The new year starts with a cliché with a twist: Gay folks are fashion originators in spite of themselves. The New York Times ( 1/4 ) reports that straight men are beginning to imitate big-bearded ( gay ) bears—hipsters are sporting whiskers like the ones at '…the annual Bearapolooza or the Furball in Canada.' The writer may be unaware that the bear phenomenon started among gays as an anti-fashion statement, a revolt against teeny-waisted, smooth-shaven clones.
The Independent's ( 1/4 ) intriguing headline, 'Sheep have right to be gay, says Martha Navratilova,' actually has some serious non-National Enquirer content. Researchers at Oregon State University have been checking out sheep sexuality and have proved what sheep farmers already knew—about 8 percent of rams are gay. Furthermore, they're born that way, which annihilates homophobes' argument that gay sex is unnatural. We live, says scientist Bruce Bagemihl, in a '…polysexual, polygendered world.' Navratilova comes in when it is revealed that the Oregon scientists can detect gay sheep in the womb: 'She fears it is not a great leap to detecting gay fetuses in human wombs and making possible mass homo-cidal abortions.'
On another intellectual front, Andrew Sullivan, in The New Republic ( 12/25 ) , says two anti-gay arguments are going down the tubes for conservatives. In the article, 'Quite Contrary,' he states Mary Cheney's inconveniently true baby slaps the natural law argument ( same as the sheep scientists ) and also the argument that gay things are a private matter ( public policy hostile to gays but tactful in private to gay individuals ) upside the head. The natural law was repudiated decades ago by the 'psychoanalytic and medical and academic communities,' he says. The private argument has been greatly harmed by the likes of Ted Haggard, Paul Barnes and Mark Foley. Furthermore, there is no possible way ( even tho' she fusses about it in her book ) she can be considered a private figure. Sullivan has a wonderful metaphor for the fundamentalists' ( unchanged ) position on homosexuality: '…like Wile E. Coyote, suspended several feet past the edge of a cliff.'
Meanwhile, back in Kansas, says the New York Times ( 12/28 ) , they're coming out, 1 ) in droves and 2 ) in middle age. Between 2000 and 2005, there was a 68 percent jump in Kansas households with same-sex partners. There is a rapidly growing gay-rights movement and even the dead are chiming in: One activist tells of the elderly woman who came out from the grave. She'd been in a long-term but quiet relationship with another woman. Her tombstone read 'I didn't miss half the fun you think I did.'
Margaret Cho Headlines Gurlesque Burlesque
One of the most provocative, smart, political, and sexy burlesque shows in the country—Gurlesque Burlesque—promises to live up to its reputation once again with shows that will take place Jan. 13 at The Vic, 3145 N. Sheffield, at 7 and 10 p.m.
The highly anticipated show, produced by The Sissy Butch Brothers, will feature the prolific and critically acclaimed comedian Margaret Cho. Jessica Halem, comedian and former executive director of the Lesbian Community Cancer Project, will host.
The show will also feature Satan's Angel, the 63-year-old burlesque legend who debuted as a dancer in 1961; New York City's beloved Julie Atlas Muz ( Miss Exotic World 2006 and Miss Coney Island 2006 ) ; Seattle's Miss Indigo Blue; and San Francisco's Alotta Boutté ( of Harlem Shake ) ; and Chicago drag kings. The show will also feature the very best performers in Chicago's burlesque scene.
Tickets are $25 ( and a limited number of select seats are available for $75 ) . Tickets are now on sale at The Vic box office and through Ticketmaster ( www.ticketmaster.com ) . Showgoers must be at least 18 years old.
See www.sissybutchbrothers.com for more info.
