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The Gay Connection of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"
I heard that Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) was a gay classic, the coming-out film of the pre-Stonewall Era, when gay men snipped "But ya are, Blanche!" at each other as gleefully as my...
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Frank Gorshin: The Bulging Nemesis of Robin the Boy Wonder
Of all the villains who befuddled the Dynamic Duo on the 1960's Batman series, Frank Gorshin's Riddler was easily the most memorable -- for his giggly, frenetic energy, for his rather clever riddles,...
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10 Things to Say to Your Crazy Fundamentalist Relatives
This is the time of year when you will probably be dragged out of the safe haven of your home and family, shoved onto an airplane, and forced to spend ten days "back home" in the Straight World.Where,...
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December 1999: Matt the Bartender, Nudity, and the Y2K Bug
December 31, 1999, a Friday night. I spent Christmas in Rock Island with my brother (and saw my Sunday School teacher's stripper sons), and now I am in Franklin, Indiana, visiting my parents. They...
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The Bible Boy in the Locker Room
When I was in eighth grade at Washington Junior High, Dan and I were "together," but we also got hung up on other boys.My big crushes of the year were:Paul Getty Jr., the kidnapped heir to the Getty...
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Spring 2006: How to Date a Blind Guy
When I first moved to Rock Island at the start of third grade, there was a cute boy in my class named Danny, who wore a leg brace. On the first day of class, Miss Johnson pointed him out, and asked...
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Jason Priestley: Every Gay Teen's Big Brother
Like Rob Lowe, Jason Priestley became famous for a wardrobe malfunction; while frolicking naked on the beach with Jerry O'Connell and Gabriel Olds in Calendar Girl (1993), he turned suddenly, and...
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Saki: Gay Writer of Savage Humor
When you google "Saki," this picture comes up. I don't know why. As far as I know, Saki, aka Hector Hugh Monro (1870-1916) never posed nude.You also get this picture.But as far as I know, Saki was...
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My Name is Earl
In gay neighborhoods, tv is the enemy, an incursion of heterosexist brainwashing, but when I moved to Dayton in 2005, it became warm and comforting, an emblem of home. My favorite program was My Name...
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The 10 Best Gay Neighborhoods in America
During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the first thing you did after "figuring it out" was pack all of your stuff and move to a gay neighborhood, where you could be free free from stares and jeers and...
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Andy Panda and Woody Wood Pecker
At a New Year's parade sometime in the 1960s, as the Woody Woodpecker float passed by, the reporter said "Almost everybody agrees that Woody Woodpecker is their favorite cartoon...
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The Gang of Twelve: 1. The Rich Kid and 2. The Crying Truck Driver
In 2008, my "visiting" position in Dayton was coming to an end, and I had to find a new job. I only applied to colleges in Blue States (liberal, Democratic). First just in gay neighborhoods.As...
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Fall 2008: The Rapper and The Grabby Male Nurse
In the fall of 2008, I was living in Upstate New York, dating guys from the Gang of Twelve, who had all known each other for years and talked to each other about everything. Especially their hookups,...
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Little Brown Koko: Teaching Tolerance Through Racism
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I never saw anyone who was Black, except at the Longview Park Pool in the summertime, and when I visited my Cousin George in South Carolina. Over 20% of the population...
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Fall 2008: The Satyr and his Boy Toy
When I moved to Upstate New York in the fall of 2008, my social calendar was soon crowded with invitations from members of the Gang of Twelve, guys who had known each other for years, and who shared...
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Conan, Hercules, and Kung Fu Fighters: DC Comics Muscle
When I was a kid, I hated DC and Marvel comics. Every time you bought one, you stumbled upon part 10 of a 20-part story, extending over several titles, and referencing things that happened a hundred...
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Knight Rider: Detective, Boyfriend, and Car
Knight Rider (1982-86) was similar to many of the detective adventure series of the 1980s, especially Magnum PI -- a sly antihero with a hairy chest and tight jeans solves crimes (mostly involving...
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Spring 2009: The Klingon and The Sword Swallower
When I moved to Upstate New York in the fall of 2008, my social calendar was soon crowded with invitations from members of the Gang of Twelve, guys who had known each other for years, and who shared...
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Rod Taylor: Ignoring the Girl
When I was a kid, we drove 300 miles east to Indiana two or three times a year to visit my parents' many relatives. My Aunt Mavis, who lived in a trailer on my grandfather's farm, was deeply into...
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The League of Extraordinarily Heterosexist Gentlemen
I was looking forward to seeing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003). What's not to like about a Victorian England with steam-powered submarines and tanks? Or a group of secret agents made up...
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