Dan Vera, Humor, Marriage Equality, Religion, Right Wingers

Maggie Gallagher Speaks

November 8, 2009 Dan Vera Leave a comment

You can thank Jeff Whitty (of Avenue Q) for this bit o' truth.

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Gay Wisdom – Today in Gay History

Born

1886 -

REX STOUT, American novelist, born (d: 1975);American writer best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 (Fer-de-Lance) to 1975 (A Family Affair). The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century at Boucheron 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century. It’s a mistake to assume there is any direct relationship between the subject matter of a novelist and the novelist himself, especially since imagination is the fundamental resource of the writer.

Before he turned to the detective novel in 1934, Rex Stout wrote an ambiguously Gay Western in which the married hero is attracted to his assistant. The notion, though psychologically plausible, is certainly unique to the Western adventure yard of the period and suggests an equally unusual relationship between two men that was to prove central to Stout’s work over the next four decades. What exactly is the nature of the friendship, if it can be called that, between Nero Wolfe, Stout’s famous detective hero, and his live-in assistant, Archie Goodwin?

Wolfe, of course, is the most eccentric of all detectives, an elephantine genius who is both a woman-hater and almost completely dependent on his assistant who is his junior sleuth, secretary, errand boy, bodyguard, bookkeeper and chauffeur. (Paging Liberace.)

A third member of this melange housed in a brownstone on New York’s West 35^th Street is Fritz Brenner, the chef who prepares the gourmet meals that Wolfe prefers to women and which keep his weight at a seventh of a ton. William S. Barington’s full-length biography of this fictional character, Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-fifth Street, doesn’t touch on the fat one’s sex life. But if Batman and Robin are “suspect,” then what could possibly be so mysterious about Nero and Archie?

1913 -

MARY MARTIN, American actor and singer's birthday (d. 1990); Tony Award winning American star of (mainly stage) musicals. Among the roles she originated were Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was also a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. It has been reported that she was in a longtime relationship with actress Janet Gaynor. At some point, her ex-husband, Ben Hagman, stated that his ex-wife was having an affair with Gaynor.

Though Martin denied the story, speculation on the gossip circuit continued. The speculation was overshadowed by the horrified reaction of entertainment industry workers in 1982 when a 36-year-old drunken driver named Robert Cato ran a red light in San Francisco and crashed into a taxi whose passengers were Martin, Ben Washer, described by the Los Angeles Times as her longtime confidant and business associate, Gaynor and her husband, Paul Gregory. Washer was killed instantly. Gaynor's injuries were critical and proven to cause her death two years later.

1945 -

BETTE MIDLER, American song stylist and actress, born; During her career, she has won four Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards.

In 1970, Midler began singing the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album, The Divine Miss M in 1973. To quote the Divine Miss M: “Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [singing at gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride.”

Midler is currently dazzling Broadway in a revival of Hello Dolly!, which began preview performances on March 15, 2017 and premiered at the Shubert Theatre on April 20, 2017. It is her first leading role in a Broadway musical. Needless to say, she’s killing it: It comes as no surprise that on June 11, Midler received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the title role in Hello, Dolly!

1976 -

MATTHEW SHEPARD was born on this date (d. 1998). Shepard was a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998. He was attacked on the night of October 6–7, and died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12 from severe head injuries.

During the trial, witnesses and his killers stated that Shepard was targeted because he was Gay. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.

1985 -

JANELLE MONAE was born on this date. Monáe is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, actress, and model. She is signed to her own imprint, Wondaland Arts Society, and Atlantic Records. After her first unofficial studio album, The Audition, she publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis Suite [The Chase] which peaked at number 115 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S.

n 2010, Monáe released her critically acclaimed first full-length studio album The ArchAndroid, a concept album sequel to her first EP. It was released by Bad Boy Records and reached the number 17 spot on the Billboard 200. In March 2012, "We Are Young" by fun, on which Monáe appears as a guest vocalist, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, her first appearance in the chart. In August 2012, Monáe became a Cover Girl spokeswoman. On September 10, 2013, she released her second studio album, The Electric Lady, to critical acclaim. In 2016, she had major roles in two feature films, Hidden Figures and Moonlight, for which she received widespread praise.

Her third studio album Dirty Computer was released on April 27, 2018, preceded by the singles "Django Jane", "Make Me Feel", and "Pynk". Monáe's music has garnered her six Grammy nominations. She has said that Prince was one of her most important mentors.

During a 2011 interview with London Evening Standard, Monáe said that she "only dates androids", a reference to her musical alter-ego found in many of her songs. She also said, "I speak about androids because I think the android represents the new 'Other'. You can compare it to being a Lesbian or being a Gay man or being a black woman... what I want is for people who feel oppressed or feel like the 'Other' to connect with the music and to feel like, 'She represents who I am.'" She added that she would talk about her sexual orientation "in due time". In 2013, Monáe stated that she wants both men and women to "still be attracted to [her]" and expressed support for the LGBTQ community.

In 2018, during an interview with Rolling Stone, Monáe said about her sexuality: "Being a queer black woman in America—someone who has been in relationships with both men and women—I consider myself to be a free-ass motherfucker." She said that she had originally identified as bisexual, but later "read about pansexuality and was like, 'Oh, these are things that I identify with too.'

Noteworthy

2021 -

WORLD AIDS DAY: dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, with an estimated 38.6 million people living with HIV, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6 million) lives in 2005 of which, more than half a million (570,000) were children.

The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programs for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.

From its inception until 2004, UNAIDS spearheaded the World AIDS Day campaign, choosing annual themes in consultation with other global health organizations. In 2005 this responsibility was turned over to World AIDS Campaign (WAC), who chose Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise as the main theme for World AIDS Day observances through 2010, with more specific sub-taglines chosen annually. This theme is not specific to World AIDS Day, but is used year-round in WAC's efforts to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness within the context of other major global events including the G* Summit. World AIDS Campaign also conducts “in-country” campaigns throughout the world, like the Student Stop AIDS Campaign, an infection-awareness campaign targeting young people throughout the UK.

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Maggie Gallagher Speaks

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