The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) articles from August 2003

The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) archives from August 2003

Having the last laugh. (letter from the editor in chief).
August 19, 2003... In 36 years, this is the first issue of The Advocate produced in a country in which gay sex is legal everywhere. The historic magnitude of the U.S. Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas decision, invalidating all remaining U.S. sodomy laws, is...

Reality check. (reader forum).
August 19, 2003... I loved your story on Bravo channel's new reality show Boy Meets Boy ["The Dating Game," July 8]. At least a cable channel is willing to take a chance for its homo viewers. I am so tired of how gay men are depicted on network TV. They rarely...

The good daughter. (reader forum).
August 19, 2003... I find it very difficult to feel sorry for Mary Cheney and the "tremendous heartache" she is supposedly going through with her narrow-minded, bigoted family ["Mary and Mary: Still Contrary," July 8]. Bob Witeck is wrong when he says, "None of...

This month on Advocate.com. (reader forum).(Brief Article)
August 19, 2003... FIRST-PERSON Out at 13 What happens when a precocious child comes out to his parents and his friends at age 13? You might be surprised. Advocate intern and private piano tutor Andrew Harmon tells one student's story, exclusively on...

Tolerance terrors. (reader forum).
August 19, 2003... Mary Matalin apologizes for Senator Santorum's antigay comments by saying gays should "respect the religious views of those who do not agree with us" ["Mary and Mary: Still Contrary," July 8]. Does she also tolerate the "religious views" that...

Being alive. (reader forum).
August 19, 2003... I love your latest issue, but the best is E. Lynn Harris's story ["A Visible Life," July 8]. I intend to get a copy of his book. I can certainly relate to it, except that I am more than twice his age and it was so much more difficult when I was...

Gender divide. (reader forum).
August 19, 2003... Many thanks to Richard Goldstein for his great column, "Acting Out" [Last Word, July 8]. It's not only gays and lesbians who should support transgender rights but all of us who, in large ways or small, don't register as "correctly" masculine or...

Correction.
August 19, 2003... The photos of Chrissy and Dick Gephardt and Chrissy's partner, Amy Loder, that appeared in our July 8 story "Father-Daughter Alliance" should have been credited to Claire Newman-Williams.

Rants & raves.(Brief Article)
August 19, 2003... What do celebrities think about gay sex? Here's what they've said in The Advocate "Every straight guy should have a man's tongue in his mouth at least once" --Madonna, May 21, 1991 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The immaculate,...

First-time out. (People).
August 19, 2003... Firts-time sexual experiences are unique to each person's life. But what's shared by all lesbians, gays, and bisexuals is that a same-sex encounter is inevitably connected to the decision to come out: It's the definitive moment that may propel...

Justice served: as the Supreme Court closed the door on sodomy laws, it may have opened a door for other causes--including gay marriage and the ensuing antigay backlash. (Courts).
August 19, 2003... When President Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987, the Roman Catholic federal court judge was known primarily as the colorless alternative to Robert Bork, the fiery, antigay conservative rejected by the Senate....

The right fights back: will the U.S. pass a constitutional amendment to "protect" itself from gay rights? (The Sex Issue).(Interview)
August 19, 2003... The backlash has begun. Shortly after the Supreme Court swept sodomy laws off the books, antigay activists, working with the Republican leadership in Congress, vowed to push a constitutional amendment banning recognition of marriages between...

Strange bedfellows: when it comes to politics and public opinion, it's OK if elected officials are gay--as long as no one has to think about their actually having sex. (Politics).
August 19, 2003... Mark Foley was furious. In May the Florida weekly New Times Broward--Palm Beach reported that the congressman was leading a secret gay life in Washington, D.C., where he is a powerful member of the Republican majority in the House of...

Like a virgin: gay virgins prove that it's possible to separate the sex from the sexual orientation. (Culture).
August 19, 2003... "Honestly, as far as I know, I'm the only gay virgin in Buffalo," says Michael Empric, 24, who does public relations for the American Red Cross, drinks skim milk, doesn't smoke, loves TiVo and going to the gym, and was chosen as Gay.com's...

A boy's own story: in one year, 18-year-old Paul Chandler has endured a world of trouble for being gay--even though he's never had sex. (People).
August 19, 2003... Paul Chandler of Denver attended his first gay pride celebration last year. It was in San Francisco, near the college where he was taking courses before his senior year of high school. He had just turned 17. He had just come out, and he was...

10 reasons gays chase straights: we've all done it, and some of us do it over and over again. What leads lesbian and gay grown-ups to abandon reason and pursue the sexually unobtainable? (Commentary).
August 19, 2003... 1 EVERYONE IS STRAIGHT To paraphrase Harvey Fierstein in Torch Song Trilogy, we live in a world where every movie, every TV show, and every billboard tells us we're straight. Heck, even the flagrantly homoerotic Abercrombie & Fitch ads toss in...

Great Scott: after years of struggling with his sexuality, Playgirl centerfold Scott Merritt is coming all the way out. To his surprise, so is Playgirl. (The Sex Issue)(Cover Story).(Cover Story)
August 19, 2003... Scott Merritt, Playgirl's 30th-anniversary centerfold, is sitting in the bar of Toronto's Sutton Place Hotel remembering life on the other side of the closet door. "It's taken me a while to get to this point," Merritt sighs, "but I'm gay. It's...

Heathers in leathers: the thing I admire about leather queens is that, next to Star Trek fans, they are the most prop-happy people in the world. (notes from a blond).
August 19, 2003... The flight attendant winked as he handed me the seat-belt extension. "Going in for the big convention?" he asked. We were about to take off for Chicago, home to a lot of big conventions, but I wasn't going in for any of them, so I asked which...

Guilty pleasures: once you've had your fill of summer blockbusters, enjoy some sexy, sleazy cinema. (Video).
August 19, 2003... Come on. You know you want it. There's really no shame in it. It's summer. What better time to indulge your fetish for skanky, steamy trash epics? What follows is my personal top 10 for hot group sleaze-viewing, in alphabetical order. Post BBQ....

Generation hottie: we asked Advocate.com readers to pick Young Hollywood's sexiest men and women. The results are in: meet gay and lesbian America's top 20 screen fantasies. (Hollywood).
August 19, 2003... THE MEN 1 Colin Farell AGE: 27 BEST KNOWN FOR: Spending an entire move in a Phone Booth. GAYEST MOMENT: His sweaty, post-hetero-coital scene with Matthew Davis in Tigerland, WHAT'S SO HOT: Dark Irish good looks and those kittenish...

Temporary Tatu: are the hot young Russian singers a step forward for lesbian visibility, or is their sexuality just a gimmick? (Music).
August 19, 2003... It's easy to liken the queer-charged notoriety buzzing around the Russian female duo Tatu to the hubbub that surrounded Frankie Goes to Hollywood in the '80s. Both laced cheeky homocentric imagery into otherwise harmless, if wildly infectious,...

Superhero of sex: Pamela Anderson, the voice behind cartoon crime fighter Stripperella, is watching out for gay rights, animal rights, and good lovin' for all. (Television).(Interview)
August 19, 2003... In early June, I found myself on assignment for The Advocate at the Playboy Mansion, at a party celebrating TNN's relaunch as Spike TV, a network for men. After rubbing elbows with celebrities, Hollywood bigwigs, wanna-be Hollywood bigwigs,...

It's raining men: the hard bodies in the new photo collection Men would quicken any gay man's pulse. So what if the photographer, Stefan May, is straight? (Books).(Book Review)
August 19, 2003... One look at the men in Men--lithe, powerful, often nude yet quite calm around their fellow men--and it's easy to assume that the book's author, German photographer Stefan May, is gay. He's not. "Well, I'm straight, but I'm sure that this...

Worldly wisdom: Brad Gooch wrote his way through the sex-drenched '70s and AIDS-plagued '80s. These days he's proving that gay sexuality can be spiritual. (Books).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2003... There's nothing new about gay men searching for godlike boyfriends. But how former model Brad Gooch came to be counseling them with books like Dating the Greek Gods (just out from Simon & Schuster, $21)--that's a longer story. Gooch...

Setting a new standard. (last word).
August 19, 2003... If they're anything like the rest of the let-live hetero-sexual population in the nation, by this time most straights are probably sick of hearing about gay sex. They figure it's not their gig. They figure that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent...