The 12/10 issue of the New Yorker has yet another gay cartoon ( in its apparent attempt to collect enough for a book ) . A somewhat sloshed employer and his wife at the annual Xmas party to a younger man accompanying another young man: "And you must be the domestic partner we refused to extend spousal benefits to."
From the "Another-Bites-The-Dust" Department: an obituary from The NY Times ( 12/3 ) reports that Mary Whitehouse, the British "Queen of Clean" has died. For 30 years she attempted, with some success, to keep every vestige of sexual reference off stage, screen and TV. She " ... instigated Britain's first blasphemy trial in 52 years, which resulted in a suspended ... sentence for the editor of Gay News." Homosexuality, among others, was one of the things that had no redeeming qualities no matter what the context. She rose to prominence after a provincial existence as senior mistress in a Shropshire school, where she was in charge of sex education.
A review of a new book about Russia's Prince Potemkin, a lover of Catherine the Great, reveals that the famously libertine monarch was so fond of the Prince's "elephantine sexual equipment that she had 'the glorious weapon' cast in porcelain 'to console herself during his ... absences in the south.'" This device was last seen by a group of gay Russian artists just before the Russian Revolution. ( NY Times Book Review, 12/2 )
The NY Times Magazine ( 12/2 ) has a cover story of how Tom Ford, the designer of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, who is, in effect the CEO of Gucci, is managing with some success to keep it profitable and relevant ( as much as a fashion house can be ) in the wake of 9/11. Ford, who had been an actor, switched to his present career when told by a hair stylist that he was going to lose his hair. His partner for 15 years ( from when he had all his hair ) is Richard Buckley, editor of Vogue Hommes International.
The NY Times ( 12/2 ) reviews Piñero, the new movie about the Puerto Rican playwright and poet, reflecting on Piñero's varied life. John Leguizamo, the comic/actor, wanted to do the lead in the movie because Piñero was one of his idols, but though becoming an executive producer for the film, he backed out: "I'd like to play him as a Latin hero, but he'd have to be a little less disgusting. I can't forgive him for some of the things he did." Some of those "things" were drugs ( as a younger man ) , hustling older men, and ( as an older man ) hustling teen-aged boys. The film shows Piñero living with a woman, dating a transvestite, and carrying on with his male protege Reinaldo Povad. The writer and director Leon Ichaso: "What fascinated me about Piñero was if you called him gay, he'd kill you. For Latino men, the stigma around homosexuality is horrible. We're loaded with a front to live up to. Most of all, if you're a tough guy, it makes it harder to turn around and kiss a man."
