Daily Mail: Model, 34, sues millionaire 'Lady Trucker', 71, he met as male escort after she 'ruined his life'
Facebook: Cute to see grown-up Jimmy and Kristy McNichol pop up in my feed this morning, the day after I happened to watch a very special episode of "Family" where Willie's childhood best friend (deftly played by Brian Byers) comes out of the closet after getting arrested in a gay bar. (Shocker: Kristy's character takes the news much better than anyone else!) The series was a favorite of my mother's, inspiring one of her first microaggressions on me: "Willie reminds me of your brother Billy and you remind me of Buddy," she informed me at age 8 -- like I was ever that butch! The 1976 episode :"Rites of Friendship") wasn't particularly homophobic even for its day -- level-headed Mom thought Willie was behaving horribly for pulling away from his pal -- although I was surprised that the moral of the story seemed to be that ALL boys have homosexual feelings when they're young but most grow out of them. (HUH?) (Tip: You can watch it on YouTube HERE.)
Back2Stonewall: "Leather Bar: The Musical"
People: Thrilled to hear that Martina Navratilova is cancer-free after simultaneously battling it in her throat and breast / Watch interview HERE.
Greg in Hollywood: Gay fan pens letter to Rosie O'Donnell on her 61st birthday
Dlisted: Courtney Love and Chrissie Hynde don't have many nice things to say about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
I remember watching that Family episode- recently I revisited two other infamous gay shows from "Marcus Welby MD" - "The Outrage" in which a boy is assaulted by his male teacher- but the show goes out of its way to make the attacker not look gay and handsome Patrick Wayne shows up as helpful cop. In " The Other Martin Loring" a closeted gay man is told by Dr Welby that he is not really gay he just needs therapy ?! Both episodes can be seen on You Tube
ReplyDeleteI saw "the gay episode" of Family when it aired when I was a teenager, living in a conservative Midwest town. I had thought at the time that all gay men were drag queens. (So I couldn't possibly be gay because I wasn't into that). In the Family episode, Willie's gay friend is an all-American jock type, which made me have to rethink my "gay theory." Kind of a mindfuck for me.
ReplyDelete"Family" was considered quality television for a reason and that gay episode has aged very well. The gay episode that really affected me was "Lou Grant" about a closeted gay police officer
ReplyDelete