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My Crush on Bazooka Joe
Ok, I admit it. When I was a kid in the 1960s, I had a little crush on Bazooka Joe.Bazooka Gum consisted of an individually-wrapped, pillow-shaped square of Pepto-Bismol-colored bubble gum. You could...
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They Called Him The Streak
In the spring of 1974, when I was in the eighth grade, streaking was all the rage: in high schools and colleges, at sporting events, on Main Street, young men would doff their clothes and run naked...
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Joe Penny: A Lifetime of Gay Rumors
Born in 1956, Joe Penny got his start playing rednecks, cops, Scott Jacoby's buddy in a high school sports drama, and a werewolf's buddy in a horror movie. But it was his role as a closeted gay cop on...
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Worst Travel Day Ever
Worst travel day ever.Lunch1. We stopped for lunch, and couldn't get out of the parking lot, because a lady in the car ahead of us just sat there, while cars behind us zoomed around her to turn left...
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Nick Roux: Underwear Model Turned Disney Boyfriend
Nick Roux is a 22-year old California-born actor-model. Here he's posing with an American flag for a French underwear ad,. The Franglish caption: "I want to be a super-heroes."Here he models...
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Michael Sarrazin: In the Most Homophobic Movie of All Time?
Handsome "new sensitive man" Michael Sarrazin was a reliable source of beefcake and bulges through the 1970s; unfortunately, you had to look past an endless series of naked ladies to see him.Born in...
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Two Boys Kissing at the Longview Park Pool
I don't remember much of what happened on that day in the summer of 1973, just after seventh grade. I don't know why practically everybody I knew was at the Longview Park pool:Peter, the only Asian...
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David DeCoteau's Talking Dogs and Homoerotic Hunks
You probably know David DeCoteau from a practically endless number of horror movies in which heavily muscled guys lather up their pecs in the shower or lie next to each other in their underwear, while...
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Teen Beach Movie: Not Your Grandfather's Homoeroticism
Teen Beach Movie premiered with frenetic hoopla on the Disney Channel last month, and has been repeated many times since. It reprises the premise of Pleasantville (1998), with Tobey Maguire as a teen...
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Robin Askwith: Running from Gay Men
Robin Askwith was a reliable source of 1970s beefcake, but, like Michael Sarrazin, you had to look around the naked girls to see it. Born in 1950, the slim, long-haired Boomer boy was a fixture on the...
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Struck by Lightning: A Big, Scary Gay Scandal
23-year old Chris Colfer, the gay actor who plays the uber-feminine Kurt on Glee, made waves in January 2013 when he wrote, produced, and starred in the black comedy Struck By Lightning. He plays high...
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True Jackson: The First Gay Character on Children's TV
Gay-coded adult men have been commonplace in children's television for many years, their gay-coded traits signifying laughable inferiority-- think of Mr. Moseby, the persnickety hotel manager on The...
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Colette's Cheri: A Male Prostitute Finds Love
The French novelist Colette (1873-1954) was a sexual libertine. Early in her career, while performing in a pantomime, she caused a scandal by kissing another woman on stage. She was married to men...
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Sea Hunt
You may remember Lloyd Bridges as the feisty octogenarian personal trainer Izzy Mandelbaum on Seinfeld, (1998), or airport supervisor Steve McCroskey in Airplane (1980). Or for his roles in Blown...
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My Friend's Teenage Brother: Definitely Straight?
During my freshman year at Augustana, shortly after I turned 18, my friend Mary told me that she suspected her kid brother of being gay. She invited me to visit her home for spring break in March...
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Swishes: An Aversion to Muscles and Women
When I first arrived at Rocky High for 10th grade in August 1975, I was impressed. It rose like a fantasy-world castle on the western summit of the Hill, just north of the statue of Chief Black Hawk....
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Dylan Minnette and Braeden LeMasters: Let the Right One In
17-year old Dylan Minnette may be best known for his role as Kenny in Let Me In (2010), the American remake of Let the Right One In (2008). He played the leader of a group of bullies who take a...
View Article14 Snappy Comebacks to Stupid Questions Gay People Are Asked
1. Why do gay men always act like girls?It's an attempt to avoid discrimination by imitating people who are never, ever discriminated against. Is it working?2. What do gay men think about ___I don't...
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Judo Lessons: My Gay Sensei
Denkmann Elementary School didn't have any sports teams, so I was spared the "play a sport...play a sport...play a sport" litany. Until the beginning of fifth grade, the fall of 1970, when Dad...
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Mad Magazine: Cynicism, Guilt, and Homophobia
When I was a kid in the 1960s, we were expected to never question teachers, parents, the church, or the government. Their answers were always right, their decisions always fair. To suggest the tiniest...
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