The first same-sex marriages in the U.S. took place in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004. This was six months after the state's Supreme Court ruled the ban unconstitutional. Since then Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Washington state and D.C. have also made gay marriage legal. (The Netherlands was the first country to legalize gay unions in 2001.)
For three months in 2008 the state of California also allowed same-sex marriages until voters narrowly voted against them later that year. However, any marriages that were performed in those months are still valid. In August 2010 a Federal District Court in San Francisco overturned Proposition 8 but resumption of marriages is on hold pending appeal.
The latest marriage figures for Massachusetts are through 2010 and they show that more than 13,000 same-sex couples had gotten hitched, comprising 7% of all marriages in the state during that period.
We've probably all seen the TV infomercials for Time-Life Records' various music compilations, e.g. "Love Songs", "Groovy 60's", "Mellow Moods", etc. I've bought a number of them, and am glad I did, because they introduced me to some great songs. One in particuar was Secretly by Jimmie Rodgers. It entered Billboard's Top 40 today in 1958 and became a #3 hit. (Rodgers is best known for the song Honeycomb which topped the charts for four weeks the year before.)
It's a pleasant tune, typical of so many songs from this vanilla decade, but what got my attention was its gender-neutral lyrics. In my interpretation the song tells the story of two men who, due to the mores of the 1950's, must conduct their romance "secretly". Here's the chorus:
"Wish we didn't have to meet secretly
Wish we didn't have to kiss secretly
Wish we didn't have to be afraid to show the world that we're in love
'Til we have the right to meet openly
'Til we have the right to kiss openly
We'll just have to be content to be in love secretly."
Of course, these lyrics could also apply to a West Side Story situation between a boy and girl of different races or ethnicities. Still, I thought the hidden message was a bit daring for the conformist 1950's. (Reminds me of the secret delight I got when I first listened to the Village People's innuendo laden songs.) I'm curious whether the song was popular with homosexuals at the time.
Of course, there have been other gender neutral songs such as Secret Love by Doris Day and the Beatles' Do You Want to Know a Secret? but their lyrics don't have an air of illicitness to them. One that does, however, is the disco classic by Madleen Kane, Forbidden Love, from 1979. In the song's opening line Kane sings, "How can you stop a trembling hand, reaching for another hand, even though it is forbidden love?"
Here's a wonderful video/photo montage from a website called "GayTwoGether" that has been set to the very song discussed here:
In the early days of the AIDS crisis it was common to assume that any man stricken with it was gay. As a result AIDS inadvertently outed a number of its celebrity victims. Although their close circle of friends may have known about their sexual orientation, the general public was largely unaware. However, once news that celebs such as Rock Hudson, Anthony Perkins and Liberace had AIDS their "secret life" became known. It was an unfortunate way of being outed. And in some cases family members vehemently denied that AIDS was the cause of death.
Such was the case with actor Robert Reed, best known for his role as architect-dad Mike Brady in the Brady Bunch which aired from 1969-1974. Until he died of AIDS on May 12, 1992 few people were aware he was gay. At the time of his death he was 59, which was relatively old since AIDS victims were largely in their 40's.
Although his Wikipedia bio disputes that he died of AIDS another Wikipedia article lists Reed among celebrities who died from it. Other articles site that he was HIV+ which was a contributing factor to his death from colon cancer
The documentary Truth or Dare followed Madonna on her "Blond Ambition" concert tour as she played Japan, Canada, the U.S. and Europe. It was shot during her dalliance with Warren Beatty (who she starred with in the 1990 movie Dick Tracy). Others who appeared in the doc included gal pal Sandra Bernhard and Antonio Banderas (who co-starred with Madonna in the movie version of Evita six years later). It opened in New York and L.A. the weekend of May 10, 1991.
Memorable scenes included Madonna felating a bottle while playing "Truth or Dare" with her back-up dancers; dissing Kevin Costner when he came backstage and referred to her concert as "neat"; and lying next to the grave of her mother in Michigan.
For whatever reason one piece of dialogue from the movie sticks with me. While relaxing in her hotel room in Madrid, Madonna is joined by Sandra Bernhard and at one point the talk turns to sleeping with people they hate. Bernhard posits that sex is always hot when you can't stand the person.
To promote the movie Madonna made a cameo on the May 11 episode of Saturday Night Live where she appeared in a dream sequence during a "Wayne's World" skit.
The following year Showtime aired comedian Julie Brown's delicious parody of Truth or Dare titled Medusa: Dare to be Truthful. One of the characters in this mockumentary was Kathy Griffin.
Truth or Dare did very well for a documentary film and still ranks among the 10 highest grossing docs of all time. Its $29 million box office take is comparable to about $55 million in today's dollars.
Alfred Steele was Joan Crawford's fourth, and last, husband (it was his first marriage). She was 50, he 54 when they married in Las Vegas. Steele died of a heart attack four years later. (Interestingly, all of Crawford's marriages lasted four years.) Besides being Alfred's spouse Joan also served as a tireless worldwide ambassador for the soft drink. At the time of their marriage Crawford's adopted daughter Christina was 15.
The reason I've chosen to write about Crawford's nuptials is because her marriage to Steele was portrayed in the movie Mommie Dearest and resulted in two classic scenes. In the first Crawford (played by Faye Dunaway) is overseeing the renovation of her and Steele's Manhattan apartment and orders the builders to "Tear down that bitch of a bearing wall and put a window where it ought to be!". Then, when the Pepsi board of directors tries to remove her from the board after Steele's death, Joan has one of the most memorable lines of the entire movie: "Don't fuck with me fellas, this ain't my first time at the rodeo!"
The NBC sitcom The Golden Girls aired for seven seasons and tonight's episode on May 9, 1992 was its last. In it Dorothy (Bea Arthur) got married and moved to Georgia. That spring NBC bid farewell not only to The Golden Girls but also to the Bill Cosby Show and to the Tonight Show's Johnny Carson.
The show had a gay following because gay men could relate to the witty/bitchy repartee of Dorothy, Blanche and Rose. It was not unlike what you'd hear among a group of gay men sharing a summer house at Fire Island - with everyone vying for the role of slutty Blanche!
Although I liked the show I watched it only sporadically because it aired on Saturday evening - not the most convenient time for a guy in his 20' and 30's to be sitting down to watch TV - whether he was gay or straight. (Many gay bars aired it on Saturday night.) I think I watched more episodes when it aired on the Lifetime cable network from the late 90's thru much of the next decade where it aired multiple times daily.
Betty White is the only one of the four actresses still with us. Rue McClanahan died in 2010; Bea Arthur in 2009 and Estelle Getty in 2008. White, still going strong, celebrated her 90th birthday in January.
The Pet Shop Boys is a British duo comprised of Neil Tenant and Chris Lowe. Their first single, West End Girls, went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of May 4, 1986. They would have a number of other top-10 hits (including their duet with Dusty Springfield, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, which peaked at #2), but never another chart topper. Despite their initial success PSB never achieved the level of mainstream success on our shores that they had in the U.K.; however, they did attain a lofty level of popularity among Uncle Sam's gay population. Gay men embraced PSB's mix of theatrical electronica, catchy pop numbers with a political message and achingly beautiful ballads. (I have 83 of their songs on my iPod.)
Their limited popularity in America was likely due to the duo's sexual orientation, which was often reflected in the lyrics of their songs (especially a number of haunting melodies alluding to the AIDS crisis). However, back in the 80's it was unheard of for entertainers to be "out" and the Pet Shop Boys were no different - but their gay followers were wise to their true nature. Not until the mid-90's did Neil Tenant acknowledge his orientation - and Chris Lowe has always played coy.
In 2006 I saw PSB in concert at Radio City Music Hall but was disappointed by the lack of imagination and lack of much in a way of a stage presence (especially disappointing considering how inventive their videos were). I suppose I was spoiled by the athleticism displayed by Madonna during her performances.
On May 4, 1993 Angels in America: Millennium Approaches opened on Broadway to wide acclaim. It had an array of compelling characters who were eccentric, despicable and tragic (it also had a couple of angels), all who came together to create a thought-provoking, emotionally wrenching and thrilling theater experience.
A month after opening it won the Tony for Best Play. It also won a Pullitzer Prize for playwright Tony Kushner. The following year Angels in America Part 2: Perestroika opened and it also won the Tony for Best Play. Then in 2003 a much lauded TV production (encompassing Parts 1 and 2) aired on HBO starring Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson. I didn't get around to seeing Millennium Approaches until it was about to close 18 months later.
An especially interesting character in the play wasn't fictional - New York attorney Roy Cohn. He was notorious for participating in the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's when he helped weed out alleged Communist sympathizers and homosexuals from the federal government. Yet Cohn himself was a closeted gay man. After being diagnosed with AIDS he vehemently denied having it. But eight years after his death, Kushner gave him a prominent role so all could see what a contemptible, self-loathing individual he was.
Although Angels in America was set in the mid-80's when nothing but hopelessness surrounded an AIDS diagnosis, by 1993 hope had arrived with the arrival of a class of durgs known as protease inhibitors. They largely turned AIDS/HIV into a manageable condition for many.
Always one to push the envelope, Madonna was able to cross out "perform on Broadway" from her to-do list on May 3, 1988 when she co-starred with Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver (who won a Tony for Best Actor) in David Mamet's play Speed-the-Plow. It was an early example of a show hiring a popular non-actor to draw an audience. Plow ran thru New Year's Eve.
Madonna played the role of Karen, a temp in a Hollywood studio who turned out to be a smooth operator. At the time she was in between albums, 1986's True Blue and 1989's Like a Prayer.
I saw the play six weeks after it opened, on June 14, with a fellow I dated briefly. (The day was blisteringly hot with an afternoon high of 96.) We had great seats, sixth row center, and were surrounded by other excited teen girls and gay men waiting to see their idol.
Madge's performance was uninspiring, and in my journal I wrote: "It was a wooden performance, her delivery seemed unnatural and it seemed as if she was reading for an audition". Still, it was fun to see her close up. And props to Madonna for going out beyond her comfort zone of music videos.
20 years later the play was revived with Jeremy Piven, Raul Esperaza and Elizabeth Moss (Peggy from Mad Men). The revival made headlines a few months after it opened when Piven dropped out after claiming he was suffering from mercury poisoning caused by eating nothing but sushi for years. He turned out to be more high-maintenance than Madonna!
The quirky show Northern Exposure was a one-hour "dramedy" that aired on CBS on Monday night. It told the adventures of a doctor (played by Rob Morrow) transplanted from NYC to the live-and-let-live town of Cicely, Alaska (whose founders were two lesbians). It aired for six seasons, and in Season 4 it aired an episode on May 2, 1994 in which innkeepers Ron and Erick were married. As pioneering as the storyline was this was the second same-sex wedding in primetime history - Fox's sitcom Roc had the first in the fall of 1991.
Since that time there have been a number of other gay marriages on network TV, among them:
On the Dec. 12, 1995 episode of Roseanne Roseanne's boss Leon (played by Martin Mull) married his partner (played by Fred Willard).
On the Feb. 20, 2005 episode of The Simpsons Homer became an ordained minister and married Marge's sister Patty and her female partner Veronica (who was later revealed to be a man).
On the May 11, 2008 episode of Brothers & Sisters Kevin (one of the "Brothers") married Scotty.
On the May 5, 2011 episode of Grey's Anatomy, after last-minute family tension put the wedding in jeopardy, Callie and Arizona marry. It was juxtaposed with straight couple Meredith and McDreamy exchanging vows at the same time, but at City Hall.
