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16 Naked New Yorkers
Of all the gay neighborhoods I've lived in, the East Village in Manhattan is my least favorite -- better than anyplace in the straight world, but still lacking.It has some of the iconic sites of gay...
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August Strindberg: Nude Statues and Dream Visions
Growing up in Rock Island, where most people were of Scandinavian ancestry, I heard constantly about Vikings, runestones, Peer Gynt, Knut Hamsun, Hans Christian Anderson, lukefisk, The Elder Edda, and...
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Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Between 1996 and 2000, the TGIF adaption of the Archie Comics character Sabrina the Teenage Witch was the most gay-friendly of the 1990s teencoms, and not just because of the gay symbolism of...
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When a Bratwurst Isn't Big Enough
When I was a senior at Augustana, a freshman named Julian joined the radio station crew. Bruce, by then the general manager, planned to assign him a job as news stringer, someone who picked up and...
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Getting Spanked at the Oscars
I had a friend in West Hollywood, Larry, who had a very nice house in the heart of Old Hollywood, walking distance to Mann's Chinese Theater, and every year he held an Oscar party for 20 or 30 gay...
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The Beach Boy and the Giant
Saturday, September 21st, 2002A Saturday morning during my second year in Florida. We're all sitting at breakfast, when my housemate Barney abruptly announces that he plans to go to a bathhouse.Yuri...
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The Tomorrow People
During the "British invasion" of the 1970s, I got a taste of British science fiction on PBS: Doctor Who, The Tripods, Timeslip, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Space: 1999, UFO, and The Prisoner....
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Celebrity Date #13: Nate Richert
Ok, he's not Michael J. Fox, but he is a famous actor. Or was.In March 2000, I was back in West Hollywood for my friend Larry's annual Oscar party. March 25th, the night before, Lee and Randall (the...
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If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) was advertised as a hilarious comedy about a group of Ugly Americans on a whirlwind tour of Europe, but I found it heartbreaking. In fact, I was hesitant...
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The Wiz: Gay Manhattan in the 1970s
Dorothy is a 24-year old kindergarten teacher living with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in 1978 Harlem, New York. They were happy to raise her, but now they're dropping broad hints: "You're grown up,...
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A Hookup with Barry and the Poz Boy
JIn the fall of 1999, Barry, the traditional Catholic who had been exorcised from the homophobic demon, invited me to "share" his friend Jared."You'll like him," Barry insisted. "He's from the...
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The Wizards of Waverly Place
Even Stevens, Hannah Montana, and The Suite Life of Zack and Codyare not unique. American tv programs aimed at a juvenile audience are strictly forbidden from mentioning gay people or ever suggesting...
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Teen Hunk #10: Jean the Violinist
In the spring of 2004, I went to Europe for my usual Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam circuit, and dropped in to the Bains d'Odessa, near the Luxembourg Gardens.There wasn't much activity going on in the late...
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Bible Beefcake
When I was a kid, our church forbade any books except the Bible. My parents were more lenient, permitting comic books and Scholastic Book Club selections, but the Bible had an advantage -- you could...
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Shock-headed Peter: Castration and Gay Panic in a German Children's Story
When I was in Germany a few years ago, my friend Doc took me to a restaurant called the Struwwelpeter Apfelweinwirtschaft (The Slovenly Peter Apple Wine Tavern). Its logo was a boy with wild blond hair...
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Frank Finds What We're All Looking For
Since 1996, readers of independent comics have been treated to the adventures of Frank, a bipedal "funny animal" who looks like he escaped from a 1930s Max Fleischer cartoon. He inhabits a surreal,...
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5 Heterosexist and 5 Gay-Inclusive Christmas Specials
Have you ever noticed that most Christmas specials are annoyingly heterosexist. Here are the worst examples:1. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962): Why is Magoo/Scrooge so miserable? He was so...
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Edward's Hookup with a Winged Man
This story happened to my roommate Edward, the art appraiser I lived with in the East Village. When I knew him, from 1998 to 2001, he was in his late 50s and early 60s, tall, husky, tanned,...
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8 Harvard Boys in My Bed
Whenever I'm in Boston, I try to visit Harvard University, walk down Everett and Oxford and Divinity Street, across Harvard Yard. I go into the Widener Library and Memorial Hall, down the corridors of...
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10 Snappy Comebacks to Your Crazy Fundamentalist Relatives
Summer is coming, which means 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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