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Fall 1977: Kissing a Boy Under the Mistletoe
In junior high, Brian was on the outer edges of my social circle, really one of my brother's friends.. We never hung out. And when I was in high school, he moved with his parents to Bettendorf,...
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Job Interviews with Ben Foster, Star of "The Laramie Project"
I keep going on job interviews with actor Ben Foster in the audience, or in the next room.In January 1985, when I living in Texas but back in Rock Island for the holidays, I applied for a job at a...
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Skeezix of Gasoline Alley: 1930s Gay Icon
When I was a kid in the 1960s, Dad would call me Skeezix when I misbehaved:"Put down that comic book and clean your room, Skeezix!"Particularly when my misbehaving had some connection to same-sex...
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Spring 1976: Marrying Donny Osmond
In grade school, there were lots of tv programs that my friends and I would turn over heaven and earth to watch -- Batman, Lost in Space, Mission: Impossible --, but in high school, not so much. I...
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Fall 1991: Outing a Medieval Knight
Ever since my junior high boyfriend Dan and I plotted to escape to Saudi Arabia, I have been plagued by sudden obsessions with countries or historical periods: Russia, China, Renaissance Italy, the...
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Summer 1976: Spending the Night with an Arab Boy
Guy on the right looks like ToddAlthough Dan and I would not be escaping to Arabia after all, my interest in the Middle East remained strong when I started at Rocky High in the fall of 1975, so I was...
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The Most Homophobic Statement I Have Ever Heard
"What do they think causes it?"I've heard lots of homophobic statements over the years, ranging from the ignorant (mostly from "friends"):"Are you the boy or girl in your relationship?""What do they...
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Tales of the City: Gay Guys, San Francisco, Who Cares?
Year after year, people tell me "The Tales of the City books are stupendous! Amazing! Wonderful! The best thing every written!""And they're historically vital! Gay author Armistead Maupin...
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David Barry Gray: Not as Homophobic as Chevy Chase, Probably
Chevy Chase may be one of the more homophobic actors in Hollywood, as his cast mates from Saturday Night Live and the National Lampoon's Vacation movies can attest, but the naked man on top of him,...
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Goon: Canadian Ice Hockey, Beefcake, Bonding, and a Gay Brother
I hate sports and sports movies, but if I have to see one, it helps if there's beefcake, gay characters, and a gay subtext. Like the Canadian ice hockey movie Goon (2011).Doug (Seann William Scott)...
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Christian Boeving: Fitness Expert turned Porn Star turned Movie Monster
With a name like Christian Boeving, you expect someone from Belgium or the Netherlands, but in fact the 45-year old bodybuilder was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Missouri. He began posing for...
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The Triplets of Belleville: Jazz-Age Lesbians and the Androgynous M
In the animated Triplets of Belleville (2003), professional bicyclist Champion is kidnapped during the Tour de France, so his grandmother, Madame Souza, goes off to search for him.In the bustling city...
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Cartoon Muscle: Not Just Superheroes in Spandex
When I was a kid, you could occasionally see shirtless boys or men in Saturday morning cartoons, but it was rare, primarily on jungle or prehistoric adventure series like The Herculoids. Mostly you...
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From David Paetkau to Lars Slind: Finding a Gay Connection
One of the main things I like about writing this blog is the research: investigating gay subtexts in movies or tv series I never heard of before. Sometimes the research leads in unexpected...
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Why You Should Visit Turkey Next July
I have always hated playing sports, but if I have no choice, I'll pick wrestling: no projectiles hurling at your head, no teammates to get all huffy when you miss a point, just you and your opponent in...
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Why Hot Stuff Wears a Diaper
One of the Harvey Comics stable of magical beings, Hot Stuff the Little Devil is a queer outsider. He lives in the same Enchanted Forest as Casper, Wendy, and Spooky, but their paths never cross....
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Spring 1972: Bill and I Find a Little Bit O'Heaven
When I was a kid, one of my birthday presents was always an excursion for me and two or three friends to anywhere we wanted in the Quad-Cities. My birthday was in November, so most of the fun places...
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Fernando Lamas: Was the Latin Lover Bisexual?
Have you seen the tv commercials about a heterosexual kitchen sponge with a Spanish accent who says his favorite part of a woman's body is her hands? I don't know the origin of the stereotype of the...
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Philip Jose Farmer: Gay Sci-Fi with Muscles
When I was in college, you couldn't walk into Adam's Bookstore at the Augustana Student Union or Readmore Book World downtown without seeing a dozen sci-fi novels by Philip Jose Farmer (1918-2009) on...
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Dean Geyer: Fundamentalist Plays Male Prostitute
Teen idol Dean Geyer was born in South Africa but grew up in Melbourne, Australia, where he received a black belt in karate and studied music. He placed third on Australian Idol in 2006, and his...
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