Ultimate Judy Garland Fandom

I’ve posted about how I don’t get the whole concept of gay icons all the time. Well, this one really amazes me. I think this story is probably one of the most extreme examples of fandom I’ve seen in a while.

There’s a guy who paid over 15K to be laid to rest next to Judy Garland when his time comes. Unfortunately, Liza Minnelli just had Garland’s remains exhumed and moved to another cemetery.

Last Thursday, those remains were exhumed and flown to Los Angeles at the request of daughter Liza Minnelli. What’s left of the actress will be re-interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where she’ll be rubbing elbows with other A-listers like Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone, The Beatles’ George Harrison, and filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille.

You can read more about this one here.

A Guy In Miss Universe High Heels

I think this is a significant story because it challenges the entire concept of what we have been taught is correct behavior for men…all men, not just gay. I think that’s a topic that’s going to be coming up a lot in the future, and I’ve been writing about it in my next book in the new adult series I’ve been working on. We tend to knock the stereotype of the effeminate gay man, and yet we celebrate the big strong butch stereotype of the macho man. When I was a kid, I remember one guy’s dad correcting him in public for lifting his pinky finger while drinking a glass of water.

Evidently inspired by this weekend’s broadcast of the always-eerie Miss Universe pageant, Lorescra leapt into his nearest pair of posing trunks and some stiletto heels to flounce through town in an uncannily astute impersonation of Miss Philippines’ catwalk strut.

While I’m sure this guy was mainly seeking attention, and of course he’s carrying this to the extreme, I do think it makes people stop and think about how strong the stereotypes for masculinity have always been in our mainstream culture. Men are expected to walk a certain way, carry their books a certain way, and even speak a certain way.

You can check this one out here. There’s a video of this guy walking around in high heels, and he even broke down the Miss Universe stereotype with this one.

Walgreens Ad With HIV Men

Here’s something more uplifting than politics for a change.

Walgreens wants to “grow old together” with HIV-positive customers, it says in a new marketing campaign.

In print magazines for gay and HIV-positive readers, ads feature seven varied HIV-positive, real Walgreens customers like Gregg with the headline, “Three decades positive, one positive outlook.”

You can read this one here. I think it’s amazing given the fact that there’s still so much stigma attached to HIV in general. It’s better than is was, but it’s still there.

Reader Comments for “Call Me By Your Name” Movie

I posted about the way Sundance is raving about a film that’s being promoted as gay, but in reality it’s questionable at best as to whether or not it is a gay film. I went into more detail here in this post. And the book and movie are coming from a heteronormative POV, not a gay POV. I think that should make a difference at this point for everyone, not just gay people. I know it does when it comes to anything written by authors of any other minority.

With that said, You can check out this advertorial-like piece here to see how gay men are responding to the film in the comments below the article.

One guy said this…

In all my 39 years, I’ve never heard of the term ” split open peach “, is that some term for butthole or something ?