The New York Observer has a feature focusing on whether the influence of Internet news aggregator Matt Drudge (who has bounced in and out of the closet over the years) may be waning. I took him off my bookmarks bar a year ago, after he increasingly became an overtly Republican tool. Read More.
Dino Boffo, the longtime editor of the official daily newspaper of Vatican bishops, Avvenire, has resigned following accusations of homosexuality published in Il Giornale, the Italian newspaper owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Boffo denies the charges, accusing Il Giornale of a “gay smear campaign.” Boffo, one of the leading Catholic opinion makers, was accused of hypocrisy for criticizing Berlusconi’s private life while hiding his own. The incident is the latest skirmish in the war of words between the Catholic Church and the flamboyant Berlusconi.
Avvenire has published articles critical of Berlusconi’s private life, following allegations of extramarital affairs with young women. Berlusconi’s wife Veronica Lario announced she was divorcing him after he attended the 18th birthday party of Naples lingerie model, Noemi Letizia. Paparazzi photos taken at Berlusconi’s Sardinian villa featured him cavorting with scantily-clad women enjoying lesbian cuddles and kisses. Sardinian police are reportedly investigating whether women had been paid to attend parties at the premier’s official residences in Rome and Sardinia and that high-class prostitute Patrizia D’Addario had spent the night with him in November last year.
Berlusconi, 72, has denied “improper relations” and claims Church officials “have been taken in by left-wing lies. Many Italians would like to be like me. They are not stupid, and that’s why they vote for me and my government.”
In 2004, Boffo accepted a plea bargain and paid a fine, following charges of harassing a woman. Il Giornale claimed Boffo had been in a homosexual relationship with the woman’s male partner at the time. Boffo claims someone else was bothering the woman using his cell phone. Prosecutors found Boffo’s claim to be not credible.
Dino Boffo
South Carolina, one of the reddest of red states, has long been known for the flamboyance of its political life. Recent scandals surrounding the governor, Mark Sanford, and his Argentinian mistress are distinguished mostly by his spectacular disappearance for five days in Buenos Aires, which has even fellow Republicans calling for his impeachment. If Sanford leaves office, he would be succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer. Rumors have been swirling about whether Bauer himself might be gay, and things are coming to a head in Mike Rogers’ well known outing blog blogactive.com.
Rogers claims a 100% accuracy rate with somewhat more authority than others who make similar claims, like Rush Limbaugh. He says he’s interviewed four reliable sources who report Bauer is gay. This is pertinent because Bauer has tended to present himself as a right-wing conservative christian, supporting one of the more superficially homophobic of the Republican candidates for president, Mike Huckabee.
Bauer might justify staying in the closet in order to be electable in his home state. That rationale lost some of its credibility last year, when an openly gay, progressive woman came within two points of winning a seat in the US Congress. Linda Kettner was running against Republican Henry Brown, who was the incumbent in a heavily Republican district. Kettner discovered that S.C. voters did not care about her sexual orientation, but they did appreciate her honesty.
In a post-election interview, with firedoglake.com, Kettner had some interesting things to say about her home state. “We have more gay people serving in South Carolina than probably in anyplace in the United States; they’re just not out of the closet. We have an awful lot of people in the closet– Lindsey Graham, Glenn McConnell who’s our Senate president pro tem, our Lt Governor.”
Stay tuned for further developments.
In an interview with Australia’s Woman’s Day magazine, a medical worker claims he enjoyed a love affair with Michael Jackson during the weeks before the pop star’s death. Jason Pfeiffer, 35, works for Dr. Arnold Klein, Jackson’s dermatologist, long-time gay friend, and possible biological father to some of Jackson’s children.
Pfeiffer claims he and Jackson began their affair after he was asked to drive Jackson home. They then met “many times” at Jackson’s rented home or Klein’s office.
“I’ve lost my soul mate, it’s very hard to describe the loss I feel but there is something that is empty in my heart.”
In this video, US Congressman Barney Frank responds to a woman with a photo of President Obama defaced with a Hitler-style moustache.
Rush Limbaugh responded with a juvenile homophobic joke, “But the killer for me was, here’s Barney Frank [asking] ‘what planet do you live on’ to this woman. Isn’t it an established fact that Barney Frank himself lives around Uranus?”
Brad Pitt has extended his promise to delay marrying Angelina Jolie until “everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able,” referring to laws against same-sex marriage. Now, in an apparent reference to George Clooney, Pitt has narrowed that down to “until George and his partner can legally do so.” Rumors of bisexuality have long circulated around the bachelor movie star, who is very good natured about such things.
Jolie is famously bisexual and there have been rumors about Brad’s younger days too. Read More
In an exclusive interview with DJ Vlad (audio link below) rapper N.O.R.E. responds to the hypothetical proposition of recording a song with an openly gay rapper. N.O.R.E. responds, “The gay community is here! Like, it’s not secretive. The minute you make a certain amount of money, you cannot avoid it. I have recorded with people who are not openly gay, they’re closeted gay. I got songs. Google it.”
For those without access to the Internet he has a few hints. “You won’t get me to say the name …. it’s not a big secret. Everybody’s gonna say I knew that. It doesn’t matter and guess what? People are still gonna go to this guy’s party. People are still gonna buy this guy’s sneakers. They’re gonna buy his belts. They’re gonna buy his purses … It’s not a secret.”
Let me guess. Kanye West? On the other hand, Google does indicate N.O.R.E. recorded Bailar Conmigo with Diddy in 2006.
A new biography of the King of Pop, written by Ian Halperin, will include revelations about Michael Jackson’s private life. Halperin made headlines last December when he claimed Jackson had perhaps six months to live.
It will surprise few people to learn that Michael Jackson was gay. What may be surprising is Halperin’s contention that Jackson, while interested in younger men, had little sexual interest in the underage boys who were the subject of lawsuits, criminal trials, and multimillion dollar settlements during the pop star’s life. In an article in Britain’s Daily Mail, Halperin claims to have spoken with two men who made convincing claims of affairs with Jackson.
“It is clear to me that Michael was homosexual and that his taste was for young men, albeit not as young as Jordan Chandler or Gavin Arvizo. In the course of my investigations, I spoke to two of his gay lovers, one a Hollywood waiter, the other an aspiring actor. The waiter had remained friends, perhaps more, with the singer until his death last week. He had served Jackson at a restaurant, Jackson made his interest plain and the two slept together the following night. According to the waiter, Jackson fell in love.”
“Other witnesses speak of strings of young men visiting his house at all hours, even in the period of his decline. Some stayed overnight. When Jackson lived in Las Vegas, one of his closest aides told how he would sneak off to a ‘grungy, rat-infested’ motel – often dressed as a woman to disguise his identity – to meet a male construction worker he had fallen in love with.”
Halperin’s biography, The Final Years Of Michael Jackson, is due out in Canada later this week, and will be published soon in US and UK. His other books include Love & Death focusing on the last days of Kurt Cobain.
US Congressman Barney Frank, in the course of an in-depth interview with GQ magazine, has defined his criteria:
Q:There’s a new movie out called Outrage, about closeted politicians. Do you still adhere to Barney Frank’s Rule about outing?
A: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I wouldn’t do it myself, but I think people who are hypocrites…The way I put it is, there’s a right to privacy but not to hypocrisy.
Not that he would ever ask such a question, but it’s interesting to fantasize about isn’t it? In a thought-provoking article, pastor Ron Hamman redefines the meaning of homosexual, sodomy, nature, sin, know, perversion, violence, and acceptance. You be the judge. Read More
Queer of the Month | December 2009
Total Voters: 10
Loading ...
