ZeitGAYst

Paris Elects a Gay Mayor (March 18, 2001)

Back in 2001, in the space of just three months, two openly gay candidates were elected mayors of "world class" European cities.  First, 50-year-old Bertrand Delanoe (pictured, near right) was elected mayor of Paris on March 18.  This made Paris (with a population of 2.1 million) the largest city in the world with a gay mayor. Then in June voters in Berlin (population 3.4 million) took that distinction away from Paris when it elected its very own gay mayor, 47-year-old Klaus Wowereit (far right).  Both Delanoe and Wowereit are presently serving second terms.  (Coincidentally, the German city of Hamburg also elected a gay mayor that very same year.)

 

18 months after his election Delanoe was stabbed in the stomach as he walked through a street festival by a Muslim immigrant with homophobic views.  After surgery he remained in the hospital nearly two weeks.  (This happened a week before I arrived in Paris for my first visit.)

 

And then in 2009 Houston became the first U.S. city with 1 million+ residents to elect a gay mayor, lesbian Anisse Parker.  Before that, the largest U.S. cities with gay mayors had been Portland, Oregon and Providence, Rhode Island.

 

(I've written a previous post about Palm Springs' gay mayor, Ron Oden: "Gay Resort Elects Gay Mayor".) 

World AIDS Day Observed for 1st Time (December 1, 1988)

Ways to memorialize AIDS victims and raise awareness among the general public began in 1985 with the first AIDS Walk in L.A. followed by New York City's in 1986.  In 1987 the National AIDS Memorial Quilt was unveiled in D.C.  And on December 1, 1988 the effort continued with the first observance of Worlds AIDS Day.  It is now held every Dec. 1 with proclamations issued by the president as well as the pope.  Additionally, candlelight vigils and the reading of names are held worldwide while in New York the lights of Broadway and other city landmarks are turned off in observance. 

 

In 1991 Entertainment Weekly observed World AIDS Day by publishing "Faces of AIDS", mini-obits of people in the entertainment industry who had died in the previous 12 months.  67 names were listed - their average age was only 44.  Seeing all of the year's deaths amassed together was sobering and impactful.  Three years later the number had doubled.  EW published this as an annual feature through 1997 - when the number of persons listed fell significantly - to 24 (due to protease inhibitors and changed sexual habits). 

 

A few weeks after the 1st World AIDS Day was observed ABC World News Tonight anchor Max Robinson and disco icon Sylvester would be the next personalities to succumb to the disease.  And the following year famed choreographer Alvin Ailey's death from AIDS coincided with the second World AIDS Day.  

 

 

 

The Vatican Bans Gay Seminarians (November 29, 2005)

To quell outrage over the cover-up of child abuse in the U.S. by Roman Catholic priests, the Vatican scapegoated gay men by banning their admission to seminaries.  However, the ban that was announced on November 29, 2005 was akin to rescinding an invitation to a club that lost its popularity long ago. 

 

Even before this edict was issued only half as many men were entering seminaries as they were in 1965 (while the number of Roman Catholics increased by 41%.)  After peaking in 1975 the number of ordained priests has fallen by more than 30%.  Today the typical priest is older than 60, with those over the age of 90 outnumbering clergy younger than 30.  

 

To address this decline the Vatican thought it wise to bar a contingent of young men who historically comprised a significant portion of priests - while continuing to refuse ordination of women or married men.  And despite findings to the contrary the Church has knowingly deceived its faithful by conflating homosexuality with pedophilia.

 

The Roman Catholic Church has been greatly impacted by gay liberation.  Previously, as long as homosexuals were pariahs they provided a steady supply of seminarians as they looked to the priesthood as a refuge.  (Shortly after I came out to my dad he told me I would have made a great priest.  That's when I realized that for those of his generation gay men were viewed as being useful if they became priests.)  But as gay men began to live more openly the priesthood was no longer the only viable career option to consider.  To help fill this void more and more priests are being brought from Africa, home to virulently homophobic forms of Christianity.

 

 

 

The 1995 movie Priest looked at the various conflicts encountered by a young, questioning priest (with a penchant for sneaking out to a nearby leather bar).  Although set in Ireland the issues are similar to those encountered in the U.S.  

Michelangelo's "David" is Unveiled in Florence (September 8, 1504)

Michelangelo was in his mid-20's when he worked on the statue David, which took him two years to complete.  (The original commission for the creation of the statue was handed out before Micheangelo was born.)  This glorious piece of sculpting was unveiled to the Florentine public on September 8, 1504. 

 

I had the good fortune of seeing David in person during a trip to Italy in the spring of 1993 (that's me in the glasses).  This was two years after it had been vandalized.  At seventeen feet tall David was much larger than I expected.  This makes him easy to spot, looming in the distance when one enters Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia.  You can get surprisingly close to him and the smoothness of the marble may tempt you to reach out and run your hands over his tight, perfectly formed buttocks.  What a magnificent sight to behold! 

 

 

In contemporary times we had Mario Lopez's sexy butt to ogle during a tantalizing shower scene from a 2006 epiosode of the TV show Nip/Tuck.  (It starts at about the one-minute mark.)  

Tears Over the Death of Princess Diana (August 31, 1997)

Princess Diana's life was cut tragically short when she was killed in an auto accident in Paris late Saturday night on August 31, 1997.  She was only 36 years old.  And although we're not British subjects, her death cast a pall over Labor Day weekend here in the U.S.  Indeed, grief over Diana's death reverberated throughout the world. 

 

 

Diana was especially beloved by the gay community because of her AIDS charity work.  Ten years before her death she visited a newly opened shelter for gay men with AIDS and shook their hands - the first high profile celebrity not afraid to touch AIDS victims.  She further endeared herself to gay men because of her sense of style and the ability to rise above the adversity she encountered while married to Prince Charles.

  

The Pet Shop Boys wrote a beautiful dirgelike song (with a beat) called Dreaming of the Queen.  It tells of a dream in which Queen Elizabeth and Diana discuss, over a spot of tea, the futility of love.  It was from PSB's album Very which was released four years before Diana's death.  In 2000 I saw the Pet Shop Boys in concert at Radio City Music Hall where I saw them perform this song.  Behind them on stage was a video showing the hearse bearing Diana's coffin, its windshield wipers famously working overtime to clear flowers thrown by the millions along the funeral route.    

 

 

 

(I was spending the weekend out in Fire Island when I heard the news about Diana's death.  I've written a post about what I remember of that night on my history blog "History As You Experienced It".)

First Gay Games Held in San Francisco (August 28, 1982)

To dispel the notion that gay men and lesbians excel only in figure skating and softball, an international athletic competition for gay athletes was organized that encompassed an array of competitive sports similar to the Olympics - but for this event skill wasn't a qualifier.  Some events were unique to these games, i.e., ballroom dancing and figure skating with same-sex partners.  

 

Appropriately, the first Gay Games were held in San Francisco (and the second Gay Games as well). The opening ceremonies took place on August 28, 1982.  Like the Olympics the Gay Games are held every four years.  The founder of the Gay Games, Tom Waddell, represented the U.S. in the decathalon in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.  He died of complications from AIDS in 1987 at the age of 49.   

 

 

These first Gay Games faced a number of hurdles: 

• The first was whether potential participants would take the event seriously.  Happily, approximately 1,500 athletes signed up (a number that's increased nearly tenfold since then). 
• The U.S. Olympic Committee refused to allow the word "Olympics" to be associated with this event, thus the name Gay Games was created. (By contrast, the committee had no problem with the athletic competition for the disabled calling itself the Special Olympics.)
• Another issue was the U.S. government's policy of barring foreign visitors with HIV/AIDS from entering the country, including potential participants in the Gay Games (a policy that was finally rescinded in 2009). 

 

A more recent controversy occurred in 2006 when a rift over financing resulted in two competing events: the sanctioned Gay Games in Chicago and the first World Outgames held in Montreal (the original choice of that year's Gay Games).  That year the two events were held just one week apart which reduced the number of participants at each competition.  To avoid such conflicts in the future tne World Outgames now hold their event the year before the Gay Games.   

 

In addition to San Francisco and Chicago, other Gay Games have been held in other well-known gay destinations such as Amsterdam, New York City and Sydney.  The 9th Gay Games in 2014, however, will be held in Cleveland.

Famed Spanish Poet-Writer Federico Garcia Lorca Executed (August 19, 1936)

Just one month after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War one of Spain's most renowned poets, Federico Garcia Lorca, was executed on August 19, 1936.  His body was dumped into an unmarked grave with those of a few others shot at the same time.  He was 38 years old.  There are a number of conflicting stories about the reason for his murder.  Some say it was for his leftist political views while others cite his homosexuality as playing a role.  

 

 

For a number of years in the 1920's Lorca carried on an affair with avant garde artist Salvador Dali, six years Lorca's junior.  It was said to be a largely unrequited relationship with Lorca the frustrated pursuer.  The 2008 movie Little Ashes tells the story of their anguished relationship.  (Actor Robert Pattinson, of Twilight fame, portrayed Dali.)  After showing at a number of lesbian and gay film festivals in the U.S. it had a very limited release.  Although the movie was beautiful to look at reviews were largely tepid. 

 

 

 

Renowned La Scala Opera House Opens (August 3, 1778)

The most entrenched gay stereotypes may be the "opera buff", "showtune queen" and "disco bunny".  And while I've previously written posts about Broadway shows and dance music I haven't written anything on the world of opera - until now.  So I'll start at the top by paying tribute to the world renowned La Scala in Milan, which opened its doors on August 3, 1778.  

 

Teatro alla Scala is considered the world's most famous opera house, followed by the Metropolitan Opera House in New York  (opened in 1966); Australia's Sydney Opera House (1973); London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (1858); and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (1825).  Other famous houses are in Paris, Vienna, San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Vienna.  There's also the Santa Fe Opera Theater which is known for its open-air design (and where I saw Rigoletto in August 2008).    

 

Of course, all of the legends have performed at La Scala, including Enrico Caruso, who made his La Scala debut in 1900; Maria Callas (far left) in 1951; Joan Sutherland in 1961; Pavarotti in 1965; and Beverly Sills (center) in 1969.  In 2007 sexy Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez (near left), whose La Scala debut was in 1996, was called back for the first encore there in 74 years.  Famous operas that had their premieres at La Scala include Bellini's Norma (1831); Verdi's Falstaff (1893) and Puccini's Madama Butterfly (1904).

 

Writing about La Scala brings to mind the sensual 2010 movie I Am Love, starring gay favorite Tilda Swinton, which takes place in Milan.  It has a sweeping, operatic like score that is very fitting, especially for the film's dramatic, over-the-top ending.  It's worth renting.

Same-Sex Marriage Legalized in Canada (July 20, 2005)

Canada became the fourth nation to legalize same-sex marriage on July 20, 2005 (following the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain).  By the time the legislation, known as the Civil Marriage Act, was approved, all but two of the country's provinces had already passed legislation in favor of same-sex unions in their jurisdictions (Ontario was the first province to do so on June 10, 2003).  

 

Since then, nine more countries have legalized same-sex marriage.  In the U.S., despite the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and constitutional ammendments in thirty-two states that restrict marriage to male and female couples, same-sex couples can now marry in twelve states and the District of Columbia.  (And president Obama announced his support of gay marriage in May 2012).  The combined population of these twelve states is 56 million, comprising 18% of the U.S. population. 

 

The Aphrodisiac of Power: Today's Sexiest World Leaders

They say power is the greatest aphrodisiac - and all the better if that power is wielded by a handsome face.  Inspired by Mexico's dashing new president, this post salutes fashionable and sexy heads of state.  Not surprisingly, few of the world's presidents, prime ministers, sultans and dictators are heartthrobs.  However, I managed to find nine who are worthy of some adolescent ogling.  (Please note that appearing on this list isn't an implied endorsement of their policies.)

 

Enrique Pena Nieto (President of Mexico, age 45) - The youngest of my choices, he was elected president on July 1 (with less than 40% of the vote).  Appearance-wise he reminds me of a Latin Jon Huntsman but having sired two illegitimate children his personal life is more like that of John Edwards.

    

 

Barack Obama (President of the U.S., age 50) - He may wear "mom" jeans when he's relaxing, but Obama wears a suit very well (European fit, no doubt).  Furthermore, he has a great gait, a wonderful smile and a soothing, intelligent speaking voice.  Even his graying hair hasn't detracted from his sex appeal.  

   

 

Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister of Israel, age 62) - Exuding classic Israeli arrogance and swagger, he enfuriates the Arab world because he can be as stubborn and vengeful as they are.  A very hot soldier as a young man, Netanyahu is now an honorary "Silver Daddy".

 

Rafael Correa (President of Ecuador, age 49) - This charismatic and very popular president is pals with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.  His style somewhat resembles that of New Jersey's blowhard governor Chris Christie (minus a few hundred pounds).  As president he once confronted police during a strike and dared them to shoot him.  Instead, they took him hostage and he was rescued by the army.   

 

Sebastian Pinera (President of Chile, age 62) - Very suave and handsome in a John Forsythe kind of way, he looks like a head of state from central casting.  He came to the world's attention a few years ago during the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners.

 

 

 

Hamid Karzai (President of Afghanistan, age 54) - A rather complicit, double dealing "ally", but he gets style points for his tribal hat.  And he looks good without it as well.  Reminds me of Ben Kingsley.

 

 

Qaboos bin Said al Said (Sultan of Oman, age 70) - He of the beautiful, flowing robes.  Said to be gay.

 

 

 

 

Jose Maria Neves (Prime Minister of the Cape Verde Islands, age 52) - A tip of the hat to this tiny nation of 500,000.  Neves has the same professorial look that makes Obama sexy. 

 

  

Dmitry Medvedev (Prime Minister of Russia, age 46) - And finally, representing the northern latitudes, the pasty Dmitry Medvedev!  He recently handed over power to his mentor, Vladimir Putin, but is still prime minister.  He has a boyish appeal. Unlike Putin, there haven't been any photos circulated of a barechested Medvedev out in the wilderness. 

 

Honorable Mention.  If they hadn't resigned from office both Portugal's prime minister Jose Socrates (near left) and Serbia's president Boris Tadic would still be in power and have easily made this list.  Interestingly, they're both 54 and look somewhat alike - separated at birth?  Under Socrates' leadership same-sex marriage was legalized in Portugal two years ago.