After a long period of speculation, ABC Brothers & Sisters regular Luke MacFarlane has acknowledged he is in fact gay. That's all, nothing to see here;
please move along madam.
I'm going to sweep down from above
while you're talking on the last pay phone left in America and gift
you a sweet Apple iPhone or cut the cord to the handset, effectively
leaving you unable to call your mum. Keep reading to find out
which.
Another recently revealed homo is
former 'N Sync boy band member Lance Bass. He's using his celebrity
'mo status to bring attention to the very real subject of GLBT
harassment in America's schools. Lance has recorded a public service announcement for GLSEN's Day of Silence. The event asks students
to remain silent for the day in memory of those who cannot speak for
themselves. This year's event aims to honor Lawrence King, a
15-year-old boy who was tragically killed for expressing his
sexuality. You see, Lawrence was silenced by a 14-year-old's bullet
because he refused to hide who he really was.
It's the finish line again for Clinton and Obama as the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary finally arrives Tuesday. Both candidates have spent time wooing GLBT voters, Clinton more so than Obama. Both have made positive statements in the gay
media that if elected he/she would promote some minor right or
another for the community. But neither can claim an affirming
position of true equality. Neither backs marriage equality; that is,
neither accepts our families as equal, our humanity as whole.
I told you that, so I could tell you
this: In gaining marriage equality one has to remain realistic that
some marriages will not last. In states where two women can marry
(or enter a civil union/domestic partnership), getting divorced is now the problem as some couples are finding out.
Here's a picture that brings back bad childhood memories of being left out of pussy games.
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in America
this week. His visit has been a triumph for many Roman Catholics
happy to see him and attend his masses. For gay Americans, the
Pontiff remains a controversial figure. On Tuesday in the Capitol his motorcade was greeted by gay activists who feel rejected by the Pope. “He has issued some of the most hurtful and extreme rhetoric
against our community of any religious leader in history, and we want
to call him into account for the damage that he's done,” said
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA.
It was our our Gay Entertainment Report that brought us news that Tori Spelling loves gays!
She loves being a gay icon. And she seeks out gay themed movies.
Like her new one, Kiss The Bride.
I'm sky high in my office tower sitting
in a Herman Miller true black Aeron chair reading about Nokia's new
Tube wireless concept phone, the rumored iPhone killer, in Stuff
magazine. My own 16GB iPhone, sitting on my desk, begins to shake
and Simon's handsome, smiling face illuminates the display.
Simon is my on-again-off-again
boyfriend of the past three years with whom I've recently
reacquainted myself. A couple of weeks ago on an unusually warm March morning I had followed him from Starbucks to the park. There
in an underpass we played out what has now become something of a
ritual for us. An exchange that I once treasured, after countless
rehearsals now more joke than romance. I approach Simon in a club or
bar and tell him I have a crush on him. At first he dismisses me, I
act disappointed and begin to walk away. He, of course, rushes to my
side. I say, “Tell me you have a crush on me too.” And he
always responds, convincingly, “I do, I do have a crush on you.”
We then kiss and live happily ever after. That is if happily ever
after is about four months.
I'm walking west on Fifth when I hear
Dan's familiar Rihanna ring tone on my iPhone, “You can stand under
my umbrella, ella ella eh eh eh, under my umbrella, ella ella.”
“What says you, Mama Ria!” I
say, answering the phone.
“Mama Ria?” Dan responds,
satisfyingly confused by my reference to absolutely nothing. I've
just left Seattle's Best, where I managed to indulge in three
cappuccinos in fifteen minutes, and the caffeine buzz is just
starting to hit.
“What's the deal-o?” I ask.
“Ryan is stopping at Valentinos
for pizza 'cause he knows how you fuss over Valentinos,” Dan
says.
“So you're calling to tell me you're
having 'za without me again, this time Valentinos! Or
are you saving me a slice?” I bark.
“Saving you a slice, of course. Geez,
I feel like I'm talking to my Mother about borrowing her Gucci purse
on my prom night. Give me a break. You want some Valentinos?” Dan
asks.
“Can't, sorry. I'm working through
lunch.”
“You've never worked through lunch.
What's that about? In fact, I don't know that you've missed many
meals in your lifetime,” Dan says.
“What's that all about? Are
you conspiring with Chip now? You know, yesterday I remembered that
I had forgotten to set my Tivo to record Lost while
at the gym. So after ten minutes on a carb-burner, I had
to leave. And Chip says to me, 'Come on you're fatter than that!'”
I say half joking.
Dan laughs at this, then says, “What's
going on, where are you going?”
“I'm having lunch with Simon,” I
finally admit.
“Just how many good years do you plan
on wasting on a straight man?” Dan asks.
“He's not straight. Straight men do
not have sex with men. He's bisexual,” I respond.
“OK, he's a mean bisexual man,”
Dan says.
Something inside of me explodes and I
sense the caffeine coursing through my veins gaining speed. I knew
better than to tell Dan of my lunch plans. What does Dan know of our
love? A love so rapturous that it peeled back the foil of the
blister-pack surrounding my heart, leaving it raw and exposed. The
reality of Simon bests Dan's ultimate fantasy – on a bad day. A
living fantasy, how could I not love him? The blister-pack
surrounding Dan's heart remains solidly intact; never having even
been pierced. He has no right to question my affair. “Hello?”
Dan asks. I walk by a sandwich shop selling Chicken Cordon Bleu and
I make a mental note to return, if only to test their authenticity.
“I have to go,” I respond flatly.
I continue to walk past hundreds, maybe
thousands, of people on my way to meet Simon, avoiding eye contact
with everyone.
Maybe, ultimately, Dan is right and
Simon is straight, I'm starting to believe. Maybe he's not
emotionally vested in any of this? In me?
Or is he stuck?
Coming out for me was simple, I had a
boyfriend in the 7th grade. We didn't call each other
boyfriends or have sex. Yet we were more than just best friends,
when my family moved I was completely heartbroken. But for Simon,
coming out as an adult after years in a marriage would be difficult.
Years earlier I had asked Antonio about
his coming out process in the 70's as an adult. He told me he had
see-sawed between identifying himself as straight, bi, and ultimately
gay over the course of ten long years. “How did you get here?” I
asked. He told me he no longer could cheat on his heart. “I had
not been honest with myself for a long time. There is a high price
to pay for cheating on oneself,” he told me.
Tom, who also came out as an adult, is
more analytical than emotional. The most practical man I've ever
met. It always struck me that the most surprising thing about Tom
was that he was gay. Yet after a divorce at 35, he was in a
committed relationship with another man within 18 months and never
looked back. Pragmatic Tom was able to rationally find for himself a
new path to happiness.
Was Simon holding himself back? Could
he rationally decide what made him happy and, simply put, I was not
it?
One night at Double Trouble after a
significant breakup with Simon, Slim told me something that has stuck
in my mind since. After a couple of bubble gum martinis and quite a
bit of consoling he was finally fed-up with me. He shocked me by
saying, “You're waiting for some beautiful angel to descend down
and save you. When are you going to wake-up and see all the good
things you got?”
Simon certainly wasn't interested in
saving me.
Clouds that had been threatening to put
the kibosh on a near perfect day darkened further as I approached the
coffee shop where I had agreed to meet Simon.
Maybe, I thought, as the rain began to
pour, I was the angel.
Walter Weeks is a writer for On Top
Magazine and can be reached at ww@ontopmag.com.
The Gay Slant pops-in most Saturdays at On Top Magazine.
PS - Don't forget Brothers & Sisters
returns to ABC this Sunday with new episodes leading to the grand
finale where Kevin Walker is set to marry his boyfriend Scotty (recently out Luke MacFarlane ).