Justice John Roberts in Drag

Gay director, Paris Barclay, actually went to an all boys school with US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts. At a recent HRC event Barclay reminisced about a school play he did with Roberts where Roberts dressed up in drag to play Peppermint Patty.

‘John was a very nice gentleman there, I have nothing against John Roberts,’ Barclay said of the George W. Bush appointee who voted against the gutting of the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act last June.

Then Barclay shared this gem: ‘We were in a play together, it was You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. I played Snoopy and future Chief Justice John Roberts played Peppermint Patty.’

When I posted a book review about Lambda Award winning book, In One Person, by John Irving, I may or may not have mentioned the strong theme in the book that revolved around an all boys school, acting, school plays, and how males who attend all boys school are expected to play the female parts. I hate to do another Sheldon here, but it’s not all that unusual. Or even shocking to those who know better.

You can read more here.

British Vicar in Gay Bar

A Vicar in the UK went to a gay bar offering to cure patrons, shocking bar owner, Tony Butcher, and adding one more incident of discrimination to what’s already become an ongoing deal that ranges from threats to burn the bar down to alleged harassment by city council.

‘It was our first Sunday when in came this chap in his 30s wearing a dog collar who suggested we should come to his church where he could cleanse us,’ he told KentOnline. 

‘I have no idea which church he was from and we just laughed it off. But it seems to have set the tone of the reaction to the venue which some people clearly don’t like.’

This reminds me of something that happened here in New Hope, PA, when I owned my art gallery back in the 1990’s. One of those very high end erotic boutiques opened up not far from my gallery and a local middle aged church woman came walking up the street, spotted a mannequin in the front window wearing BDSM gear  and tit clamps, and the poor woman clutched her chest and fainted dead away. It took fifteen minutes to revive her. And after that the high end erotic boutique faced nothing but discrimination from people who felt they had a right to judge that kind of shop. Small towns are like this. And there’s not much anyone can do to change that.

The erotic boutique is still in business today. The middle aged church woman who fainted that day ran off with a twenty-four year old guy.

You can read more here.

Ted Nugent Paid NOT to Appear

I don’t know much about Ted Nugent or his political beliefs. I think this article falls under the category of what often happens to celebrities (and even authors) who get too political about anything one way or the other.

The town of Longview, Texas paid Nugent $16,000 to not appear at the town’s Fourth of July Festival. According to KLTV, a city spokesman said Nugent was “not the right feel for this kind of community event.”

The city had reached a verbal agreement with Nugent, scheduling the rocker as the headliner who would play inside the Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center during the town’s Independence Day celebration. To break that agreement, the town paid Nugent half of his guaranteed performance fee of $32,000 from Maude Cobb’s annual budget.

I just always feel if you’re an entertainer you should entertain. If you’re a romance author you should stick to writing about romance. And if you’re a politician or what you do is about politics you should talk about politics. And the only reason I’m saying that is because even one snide political comment can lead to a lasting impression that may or may not ever go away. Think Jane Fonda. Now it’s Ted Nugent. History always repeats itself.

You can read more here. The article makes it sound as if Nugent was paid not to show up, but in reality he lost half the money he was supposed to get.

Political pundit, Sarah Palin, agrees with Nugent. But she’s political pundit who makes her living stirring up shitstorms about politics and she gets paid very well for doing this. She’s not doing it for free. That’s what she does.