Is Ellen Transphobic? Nate Berkus & Banana Republic; Harlem Church Slams Gays

Is Ellen Transphobic?

On Sunday night, during the Oscar Awards, Ellen DeGeneres opened with a joke about Liza Minnelli that drew some harsh criticism from some who didn't think it was funny.

 “Hello to the best Liza Minnelli impersonator I’ve ever seen,” DeGeneres joked about the icon who has been a favorite subject for female impersonators and drag artists over the years. “Good job, sir.”

Director, Bruce LaBruce, didn't smile:

I did not appreciate Ellen's mean joke about Liza. I found it transphobic and disrespectful.
— Bruce LaBruce (@BruceLaBruce)

You can read more here, and see a video clip of the joke with a shot of Liza Minnelli's reaction. At the end of the article there's a poll asking, "Do you think Ellen's joke about Liza Minnelli was transphobic?" There are three ways to answer: Yes, No, and I think the issue is more complicated than "yes" or "no"

I took the poll and answered with the third choice. I think it is more complicated. Some gay men have been performing in stage as Liza Minnelli for the past forty years. I know of one right here in New Hope. I can't share the most recent photo of him performing as Liza, but I can give you this link where there's a photo on Facebook.  I've personally known plenty more female impersonators who do Liza.

I also think there's a difference, in general, between transgender people and gay female impersonators. There's a big difference. For one transgender (for men and women) is a lifestyle and it defines who they are, and for the other female impersonating is a profession. There are even a few straight female impersonators. So if anything...and I hate to take this to a different place altogether...whoever thinks Ellen's joke is "transphobic" is really passing out the insults to transgender people because the majority of transgender people I've known are NOT female impersonators. They are people who identify as women (or men), mentally and physically, and they have nothing at all to do with Liza Minnelli in the first place.

And that's why it gets more complicated.

Nate Berkus & Banana Republic

I always find anything Nate Berkus does interesting because I remember back in 2007 when Tony was going through a few serious health issues Nate Berkus was on a talk show describing the ordeal he went through when he lost his partner at the time in the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka. A lot of people still don't know he was there on vacation and went through the kind of hell most of us will never know.

In December 2004 Berkus and his partner, photographer Fernando Bengoechea, were vacationing at a beach resort in Sri Lanka when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit. While Berkus survived, Bengoechea is missing and presumed dead.^[6] Berkus appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on January 17, 2005, to talk about his ordeal and the loss of his love.

It was a very emotional interview, and Berkus actually helped me cope with what I was dealing with at the time.

And now Berkus has a new partner, finance Jeremiah Brent, and they're making fashion history being featured as models who are also real life couples in a campaign called, True Outfitters.

As The New York Times reported, ads featuring the stylish duo are featured in InStyle and Rolling Stone, among other publications. The "True Outfitters" campaign focuses on pairs of models who are also real-life couples, including Argentinian model and Tulum hotelier Nicolas Malleville and his family and European models Sara Blomqvist and Jeremy Young.

Berkus and Brent are the only gay couples featured.

You can read more here, and view photos.

I love Berkus's line of bedding. I think he's one of the most underestimated designers out there.

Harlem Church Slams Gays

The ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church in Harlem put up a sign that's as homophobic as it is ridiculous.

The sign says:

 "Obama has released the homo demons on the black man. Look out black woman. A white homo may take your man"

Not only is this disrespectful to the President, it's about as inaccurate as anything gets. Before I met Tony I dated several men of African American descent and a few were also dating women at the time. I wasn't "taking" these men, they were making a conscious choice on their own.

You can read more here.

Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent's; Real Women in Romances

Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent's

new Los Angeles home will be featured in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar and you can check out a few photos of what I assume will be some of the photos, here.

You'll also see Berkus and Brent posing in several of them. They do this very well...pose that is. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a Nate Berkus photo where he wasn't striking that proverbial pose. But I mean no snark at all. I like Berkus and I remember some of the things he's gone through in life. And when Tony was going through some serious health issues in 2007, I found Berkus on a talk show by accident very late one night, and listening to what he went through helped me cope a lot better at the time. I actually figured that if Berkus could get through all THAT, so could I.

The couple is showing off their stunning abode in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar, and it leaves little to be desired. It's a midcentury lover's dream, as it was originally designed by John Elgin Woolf, who worked with the likes of Cary Grant. The couple opted for a black-and-white palette throughout, but we're particularly fond of the mint green 1950s stove in the kitchen.

I often ask my brother if he ever runs into Berkus in any of his travels because my brother is a partner in this design firm and his client base includes Lucy Liu and a few other fairly well known people. But he never does, and I would imagine that has a great deal to do with the type of designs they do.

Real Women in Romances

Here's a list of a few more Amazon releases. I'm posting them all here on the blog to try and remain organized because it gets a little confusing after a while. And this way when someone asks, I can search the blog and send a link. It's a nice way of saving yourself time if you are an author and readers want to know something right away.

It's Nice to be Naughty is actually a hetero erotic romance I wrote where I used a handsome young guy and an middle aged woman who didn't have the perfect body or a very active private life. I wanted to do something different here for the real people/women who read erotic romance, so they could have something with which to identify. I also made the woman the boss, and the young guy is asking HER for a job. It's nice to have romances with perfect characters all the time, but once in a while reality is nice, too. And for any gay readers who might be interested, the male main character in this book is one I have a very good time writing about. I also pubbed this under the name R. Field, because it is not m/m or gay romance.

You can check it out here.

Even the nicest girls have to be a little naughty sometimes. Though Sally Mae Frye has worked hard and played by the rules all her life, she wonders whether she's missed something along the way. She's already in her late thirties, and she's still single. She spends most of her time either working or dealing with her aging mother. And then she hires handsome, young Phil Winston to be her personal assistant at the bank, without even realizing he's a sweet guy with a kinky little fetish that will eventually turn her into the sort of naughty woman she's always fantasized about. Sally Mae can't ignore Phil's rough hands and the subtle bulge between his legs, or the way he tends to notice her when she leaves a room. At first, all it takes is a heavy snow storm and a sopping wet male assistant who likes to strip for his full-figured boss. After that, it's all about the way dirty, young Phil knows how bend Sally Mae over and use the palm of his rugged hand to please her.

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Cowboy Howdy is pretty much self-explanatory from the blurb, below. If you notice, I played it extra safe to add the fact that the main characters are two full grown consenting adults because I've learned never to take anything for granted, or to assume anything.

You can read more here.

Payne is a typical gay guy from New York City, with the right haircut, clothes, and attitude. He spends a great deal of time keeping his slim body smooth and well-toned for strong, dominant men. Although he’s not looking forward to his new roommate at first, he soon discovers things could have been much worse. The minute Payne meets Howdy he can’t take his eyes off his huge shoulders, long legs, and the bulge in his jeans. Howdy’s thick Texas accent and his authentic cowboy hat make Payne cover his crotch with a sweatshirt. When he finds out Howdy is there to play football, Payne wants to bury his face in Howdy’s jock strap. In fact, Howdy is the full grown man of Payne’s dreams and he considers seducing him the first day they meet. This leads to an interesting experience that may wind up changing the rest of their lives. Will these two full grown consenting adults fall in love and will Howdy accept Payne’s romantic, subtle advances? Or will he find them repulsive and move out that night?

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Check Out Nate Berkus

Okay, if you love m/m romances with happy endings, you have to check out the Nate Berkus show. Or, as they say, "The Nate Show." I've been DVR-ing it all week and watching it before I go to bed at night. I can't tell you the exact channel. But if you have verizon fios all you have to do is a search and then program it into your DVR.

One night he had Dolly Parton on the show. She sang in all her glory, the lights went down, and Nate actually started crying right there on the set. I'm not sure why he was crying, but it certainly did get the audience into quite a kerfuffle. By the time Dolly was finished singing, and Nate was still wiping his eyes with the sides of his hands, there wasn't a dry eye in the studio.

Though The Nate Show will never feature m/m romances on daytime TV because that's just much to risque, I still think it's worth watching if you're a fan of m/m romance novels. Nate Berkus is the type of gay man I often base my characters on. He's irresistible to women who love gay men, and has a natural ability to connect with these women on an emotional level. And he does it without coming off as a stereo-type. But more than that, he seems like a genuinely decent guy all the way around.

So do a search and check Nate out. Like I said, if you love reading m/m romance, you'll love The Nate Show. And, he's very easy on the eyes.

What do Oprah Winfrey, Nate Berkus, and Quentin Crisp have in Common...

Absolutely nothing. But this has been going around in my head all day and I wanted to get it all into one blog post instead of two.

First, last night I watched "An Englishman in New York" starring John Hurt. It's a made for TV movie I saw on the Logo channel. I loved it. John Hurt played the perfect Quentin Crisp, and the film did him a great deal of justice. I've seen the documentary "The Naked Civil Servent," and I've read a few things by Quentin Crisp. I'm too young to actually remember him, but I'm still aware that he existed. And I think it's important for everyone in the LGBT community to be aware of people like Quentin Crisp. So if you've never heard of him, click onto the links above and check him out.

Second, late this afternoon I was waiting for the roof repair guy. We had a nor'easter here this past weekend and I had a small leak in the flashing on my roof. While I was waiting for the repair guy, I turned on the TV. I'm usually working at four in the afternoon so I never get a chance to watch Oprah. I was thrilled to see that Nate Berkus was her guest. But I was little confused about the theme of the show.

You see, Oprah and Nate were giving away one of those wonderful surprises. Some woman's best friend wrote a sob story about her best friend's sad life, and Oprah and Nate decided to give her something to cheer her up. I think that's fine. It's a little bit like "Queen for a Day," but it's a lot of fun to watch. Oprah's cool that way, and that's why people love her.

However, Oprah didn't get this one quite right, sorry to say. When Oprah and Nate described what they were giving this poor woman, I sat back and folded my arms across my chest. I thought the woman was getting money, or a new car, or that Oprah was going to pay off her mortgage. Instead, Oprah was giving her a date with Nate Berkus. Yup, Nate Berkus, an openly gay man. And she was giving the woman a date with him. So I'm like, okay, this is getting interesting.

And when the woman found out that Nate was taking her to her high school reunion, and that he was going to be her official date, she nearly dropped over. She screamed and shouted; her arms went up in the air. Everyone in the audience screamed, too. And I'm sitting there thinking, "not much going to happen on the way home from that date."

The thing I don't understand is why a middle aged straight woman would be so excited about going out with Nate Berkus, a gay man. They couldn't get Hugh Jackman? Don't get me wrong. I love Nate; I own his sheets and his duvet covers from HSN.com. I'll probably buy more. I also like the concept of making people happy with these wonderful surprises. Oprah does a lot of good for a lot of people. But in this case, if I were a divorced straight woman with a sad story, the last thing I'd want to do is show up at my high school reunion with an openly gay man on my arm. People who live in small towns can be vicious about things like that. I can hear the whispers now while she's on her way to the powder room.

Speaking as a gay man who is not very political and has never considered himself an activist, I think it would be nice to give some depressed gay man a date with Nate Berkus, too. There are plenty of them out there, Oprah. If you can't find any, I'll send over a short list of a few that I know. Because there has to be a nice shy queen like Quentin Crisp, who has always been waiting for a "great dark man" like Nate Berkus to show up on his doorstep carrying flowers.