From the 'Yay-Gay' file, The New Yorker ( Sept. 15 ) has a cartoon of some clothing store clerks, one of whom is saying, 'It's gotten so customers won't take my advice unless they think I'm gay.'
From the 'One-Excuse-After-Another' file, The New York Times Book Review ( Sept. 7 ) looks at Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, by Michael Kimmel. This book states that most straight men are aggressive jerks and boors and that ' [ h ] omophobia—the fear that people might misperceive you as gay—is the animating fear of American guys' masculinity.' The author does admit that homophobia, as a problem, has been greatly reduced in the last decade. One does not know what to make of the assertion that young white men live in communal groups, watch porn together and all play Grand Theft Auto-type video games. All of them? Read at your own risk.
From the 'Another-In-the-Club' file, The New York Times ( Sept. 10 ) profiles an aging Maurice Sendak, the childrens' book illustrator who has also done costumes, opera sets, ballets and theater. He may be 80 and successful but he's full of self-doubt fueled, he says, by depression over the death of his partner of 50 years, Dr. Eugene Glynn, in 2007. In the article Sendak indicated no one had ever asked him if he is gay and that, yes, indeed, he is.
The Economist ( Aug. 30-Sept. 5 ) , in a story called 'Sodomy and the Backlash,' says that Malaysia is undergoing an interesting parliamentary election. One Anwar Ibrahim was tossed out of the government 10 years ago and imprisoned for sodomy. Now free, he's running again. Guess what? The opposition is yelling 'sodomy' again, but Anwar is ahead in the polls. Most voters think the accusations are fake, but no word on whether they are more liberal on the gay-sex issue.
From the 'Who-What-How-Am-I' file, the Chicago Sun-Times ( Sept. 5 ) has Roger Ebert giving three and a half stars to the flick XXY, about an intersexed person, Alex. Neither male nor female, and dreadfully conflicted, Alex has a first affair, which might be straight or gay. Ebert says it's beautifully shot and subtle.
Tobias Barrington Wolff, author and co-chair of the National LGBT Steering and Policy Committee of the Obama campaign, says in the Chicago Sun-Times ( Aug. 27 ) that gay people need to tell their own stories better, and that the Matthew Shepard and Larry King murders should've galvanized the gay community like the murder of Emmett Till did to the Black community 50 years ago. John McCain, Wolff says, has repeatedly voted against legislation to ban anti-LGBT violence. One could see how white the Republican National Convention was, but how much of it was openly gay?
