy fit when the subject of gays in the military came up, forcing Mr. Clinton into the less liberal “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy. (This is not to let Mr. Clinton off the hook entirely. As Commander-in-Chief he wouldn’t have had to go through the Congress—he could have ordered a change in attitude vis-a-vis gays and made it stick by several judicious firings or stonewalling antediluvian generals.)
The Science Section of The NY Times (1/2) interviews Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling, a professor of biology and women’s studies at Brown University on her book Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and The Construction of Sexuality. The work, which concerns intersexuals or hermaphrodites, has some points of interest to lesbigays. Some of the Fausto-Sterling’s views—the culture can lighten up on what it means to be male or female; sexual assignment surgeries on infants should cease; gay women are less committed to the genetic explanation of homosexuality because lesbians have more of a sense of the acquired cultural aspect of human nature; that homoseuality ought to be more considered as an ethical and moral question. Fausto-Sterling has been married, but is now in a committed lesbian relationship.
There has been heavy coverage of the movie 2001. Someone is still fudging on the author of the book and screenwriter of the movie, Arthur C. Clarke’s, sexuality. The Chicago Tribune (1/1) seems to say either Clarke lives with a woman his wife, or he lives with a married couple. Alice Bentley, owner of the Scifi Store “The Stars Our Destination” in Evanston, filled me in about the scandal of some years ago when Clarke was accused by the Sri Lankan government of liaisons with young Sri Lanken men. The Sifi community, nearly as gossipy as the lesbigay community, dug into the story which couldn’ve been an anti-colonial complaint, or true. Nothing denied by Clarke so we are left with the possiblity of a homo-, hetero-, bi-, pan-, or a- sexual, who is an 83-year-old genius and likes living on a tropical beach. Congrats on his prescience in 2001.
The Chicago Tribune (12/31) covered the Entertainment Chicagoans of the Year, including Alexandra Billings (who we remember was Shante at the Baton and who is now a lesbian living with HIV) and Patricia Barber, the out lesbian jazz singer/pianist. These awards have been given for 16 years.