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"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people." Oscar Wilde
I'm taking a "leave of absence" from blogging for a few months to work on a couple of books and I need your help: Did you go to a fundamentalist college? Do you have a funny, wild, wacky, maddening and/or tragic story to tell about your time there? Would you be willing to have your story published in an anthology? General guidelines: stories must be first-person, anecdotal, i.e. "This is what happened, this is how I felt, this is how I reacted, this is what they did." If so, please email a 3-4 sentence summary of your story to me at: richmerritt@richmerritt.com. Thanks to everyone who wrote letters and posted comments about the recent unnecessary controversy in Virginia. Here's one last bit of news - a balanced wrap up to the story in the Washington Blade: http://washblade.com/2006/10-6/news/localnews/morelocal.cfm VIRGINIAN-PILOT GRAVELY MISSES THE POINT IN EDITORIAL Dear friends: Dave Mastio, a conservatively-biased (and former member of the Bush administration) editorial writer for the Virginian-Pilot, wrote the editorial below in his Southeastern Virginia newspaper. http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=111657&ran=32819 In an email exchange before the editorial, I explained to Mr. Mastio that Anita Bryant and Katherine Harris are "whores-for-hate" not because I disagree with them, but because their homophobia directly contributes to suicides and hate-crimes. I pointed out that porn stars also have families and should not be excluded from family events and I included a customer review from Amazon.com to show him what my book is really about. I asked Mr. Mastio how tolerant he expects gays and lesbians to be of people, like Bryant and Harris, who seek to destroy us. Either he didn't comprehend my reasoning, or he chose to ignore it. If you'd like to help, please write a letter to the editor of the Virginian-Pilot. Please write from the heart and let them know how wrong Mr. Mastio and their paper are. You can send it via one of the following methods. letters@pilotonline.com fax at (757) 446-2051 Mail: Letters to the Editor P.O. Box 449, Norfolk, VA 23501-0449 If you'd like a copy of my speech, or the email exchange between Mr. Mastio and myself, I'll be happy to send that as well. Semper Fidelis, Rich Georgie, you're doin' a heckuva job! 
Recently someone accused me of having become a "politically correct leftist" because my earlier blog endorsed Murtha.Problem Number One: In an age when "rightists" control all three branches of government, the phrase "politically correct leftists" is an oxymoron. Get with the times. Problem Number Two: Murtha is a conservative. That's what makes his support for a pullout so dangerous for the national tragedy known as George W. Bush. Problem Number Three: Long before it was popular, I was a republican. Then as I grew up and saw the world and learned some things, I became a liberal. I won't go into details here, but it wasn't out of political correctness...or as someone accused me of years ago, "Becoming a gay cliché." There's nothing more cliché than being a white, male, upper middle class homosexual republican who takes advantage (i.e. has gay sex) of all the sacrifices the less privileged GLBTers have made for "the cause." (Think of the legions of clichés: Roy Cohn, Terry Dolan, etc.) When Bill Clinton became president in 1992, I was disappointed and told a friend, "Well, thankfully under our system of government, there's only so much harm a president can do." Wow. That's the most incorrect statement I've ever made. (and how I long for Clinton's third term...) The damage Bush has done to this nation and the world, if not irreversible, will take several generations of dedicated effort to undo. The press has given Bush a free ride for six years; history will not be so kind. Maureen Dowd's recent column in The New York Times explains a few of the many reasons George Bush is a mediocre human and the worst President in modern history.
Friday, July 8th A Tale of Two Bitches 
Beginning in 1953 forecasters assigned only
female names to
Florida's hurricanes. To alleviate this obvious
sexism, in 1979 they began alternating between male and female names. (on a side note, what do they do about
androgynous names
like "Casey," "Dominique," "Jessie" and "Jordan"?)A storm more diabolical than any hurricane devastated south Florida in the late 1970's. It tore through the landscape in the form of the evil whore-for-hate, Anita Bryant. This past weekend a young gay man asked the horrifying question, "Who's Anita Bryant?" Horrifying because as another gay man wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana) 
Anita Bryant
was a singer of very forgettable songs, a not-quite-Miss America (1959) and later a (fired)
spokesperson for the Florida Citrus Commission. When Miami-Dade County bravely passed an ordinance ensuring
equal treatment of lesbians and gay men, Bryant led the effort to repeal the ordinance. Her organization?
What else but "Save Our Children."Bryant made the following outrageous quotes: Don't let history repeat itself! 
Hurricane Harris has devastated Florida and the nation for six years. Remember her? In 2000
Florida's
Secretary of State Katherine Harris in violation of the law, ethics, conflict-of-interest rules, etc.
used her position to help give the presidency to the unworthy and unelected George W. Bush. While it's easy and campy to criticize Hurricane Harris' tacky hair, tramped-up outfits and drag-queen level makeup, any condemnation of this woman should be reserved for what she did, what she's doing now, and what she will do in the unlikely event she becomes a United States Senator in the fall. 
Congresswoman Harris's voting record on lesbian and gay equality is atrocious. No surprise there. What's
really offensive is the comparison made after the 2000 debacle between Harris and Queen Esther. Queen Esther is one of my top ten favorite characters in the Bible (Jesus being first, of course and the love-struck couple David and Jonathan tied for second). Through her courage and cunning, Esther saved the entire nation of Israel from complete destruction. (Disclaimer: Long before I moved to New York, I adored Queen Esther, but how wonderful that because of her bravery, several thousand years later my Jewish boyfriend, the most amazing man alive, could be here for me!) The analogy is that God put Harris in the Florida Secretary of State's office so that she could bravely stand up to the wicked apostate liberals and save America from destruction at the hands of a wicked Democrat. In the Old Testament, Queen Esther causes her nemesis to be hanged immediately. Thankfully for Al Gore (and the environment) we no longer live in Old Testament times. So, yeah, Harris and her followers piss me off. Queen Esther saved a nation, but thanks to Hurricane Harris's treachery, Bush became the worst President in US history. Because of his oedipal daddy issues, 2538 Americans have died fighting in Iraq. No telling how many thousands of others (including one of my closest friends) have been killed in training operations in the US. Hope Queen Katherine is proud of herself. 
The republican party is backpedaling from Harris and trying to recruit other republicans to run against the
democratic incumbent. Poor thing. She proves a variation on the old saying that there's no honor among
(election) thieves. 
We can pray that if Hurricane Harris doesn't repent of her devilish political ideas that she goes the Anita
Way. Bryant divorced in 1980 and she and her current husband have been forced to
file for bankruptcy in
two states. They owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to former employees and other creditors. 
Hopefully, in the case of Florida's two bitches, history will indeed repeat itself. In fact, in honor of
the late Thom Higgins,
who hit Bryant in the face with a banana cream pie, I'll give $100 and a signed
copy of my book to any liberal brave enough to repeat Higgins's act on Katherine Harris. (yes, it MUST
be banana cream pie.) But leave the 67-year old Anita alone. Life's been tough lately.
Thursday, July 7th Congressman John Murtha for President... in 2006! There's no need to wait until 2008 to get the President we need and deserve. Just think, we could have a democrat, a former Marine, a combat veteran, an experienced public servant and someone who has probably never snorted cocaine as our President in less than a year. "Hey Rich, you stupid moron," you say. "Presidential elections aren't until 2008. We're stuck with George the Incompetent until then. Quit trying to get our hopes up!" Au contraire. Here's how it could happen:
See? There's still hope! Let's get busy. There's a little time left to save ourselves, but only if we act fast.
Thursday, June 22nd And the Tony goes to... 
...my very own Jonathan. At least in my book...literally, that is, on page 59. As a child my favorite
Bible story was the romance between David and Jonathan. I end that passage in Secrets by writing, "What
I wanted was my very own Jonathan." Six months after publication and well over a year after writing that
line, I met Jonathan immediately after I moved to New York.
Jonathan is a Broadway aficionado. His report below on this past weekend's Tony Awards is his first entry in this blog. Soon we're going to add a "reviews" section to this website so you can tune in regularly to his recommendations on stage, film and television shows. I'll pipe in on those occasionally but my first love has always been books. Ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu (or is it ado?)...here's Jonny!
As far as winners go, there were no real surprises, except Christian Hoff from Jersey Boys winning Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He deserved it, but the favorites were Jim Dale and Danny Burstein. All Awards Shows are boring. The Tonys are probably the least boring since it has entertaining musical numbers, although they never look as good on TV as they do live.
The History Boys was expected to win for "Best Play," which it did although I thought is was exceedingly boring and highly pretentious. Richard Griffins and Frances De La Tour were shoo-ins for the TONYS - totally expected. RICH'S COMMENT: "Jonathan and I disagreed on The History Boys. I thought it was a fun play (especially when the really cute one takes his pants off early on), with just enough seriousness to make you think, but not too much. However, much of the humor, or humour, is very British, requiring an in-depth appreciation of British literature and history to fully understand. Having always been a lover and reader of Brit lit/history, I know there aren't that many of us around. I've heard a lot of people rave about The History Boys who don't have a clue what most of the jokes mean. In New York right now, my guess is there are many who've seen this show and didn't get it, but are too afraid to admit that, lest others think they are not sufficiently intellectual."
Now, back to Jonathan: The best Musical number was definitely Jersey Boys - it translated the best to the small screen. A close second was The Drowsy Chaperone - Sutton Foster should have won her second TONY. La Chanze, who is a talented performer, was truly mediocre in The Color Purple. She won a TONY for Best Actress as a "Thank you for coming to Broadway, Oprah!" The Purple number was very okay, as is the entire show - not bad, but not good either.
Sad to say, the very enjoyable Wedding Singer looked awful thanks to the not-so-theater-friendly editing on television. It is a totally fun show and anyone who is an 80s fans will love it. Two of the most memorable performances in a musical this season were by Felicia Finley and Amy Spanger - both shut out for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
The Pajama Game looked cute, Sweeney Todd looked somber and boring (a horrible and idiotic production of the perfect musical) and Threepenny Opera was embarrassing and dreadful as is the entire show. I was shocked LISA KRON was nominated for Best Actress for Well - she cannot act and does not belong on Broadway. Cherry Jones, one of Broadway's best actresses, is always nominated even if she would only read the phone book. However, after seeing the long, boring and tedious production of Faith Healer, I can see why she was NOT nominated. Cherry was miscast and seemed uncomfortable in the role. RICH'S COMMENT: "I'd rather sit through a week of Bible Conference services at Bob Jones University than to have to endure the godawful Faith Healer again. I wanted to stand up in the middle and scream 'Faith Healer, heal this play!'" (Jonny again...) Probably the best performance by an actress this season was Julie White in Little Dog Laughed. Since it played off-Broadway, she is ineligible for a Tony nomination. 99% of the awards were predictable and well-deserved. There were no surprises, which made the show somewhat boring. One of the best moments of the TONYS was actually a commercial - a slick trailer for the Dreamgirls movies. I am counting the days!!!
Thursday, June 15th"Our Secrets Keep Us Sick" How many times does this need to be repeated? According to recent news reports about teens and abstinence / virginity pledges the next generation needs to hear this wise advice. Many times. (And my former therapist needs to come out of retirement to tell them!) 
According to the American Journal of Public Health, "About 13% of adolescents reported that
they had taken a pledge of virginity. Just one year later, however, more than half said they
had never taken such a pledge." My, how...convenient! 
The study notes a fascinating connection between teen sexual behavior and religious identity.
"Adolescents who abandoned a born-again Christian identity were more than twice as likely as
their peers to say they had never taken a virginity pledge." "What...me? Born again?
Um, no, you must be thinking of the girl over there in the floor-length skirt." 
The absolute best part of the survey is this: 18% of non-virgins (i.e., skanky 'hos)
who became born-again Christians retracted their sexual histories. Not only does the blood
of Christ wash away all sins, apparently it also restores virginity. But then again, Jesus'
mother was a virgin so perhaps this isn't so surprising. "People's memories of their behavior are consistent with their beliefs rather than their actual behavior." (NO SHIT!)  THE ALARMING CONCLUSION:"If those who deny their sexual pasts perceive their new history as correct, they will underestimate the sexually transmitted disease risk stemming from their pre-pledge sexual behavior." I call this "mental gymnastics" and believe me, I'm a gold medal contender. I understand what is going on all too well. A born again person must believe that they are or have become pure. Many times (18% in this survey) they retroactively apply their newfound purity to their wicked selves. They dangerously deny reality. "I can't have herpes! I'm a virgin!" What this study doesn't address, but I've seen in other reports, is that teens who take abstinence and virginity pledges are unprepared for sex. They don't have condoms and they don't take birth control because they don't need them, right? They're not going to have sex, so these devices of CARNAL FORNICATION are simply NOT needed! Along comes life, as you can see from these photos (nice, huh!?) and mix these faces and bodies and the hormones of a sixteen years old...guess what...sex is gonna be goin' on, I don't care who you call your messiah. Virginity pledges go out the car door window along with boxers and bras ("Oh, that? Jesse! I just took that stupid pledge to get Mom off my back...didn't you see Desperate Housewives?") Human nature is not evil, it just is what it is. Being human dictates that teens will have sex. If they have not taken one of these ABSURD virginity pledges, they are more likely to be prepared for this inevitable reality of growing up. And if they are not living in secrecy about it, they are less likely to get sick from an STD. This is not my opinion, it just is. God knows it, hell, She made us this way! So get real, fundamentalists, and get well. Thoughts?
Wednesday, June 7th KA-BLAM!! ZOWIE! Batman and Robin are STILL in the closet! 
Guess what, guys?The lesbians have done it again. They've proven they are better, braver leaders, i.e., manlier then we are. This dyke's not even a real person, and she's kickin' our gay ass! DC Comics announced this week that Batwoman, who was killed off twenty-seven years ago, will be making a comeback, or rather, a "come out." Batwoman, along with her alter-ego, Kathy Kane, is now an out-and-proud lesbian! Which forces the question...when is the dynamic duo going to do it? Is Batman a top? Was the Bat Cave merely a front for a leather bar? Is Robin versatile? Which one of them came up with the idea of the bat-pole in the first place? Did they ever have a three-way with Alfred? Looks like we'll just have to stay tuned to the same Bat Channel.  As with other celebrities, rumors about
Batman and Boytoy have been circulating for years.
Hmm, with comic panels like this one making the funny papers half a century ago, I wonder why?
I mean, who else but the ranking High Queens could wake up with hair and jammies that perfect? Psychologist Frederic Wertham, in his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent  ,
boldly declares something that sounds preposterous
to unknowing heterosexuals, but seems very obvious to those of us who've enjoyed quiche at brunch.  "They live in sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large vases, and have a butler,"
Wertham wrote. "It is like a wish dream of two homosexuals living together." Wertham asserted,
"the Batman type of story may stimulate children to homosexual fantasies." Of course, Wertham's
description also fit J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Kohn in the fifties, or South Carolina Senator
Lindsey Graham today (so I've heard...) Come on, guys, just do it already! As George Clooney told Barbara Walters, "I was in a rubber suit and I had rubber nipples. I could have played Batman straight, but I made him gay." Well, as much as I love Mr. Clooney, I don't think he made Batman gay...that happened LONG before George came along. But thank you, George, for now that's about all the honesty we're going to get on these two. Where are our role models? In a story that's only tangentially related, Ann Coulter's Godless
comes out next Tuesday, which happens to be the
ominous date of 6/6/06. Is Ann trying to tell us something? Is Ann Coulter really the Antichrist,
as I've suspected for years? Or more importantly, is Ann Coulter really a woman?
Could she be a man? Or something else entirely? What do you think?
Thursday, June 1st Ship 'em back home where they belong! 
What should be done? Legions of illegal immigrants cross the border between the United
States and Mexico. Once in their new land, they form their own communities, build their
own churches and insist on the right to speak their own language.What if? In a decade or two, these illegal aliens create their own government, establish their own army and start a war against the nation whose laws they've broken. "They should be crushed and deported back to their own country!" Isn't that what you'd say? Most Americans would say that, or something harsher, based on the hysteria shown in recent weeks about immigration. 
But I'm not talking about the year 2006. Let's go back to 1830 when
Texas (Tejas) was
part of Mexico. Moses Austin and his son, Stephen, began helping families migrate from
the United States into the Mexican region of Tejas. Much of this immigration was legal,
but as time wore on, many more illegal immigrants entered Tejas from the United States
than entered legally. As the illegal Americans in Tejas grew in number, they became
dissatisfied with the government of Mexico. (who wouldn't?) Eventually the American-Mexicans
rebelled against the national government in Mexico City and after a series of battles were
victorious. For 9 years, Tejas, now Texas, was its own country, known as the Republic of Texas. In 1845, however, Texas became the 28th state, a slave state in the good old USA. Mexico, naturally, didn't like this annexation, and a year later we fought the Mexican-American War. Not only did the USA win this war, we took the land that would become the states of Arizona, New Mexico and the "Big Enchilada," California. THE POINT IS: None of this was "legal." Congressman Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in passing a bill in the House of Representatives calling the Mexican-American War "a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States." (sound familiar?) General Grant, who fought in the war and later became President called the conflict an evil war that brought God's punishment in the form of the American Civil War. "The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times." Many Americans today condemn President Bush's plan to legalize workers already here, calling it "amnesty" for lawbreakers. But much of the western United States is "illegal" and technically Americans who live there are there illegally because it rightfully belongs to Mexico, under any standard of international law. So-called "illegal" immigration from Mexico into the United States is the rightful justification of artificial and historically inaccurate boundaries. Does the mere passage of time right a past wrong? Any fundamentalist would certainly say "NO!" Ralph Waldo Emerson rejected war "as a means of achieving America's destiny," but he accepted that "most of the great results of history are brought about by discreditable means." The problem is that the knee-jerk, closed-minded right-wingers are being typically inconsistent. If you claim that the 160 years since we illegally waged the Mexican-American War and stole the West have made up for any misdeeds on our part, then to be consistent, at some point you must - absolutely must - admit that Mexican citizens who've entered this country without going through the bureaucratic nightmare of immigration processing deserve some form of legitimacy. Please, right wingers, don't take 160 years to give them what they rightfully deserve. Thoughts?
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July 19, 2006
As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must
recruit our children"
