THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

The NY Times (5/23) had a major, most-of-a-page, obit of a gay man, Steven N. Kaufmann, whom you may not have heard of but listen to this: some close personal friends of his—Nancy Reagan, Bill Blass, Gertrude Lawrence, Lena Horne, Ross Hunter, Rock Hudson. Career: retired at 25 from department store sales, went back to work at 70 (for Blass), was not especially good looking, had a prominent lover (Jerry Zipkin) for years and took a 24-year-old lover (Edward DeLuca, now an art dealer) at age 71 (whom he stayed with until his death at age 90). Incredibly he was always out and was given to statements like this about DeLuca: 'I found you lying on a futon in the gutter eating pizza.'

A letter from the Chicago Tribune (5/27) '... that there are gay Republicans is proof positive that gay people can't help being gay.'

Another quip from the same Trib apropos the current flooding around Illinois, Oscar Wilde once said 'Nature is a damp place, over which large numbers of ducks fly, uncooked.'

Roger Ebert likes the new musical-bio-flic of Cole Porter, De-Lovely (Chicago Sun-Times, 5/23). Porter was gay but the love of his life was Linda Lee Porter, his wife of 30 years. Audiences get to hear Porter songs by Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Cole, and Elvis Costello.

From the 'Reaching-Far-Afield' file: 365.com reports that Lord Tebbit, a high-ranking conservative member of the British House of Lords, has in a very garbled argument, tied gay rights to child obesity. Breakdown of the family and all that, y'know.

The Observer (5/9) says the British government has conducted a study (called 'A Pause') to cut the rate of sexual intercourse among teens by teaching them techniques of oral sex. It works, by the way. (Will Mr. Clinton be called in for seminars?)

Alas, from the 'Squelched-Romantic' file: the Chicago Sun-Times (5/21) tells us that the real 'hero' of the flic The English Patient, Count Laszlo Almassy, was actually gay, ugly, and a bungling Nazi spy.

A letter to the NY Times (5/19): 'President Bush says he believes that 'the sacred institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges.' That viewpoint is especially interesting in light of his speech in Topeka, Kan., where he celebrated the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Mr. Bush remarked, 'Fifty years ago today, nine judges announced that they had looked at the Constitution and saw no justification for the segregation and humiliation of an entire race.' Nine activist judges, perhaps?'

The NY Times Book Review (5/16) looks at Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters edited by Richard Mangan. The 900 letters cover gay Mr. Gielgud and his acting career. In snarky good humor he describes Greta Garbo for one of his lovers, Paul Anstee: 'Met Miss Garbo on Park Avenue looking like a displaced charwoman. I'm sure she cuts her own hair with nail scissors.' The book covers everything from his conviction in London for picking up men in a washroom to his description of John Barrymore as a 'monstrous old male impersonator.'

The Guardian (5/15) puts Martin Luther in the company of Gloria Gaynor in the service of gay people! '... [T]he debate about homosexuality [in the church] is about a great deal more than sex.' The message that the church has given gays—that you must completely change before God loves you—is exactly the message Martin Luther rebelled against when he launched his reformation. It is the same message evangelical Christians still expound. Hence these folks are repudiating their own Christian message when they tell gay people that Gaynor's gay anthem 'I am what I am, and what I am needs no excuses' is wrong.

The Christian comedy flic Saved has a character getting pregnant to cure her boyfriend of (gasp!) homosexuality. (NY Times, 5/16)