BijouBlog

"BROKEBACK BATHROOM"

In 2004, I found out via the gay press that one of the men's bathroom in a building where I teach at was one of those "T-rooms," complete with a glory hole. Apparently the cops raided the bathroom, which by then had developed a reputation for clandestine sexual activity. The gloryhole was sealed and a sign placed in the room announcing that the area was now under surveillance by campus police. The publicity garnered by the raid earned the bathroom this nickname: "Brokeback Bathroom."

I remember some kind of rumor or urban legend circulating that Lady Gaga is/was really a man. No, she is a woman, not a drag queen, but her extravagant dress and overwhelming public persona (all in the interests of self-expression of course, the byword among her young fan base) can honestly lead one to come to that conclusion.

On the Television Without Pity online forum, comments about the A & E candid reality show Hoarders have reached page 941. Comic Kathy Lee Griffin was upset that someone tweeted, in her name, her love for Hoarders. She does like the show. But she also supposedly was accused of making fun of the hoarders and thus the mentally ill in one of her comedy routines. What's all this hype about Hoarders/hoaders? Or, rather, why are we obsessed with seeing others who are pathologically obsessed with stuff?

The Advocate in its March 29, 1972 issue publicizes a "gay wedding" in Canada, yes, in 1972. According to the feature story, Michael Girouard, a radio-television personality, and Rejean Tremblay were married, publicly, in Toronto on September 11 (?!) by a bishop of the "Order of Independent Old Catholics." (definitely not the Roman Catholic Church!). Now, of course, gay marriage is legal in Canada, and has been since 2005, but 1972, that's pretty cool.

Yet another article about this topic foreshadows the current dispute about gay marriage: that gays should not mimic heterosexual marriage "demeans what they views an emerging gay lifestyle." Though, at this time, the gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Church was marrying many couples, though of course they could not possess any practical legal benefits. Remember again this is 1972, no protest's, no church and crazy right wingers, no congress, no politicking, not a big issue.

The National Geographic Channel has recently been airing a series called Taboo, focusing on topics ranging from religious practices that involve extreme bodily pain (of course, having been taught by pre-Vatican II Catholics who often focused on graphic details in the passion of Jesus, not really that strange, at least to me?!) to obesity (why is fatness taboo?), to “strange love.” The one episode focusing focusing on “strange love” that has garnered some media attention is the real-life "Lars and the Real Girl" relationship, when a man in the United States falls in love with a sex doll (see http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/taboo/4599/Overview).