From the 'They-Won't-Know-What-Hit-Them' file: The Atlantic ( March 7 ) , in an article ( whose title was stolen for this file name ) on quiet gay philanthropist Tim Gill, tells how he has gathered a number of like-minded gay political donors to put an end to future Rick Santorums and the like. Their technique is not to give large sums to 'thoroughly admirable national candidates who don't need it,' but rather to more state and local races that do need it. Gill's main strategist, Ted Trimpa, originated this plan saying, 'Just because he's [ whatever candidate ] , cute isn't a strategy.' Gill and company targeted 70 races featuring vulnerable anti-gay candidates and brought down 50. They returned both houses in Colorado to the Democrats for the first time in 40 years. The sums of money involved in each race are minor—the weapon is the targeting, not the largesse.
It's not just gay men who are rich; there are some wealthy gay women, too. The New York Times Magazine ( Feb. 25 ) profiles financial guru Suze Orman of cable TV fame. She is worth approximately $32 million and her life partner, K.T. ( Kathy Travis ) , is not far behind. Orman is angry that she and K.T. can't get married and avoid estate taxes. Hope she's met Mr. Gill.
A foreign film, Unconscious ( by director Joaquin Oristrell ) , that is reviewed in the New York Times ( Feb. 9 ) sounds like a hoot. In 1913 Barcelona, the city is all about Freud. The movie ridicules both the older version of mental help and the new Freudian theories, too: One of the main characters, in attempting to hypnotize a client, puts himself in a trance. Having ordered himself to reveal his inner feelings, he puts on a dress and goes waltzing with another man in a tranvestite club.
A slightly pathetic report in the New York Times ( Feb. 12 ) on the post-Ted Haggard resurgence of ex-gay therapy shows the desperation of evangelicals, Orthodox Jews, Mormons and Roman Catholics who want their religion but don't want their sexuality. The best any of the various approaches can do, it appears, is to let people see that their same-sex desire will never completely go away and they'll probably have to live celibately to avoid temptation. One hopes they are not paying actual money for this. ( By the way ,if you're Jewish and gay but don't want the second part, you can check out JONAH—Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality—in Jersey City but, of course, the original Jonah knew about swallowing whoppers. )