(43) Genderfuck

Genderfuck? Does anybody use that term anymore?  Maybe I better clean translate.  Genderfuck used to refer to the shock value of appearing in public dressed as the opposite sex. Transgender?  Never heard of it!  A good example of Genderfuck was gay men who paraded around San Francisco on roller skates dressed as nuns.  They wore beards, and made no real attempt to pass themselves off as female – but they were nevertheless in drag.

In 1982 I was graduating from being a gay Newbie. I'd found certain groups of guys at PRO regarded themselves as butch or fem - and the fem guys were called girls. Oh, it was mostly a joke, intended as genderfuck. So mostly I went along with it, but I still thought it was rather artificial. Is this simply the manifestion of Trans under obsolete terminology? It doesn't seem so to me. Looking back, some men who put on the swishy persona I think truly were trans, but others did it as a joke, or a way of telling society rethink gender roles. I don't think I'm gong to try to unravel this just now.

(42) A Sexy Weather Forecast

Jeff has never heard of Tom Lehrer, but he would agree that ...

When correctly viewed,

Everything is lewd

As for getting ten inches in Toledo - it could still happen! Snow storms in April are not unknown.

(41) Gay Men Love Opera - If They Can Stay Awake Through it

Jeff takes the hint to live up to the gay stereotype by loving opera. Which he'll do just as soon as he learns to distinguish Wagner from Bizet.

As Jeff commented earlier -- he'll try anything -- once.

(40) Just Like Luciano Pavarotti

"We've got a stereotype to live up to." Sid's attitude reflects my view of Gay culture at the time: let's have some fun doing the things gay people are supposed to do.

I didn't dwell much on what Murphy's Manor characters did for a living. Sid started out as a demolitions expert with the considerable talent it takes to be an opera singer. At the end, he was Pope of a gay bar. Details later!

(39) Taking S&M For a Spin

Jeff experiments  by going, with trepidation,  to an S&M party. Only to be underwhelmed.

(This is an experiment of posting with a cell phone)

(38) Cruising of the Wings of Song

Being new to Toledo, having come out relatively recently, and being a fledgling classical music/opera fan, it seemed to me in 1982 that the stereotype of gay men as opera queens had some truth. Today I would not assume this level of interest in opera of readers because they were gay. Sid was modeled on Jan Suter, who was an avid opera fan. His idea of a hedonistic retreat was to spend the weekend in bed listening to the Ring straight through.

(37) Murf, the Quick Wit

Murf, always articulate, quick with a turn of phrase. Just like *koff koff* me