The Puggle is not just a gay man's newest and most important accessory, no matter what the cute guy down at the pet store might have you believe. The trend-trackers over at Alyson Books have done their damnedest to put into words what straight men have created whole TV shows about -- why it is, exactly, that dogs are often a man's best friend.
The press release for Paws and Reflect: Exploring the Bond Between Gay Men and Their Dogs tells me that gays love dogs because "their dogs love them unconditionally, without judgment or regard to sexual orientation; comfort them when they are in pain; and, because most men outlive them, teach them extraordinary lessons in how to cope with loss."
I actually buy that. And also:
Interviewees include Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Edward Albee, Academy Award winning writer Ron Nyswanner, director Jonathan Caouette, actor and playwright Charles Bush, and Animal Planet’s David Mizejewski with contributions from Jay Quinn, Hal Campbell, Russ Overton, and many others. These celebrated men share stories that range from dogs from their childhood, the dogs who make connections, learning from dogs, making the world a better place for dogs and something many dog owners often experience – exasperating dogs that persist until they have securely stolen hearts, attention and love.
But here's a word of advice: Don't type "gay men and dogs" into Google. Just don't. Or at least don't say I never warned you. I went looking for a funny little something to say about dogs and the men who love them and the only item I found able to be shared in any kind of polite company was this funny little column from the Yale Daily News:
Straight men are like dogs. But gay men are dogs. Take a moment.
Butt-sniffing as a courting ritual.
Humping your leg. Your third leg. Or fourth in some cases… don't over think it.
How often do heterosexuals actually do it doggy-style compared to homosexuals? I think we've got them beat.
Female dogs go into heat and the male dogs go crazy. When the females
aren't in heat, male dogs will have sex with just about anything,
including each other.
The whole S&M, leather-daddy, master-slave, put-me-on-a-leash and walk-me-down-the-street subculture. It's a city thing.
There you go. At least one of those should work as a pick-up line the next time you're down at the dog park. Because any best friend worth a man's love should be willing to help his master get laid.
Foley has provided Washington with its first sex
scandal in a long time, and it's the perfect one for the city. It
reminds you that men in Washington just really don't like girls, and
that they'd much rather talk about sex than have it. If Foley had had
sex with these boys, at least the older ones, it would have been fine,
because they had reached the age of consent. But because it all
happened by email he's in a lot of trouble. It's so typical of
Washington: it's really sleazy but it doesn't actually involve sex.
It turns out it's no accident that Southern California's Episcopal Church has been at the forefront of challenging not only the Bush Administration but three rogue parishes that defected rather than accept gays (and tried to take their diocese-purchased land with them).
Bruno was elected a bishop in 1999 and formally became head of the
diocese three years later. As bishop, he blessed the same-sex union of
one of his priests and was an advocate in the wider church of the full
inclusion of gays.
He supported the election in 2003 of the Rt.
Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an openly cohabiting gay priest, as bishop of
the New Hampshire Diocese. "Some of the greatest priests and bishops
I've known in my life have been gay," Bruno said. "There are other gay
bishops in the Episcopal and Anglican church. The only difference with
Gene Robinson is that he told the truth."
Nobody who worked side by side with Bruno during the early years of the AIDS epidemic seems very surprised at either his candor or courage:
When
one of his young parishioners was in the throes of the disease, Bruno
expressed frustration at being unable to help. The man told him he
would be satisfied if Bruno just hugged him, since no one wanted to
come into physical contact with an AIDS patient. So, once a week, the
man would go to Bruno's office and the priest would hold him and rock
him in a rocking chair.
Jack Plimpton, a retired Los Angeles
Unified School District principal who is the diocese's director of AIDS
ministries, said he saw Bruno rocking another young man in his arms as
the man died. Adds Plimpton: "He's one of the most compassionate people
I know."
All for a good cause -- various animal-related charities in LA, she says -- and full of rare items, including one example that Capote had trouble finding a socially acceptable date -- but not because he was so obviously queer:
The worlds of Hollywood glitz and New York literati collide in one of
the auction's offerings, a March 1982 note to Capote from Irving
"Swifty" Lazar forbidding the novelist from bringing Carson as a date
to Lazar's famous Oscar-night party. "Dear Tru," it began, "Delighted
that you can come to our 'bash' … but it would be impossible for
you to bring Joanne Carson, since it would create an embarrassment for
Johnny which would be intolerable…. Bring someone else if you wish. Or,
you can hold hands with Gore Vidal or Howard Austin — or even with me —
but not Joanne, the ex. Love, Irving."
From now until the hard copy of December's issue hits newsstands, staff and guest bloggers will take you through the highlights of the most memorable queers of the year -- including, so far, DSquared, Daniel Mendelsohn, Gore Vidal and A.M. Homes. It's a solid mix of innovative and old faithfuls, with far more of the up-and-comers than I remember from years past.
I'm looking forward to hearing more from or about Augusten Burroughs and the official memorialists of gay Holocaust victims, conceptual artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. No, really, I'm sworn to secrecy about the finer details, but I promise they are the most fascinating people I've read about in months.
Q. How do you say "beautiful, long and depressing" in 12 languages? A. Babel.
Fortunately, I was at the best movie theater ever, where even though it was 11:20 on a Sunday morning, Keira Knightly was also lined up for a flick. She chose more wisely and saw Marie Antoinette.
In the lobby, which features a rotating collection of art, there were a dozen or so Frank Worth photographs. If you've ever picked up a biography of a famous Hollywood star from the '50s, you've probably held his work in your hands before -- they're iconic candids, made possible because unlike most lensmen of the day, Frank wasn't a studio shooter but a freelancer. Though he's not referenced in any of the (many, many) gay Hollywood books I have lying around the house, the portraits have a distinctly homoerotic tinge to them, and there's something really beautiful about how they've stood the test of time.
Adam Sandler plays with pansies. Photo: Getty Images.
Adam Sandler and Kevin James will play gay -- literally -- in next summer's I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. The two funny guys pose as a married couple in order to reap the oh-so-lucrative benefits of domestic partnership. Jessica Biel plays the boys' lawyer -- and, predictably, Sandler's heterosexual relief pitcher.
We shouldn't expect any Some Like It Hot riding off into the sunset together, but with Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways) writing the script, there's at least a little hope that the film will fall squarely under the heading of smart, even poignant grown-up humor (think Sandler in Big Daddy) and not THE WORST IDEA EVER.
Plus there'll be some token actual gays: Richard Chamberlain will appear in some as-yet-unspecified elder role. And Lance Bass just told 75,000 of his closest MySpace friends that he'll take the typical Sandler role and play wedding singer as the duo celebrate their blissful nuptials.
[T]hey had decided to have a child through a gestational surrogacy
arrangement. They would pay one woman to provide her eggs and then,
after fertilizing them in vitro with their sperm, pay another woman to
carry the resulting embryos to term.
It was a quest that would take them to the frontiers of medicine,
bioethics, technology and the law, as well as to the front lines of the
culture wars.
They had considered adoption, but Chad, 33, and David, 35, wanted to
participate more fully in the process of bringing a child into the
world. They longed to see the first ultrasonic images of a tiny pumping
heart and even to provide coaching in the maternity ward, just like
straight fathers.
They also hoped to exert some control over their child's genetic
makeup, and to create a biological link across the generations. Over
the last decade, science and society had conspired to make it all
possible.
The series so far walks a fine line between making the acquisition of a child sound like another example of those rich gays indulging their every whim. But it's (usually) well-balanced with an overwhelming amount of evidence testifying just how much these guys want to be parents, and how rare it is for queer moms and dads to have children by happy accident.
Chad and David wanted to do anything they could to make sure that both
fathers would be viewed equally as parents. And they thought that might
only be feasible if they kept the identity of the biological father a
mystery....They decided the safest
course would be to keep the secret even from themselves.
"In the ambiguity of paternity, I think there's an implication of
equality," Chad said. "We'll both equally be fathers in the eyes of
whoever we're talking to because we can't give them a definitive
answer."
"The best answer," David said, "would be, 'Well, your guess is as good as ours.' "
The last of three parts won't be posted until tomorrow, so your guess is as good as mine how it all works out.
The Puggle is not just a gay man's newest and most important accessory, no matter what the cute guy down at the pet store might have you believe. The trend-trackers over at Alyson Books have done their damnedest to put into words what straight men have created whole TV shows about -- why it is, exactly, that dogs are often a man's best friend.
If being left off the usual lists that start circulating this time of year gets your jock in a twist, 
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