The Bilerico Project

Father Tony Will Talk About His Play on 'Stonewall Live!'

Father Tony — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:30:00 -0500

I will be interviewed by BlogTalkRadio's Nate Klarfeld on his show Stonewall Live!, on Sunday, May 13th at 9PM EST, about my play A Letter From The Bishop which will have its New York City reading on June 11th at St Clement's Off-Broadway Theater. You can listen to the live broadcast here You can also call in to the show to speak with me at (805) 830-8355. I will be leaving a party early that night to do this interview, so if I sound suspiciously animated, the good news will be that I didn't fall into their pool with phone in hand.

A Letter From The Bishop is a play about the friendship shared by three gay priests and how they react to their homophobic bishop's demand that all his priests read a letter ordering Catholics to vote against same-sex marriage. One of the priests objects to the bishop's demand. This alters his friendship with the other two and leads to a confrontation with the bishop. The answer to the question "Will he or won't he read the anti-gay letter?" is revealed in the final scene. For more info about the play: click here for more information.

The Musik/Dance/Love of Andy Kuncl

Father Tony — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:00:00 -0500

How did a boy from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who memorized Janet Jackson dance routines and learned to dub his vocal creations on a dual cassette tape boom box, who became an organic farmer because of a romantic attachment to a man, and who became a professional back-up hip-hop dancer for a San Francisco drag queen before returning to his musical roots, find himself living in the Bushwick neighborhood of New York City with a gorgeous new five song EP on his own label, 3KB Records, entitled Musik/Dance/Love that fuses the major elements of his life?

When Andy Kuncl tells you how this all came to pass, you begin to doubt his age--a mere 36. No slouch, he is also not hyper. He has a calming personality and a serenity of heart. All his energy gets fed into his art rather than the talking about his art. He is lanky, pale and with a strokably bushy red beard and merriment in his eyes. He is the kind of man that boyfriends might describe as sweet, low-maintenance and easy-going. (The Bushwick boyfriend of five years was not asked to verify this guess.)

A tour of the bare facts of his life seems colorized even in outline form.

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I Still Get Letters for the Confessional

Father Tony — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:30:00 -0500

Remember when I answered weekly letters to Father Tony's Confessional? They still arrive. I should remember to share them. This one arrived yesterday and is classic:

Dear FT,

I belong to a very conservative church and am trying to weigh the options of either remaining single forever or finding a guy to spend my life with. 28 years is impressive, good for you. Since I hope that I can one day be in a stable relationship, I was hoping that you would be able to disprove the notion that gay couples are incapable of fidelity and that the only ones who stick together have found a way to work an open relationship. My guess is that if there is any truth to the statistics, that it is because same sex marriage was not yet legal at the time of the study. That, in my opinion, makes a big difference. So how have you managed to resist the urges (if there even are any) to not remain true to each other, or how have you made it work despite that?
Thanks,

XXX

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What They Don't Tell You

Father Tony — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:00:00 -0500

I assumed from the moment I first saw him, that he and I would grow old together. I figured we'd lose our looks apace, and that affection in our hearts would supplant inspection by our eyes once we became old.

I assumed that physical attraction was like those fuel barrels that boost a rocket through the heat of the atmosphere and then are detached and are cast off to orbit the earth. Like debris. Like memories.

Why didn't anyone tell me 28 years ago, that when the man I mustered the courage to approach and talk to at that dismal bar in that wretched little city would turn 50, I would see only the man I first saw on the night we met.

That is what no one tells you. Your lover doesn't age in your eyes! When I look at him on this, his 50th, I see exactly the same face I saw then. Why didn't anyone tell me this amazing truth? My guess is that this truth is economically inconvenient. If we assume that the passage of time will render us as undesirable as an old dishtowel, we will lay out cash to fight the imagined enemy. We will be anxious about the future of our faces.

I always knew they say that love is blind, but I thought they meant to youthful details. I didn't think I'd be blinded by the sight of my beautiful husband forever, but I am. That's what they don't tell you.

Livestream of My New Play: 'A Letter From The Bishop'

Father Tony — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:00:00 -0500

In November of 2011, I wrote "A Letter From The Bishop", a play about three gay priests and their Catholic bishop who is against marriage equality. It is also about promises, obedience and conscience.

Most of you are familiar with the energetic homophobia of the Roman Catholic bishops of America, but obscure is the soul of the gay priest who must follow that agenda. Or not.

Although the characters are entirely fictional, the business of the play is being repeated in cities across the country. The readers are Ken Averett, Philip Brisbois, Tim Rogers and Chad Thilborger. (That cast includes an Episcopalian priest, an ex-Jesuit and two professional actors. You'll be hard pressed to assign the labels correctly!) The reading is hosted by Stonewall National Museum and Archives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida tonight at 7pm. You may also choose to watch it here.

Michael Carroll Is Edmund White's Stroke of Good Fortune

Father Tony — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:00:00 -0500

The writers Edmund White and Michael Carroll said, "We have not discussed it. We are not big on discussion. Everything is a tacit discussion."

Such was their first response to the suggestion that White's having suffered a stroke may have upset their seventeen year partnership, enduring companionship, and deep affection for each other - a mutual devotion that rings clearly between the lines of their description of the medical emergency and its aftermath.

White and Carroll, in Key West for their annual January visit, had just returned from nearby men's resort Island House where they engaged the popular poolside services of the guesthouse masseur. Relaxed, they described White's stroke and its alteration of their daily routine. (White did become excited when he later spoke about the immediate success of his newly published Jack Holmes and His Friend, which ushered in a lively discussion about extraordinary penises, glory holes and categories of sexual fantasy. Read on.)

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Tom Judson Sings His Way Out of Gus Mattox

Father Tony — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:30:00 -0500

When I checked in at Island House, Key West's fabulous clothing optional gay guesthouse, on December 17th, owner Jon Allen supplied a ticket to see Tom Judson perform that evening on stage at the Tropic Cinema. Jon, who is on the Tropic's board and is working to get more live gay entertainment in Key West, was also hosting singer/composer/author/Broadway performer Judson - aka ex-porn star Gus Mattox - at Island House which made the prospect of lounging poolside even more attractive.

His cabaret-style performance that night was a delightful surprise that unleashed the talent and charming personality of a man known to many of us only by the sweat of his brow in the course of his successful two-year gay porn career. Next morning, at poolside breakfast, I had a chance to get acquainted with Judson who, at a boyish 51 years of age, is attractive, happy, energetic and enjoying a "fourth act" that is really a return to his prepornular musical career. (There was also a stint as a house renovator/flipper.)

When I asked him to describe "The Tom Judson Show" in terms of his experience and collaborative decisions about what elements of his past to include or emphasize, he said, "It feels like I've done just about everything in showbiz that one can do. I've sung and danced on Broadway, acted in straight plays, written music for film and television, served as musical director/arranger for other performers. You name it. But one genre that had somehow escaped me was 'cabaret artiste,' so I thought the time was ripe."

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Just JoeKing: Is It Gay-Funny Or Gay-Hateful?

Father Tony — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:00:00 -0500

Cartoonist Joe King, who on Facebook lists "Christian satire" as his primary activity, has produced a 2012 wall calendar called "I'm Not Gay, I'm Just A Sissy" (subtitled "12 Months of Sexual Confusion - Not that there's anything wrong with that!".) The strong LGBT online reaction to its content got the calendar kicked off Barnes & Noble in a firestorm that illustrates the sometimes blurry line between satire and hate-speech.

Andy Towle got the ball rolling on Towleroad when, on December 27th, he simply highlighted the fact that a reader was upset to find the calendar for sale on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.

On December 30th, The Pink News, "Europe's Largest Gay News Service", notes that the calendar remains available on Amazon-UK, and reports, "One of King's cartoons depicts Paul Revere riding on horseback and shouting "The sodomites are coming! The sodomites are coming!". [The calendar] is dedicated to the memory of the US revolutionary hero and to gay rights opponent Anita Bryant."

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GLAAD's Blue Carpet Gala in Fort Lauderdale

Father Tony — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:00:00 -0500

On Saturday December 3rd, The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) held its inaugural "Blue Carpet Gala - A Star is Born" presented by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and ROKK Vodka and hosted by John Evans and Steven Wozencraft at their Fort Lauderdale home. The Blue Carpet Gala helps raise funds for GLAAD's work in Florida and across the nation to bring culture-changing stories that increase understanding and build support for full LGBT equality to millions of homes, schools and workplaces.

Event chair Cordey Lash, said, "GLAAD South Florida is here to stay. Creating fair, safe and inclusive messaging in south Florida is the only way to go. Thank you GLAAD!"

100% JackMack For AMFAR In Miami Beach on Saturday

Father Tony — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:00:00 -0500

No one reads the text when it's up against a photo of Jack MacKenroth (newly inducted into POZ Magazine's POZ100) but if you want to see Jack in the flesh and have him sign a copy of his steamy calendar, with all proceeds going to support AMFAR and AIDS research, get yourself to the Palace, 1200 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, on Saturday, 4-6PM. More photos after the break.

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Catholic Intellectuals See LGBT Church Equality as Inevitable

Father Tony — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:30:00 -0500

More Than A Monologue billed itself as "an unprecedented collaboration--2 Roman Catholic universities and 2 non-denominational divinity schools are coming together to change the conversation about sexual diversity and the Catholic Church. For too long, the conversation on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in the Roman Catholic Church has been only a monologue--the sole voice being heard is that of the institutional Catholic Church. We must engage in more than a monologue by having a 21st century conversation on sexual diversity, with new and different voices heard from."

The themes of the four conferences seemed courageous in their approach to the frontline issues that separate the average American Roman Catholic (statistics show that most of them are in favor of LGBT equality) from their without-exception homophobic bishops:

Learning to Listen: Voices of Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church Fordham University, 9/16 Lincoln Center Campus, New York, NY

Pro-Queer Life: Youth Suicide Crisis, Catholic Education, and the Souls of LGBTQ People Union Theological Seminary, 10/1 New York, NY

Same-Sex Marriage and the Catholic Church: Voices from Law, Religion, and the Pews Yale Divinity School, 10/22 New Haven, CT

The Care of Souls: Sexual Diversity, Celibacy, and Ministry Fairfield University, 10/29 Fairfield, CT

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Shooting the Rapids with 12 Gay Men for 8 Days!

Father Tony — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:30:00 -0500

When Alyson Adventures' Zach Moses suggested I join their "all gay male 8 day whitewater rafting/hiking tour of the Grand Canyon" I gamely agreed, thinking that an invitation made by a naked guy poolside at the Island House in Key West would be soon forgotten. Three days later, he called to confirm my place in the last tour of the season. When I shared the news with my husband (whose work schedule would keep him from joining me) he said, "You? You're going camping? In a place with snakes and scorpions, and no bathroom?" I replied archly that Zach must have sensed my essential ruggedness, but my husband's humming the theme song to Green Acres stayed with me throughout the trip.

Happy to report my return alive, I saw no snakes or scorpions. I did see what might be the most uniquely beautiful place on/in earth. The Grand Canyon--I had always assumed it to be just a distended ditch--is the only place that literally deserves the words "gorgeous" and "awesome". For eight days, we drifted past soaring stratified rock exposing the geology of hundreds of millions of years. At night I slept naked beneath only the brilliant and forgotten blanket of stars and streaking comets. I met and bonded with a group of remarkable men who kept me alive in the high places while gently coaxing me out of my comfort zone and into adventure. This is the first installment of my account of a life-changing trip that I hope you will experience for yourself. (They also offer lesbian and mixed trips.)

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Bronson Lemer

Father Tony — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:00:00 -0500

The unrelenting ordinariness of gay vet Bronson Lemer makes him the perfect face and voice of the first post-DADT Veterans Day. It also makes him as sexy as two of his better-known fellow gay vets whom I have had the honor of interviewing repeatedly, the fiery preacher Dan Choi and the magnetic heartthrob Reichen Lehmkuhl.

Bronson Lemer is a regular, standard-issue American guy. I heard this in his unrehearsed voice during our conversation about the upcoming holiday, and about his recently published book describing his deployment in Iraq, The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq (University of Wisconsin Press).

Lemer, who grew up on a farm in North Dakota and was named after movie star Charles Bronson, likes chocolate and peanut butter. And Oatmeal Crisp cereal. See what I mean? His memories of a wild time encompass only a brief college phase in which he sported a fauxhawk and drank some tequila. My shockometer is unmoved. Also during his college years, Bronson was part of the National Guard, which he had joined while in high school. A few months short of the end of his National Guard obligation, he received the letter telling him of his deployment to Iraq in January 2003.

He described his reaction to that letter: "I was pretty bitter. I thought the military was not the place for me. I was an engineer and a carpenter. I was sure the military was the wrong profession. I didn't like the 'hurry up and wait' aspect of the military. Also, I had come out to a lot of my friends, but not to my fellow soldiers. Even though it was against DADT rules, some military personnel asked me if I was gay. I always said no."

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Gay in Mexico: A Cautious Quinceañera

Father Tony — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:00:00 -0500

In Mexico, the fiesta de Quinceañera marks a girl's fifteenth birthday and is often celebrated with her first application of make-up, permission to dance, and an elaborate party. According to the panel of writers speaking at the King Juan Carlos Center at New York University on Sept. 21, 2011, Mexico's LGBT community is enjoying a similar transition, but any celebration marking the huge strides in legal equality should be a careful one because the safety of those who are out in Mexico is not yet guaranteed.

The subject of the evening was the recent publication of a book celebrating the contributions of gay artists and writers to Mexican culture. The title of the book, México se escribe con J (Mexico spelled with a J), was explained by one of the panelists, Michael Schuessler, Professor of Humanities, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, who is also the book's co-editor.

"It's a play on words that has to do with the historical argument about the spelling of the word 'Mexico.' Some reactionaries wanted the j instead of the x. The letter j or jota is also a pejorative term for gays in Mexico. Supposedly, this comes from the time of the Bal (an infamous 1901 gay party, at which half of the men were dressed as women, raided by the police of Mexico City.) When all the attendees were brought to the jail, they were imprisoned in the "J" wing. Some disagree with this explanation and say that the "jota" refers simply to the Jack in a deck of cards."

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Dallas Rides Into Town with a Cute Cowboy in the Saddle

Father Tony — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:00:00 -0500

At the world premier of Logo TV's new gay reality series The A-List: Dallas, a Manhattan audience of screaming twinks oohed, aahed and squealed with delight at the size of the McMansions of the cast, at the size of the drinks they knock down, at the size of their hair or their Stetson and at the repeated allusions to the size of their penises - or in the case of the lone female at the size of her breasts. This is, they say, the essential upper crust of gay Texas, and The A-List franchise, having sought a second home outside New York City, could not have chosen a more pleasing locale for its audience.

The Technicolored cast includes Phillip, 23 and a stylist/sharply fanged butterfly who says he is blessed to be able to touch the designer goods he pushes on his clients; Ashley, 25, a gorgeous photographer who loves her gays, her husband and her Jesus; James, 25 and a trust fund baby who is looking for love in a double Martini, often for breakfast; Taylor, 27 and an unapologetic Republican/Christian fundraiser who has the Bible downloaded on his iPad; Chase, 27, an investment banker who sounds more like a bank teller trainee and says in the first episode "People really do envy my life. It has everything to do with my hair;" and finally Levi Crocker, a familiar face in Fort Lauderdale where he spends the winter months tending his growing retail business, Inchwear, and mingling with the cowpokes and horsemen at the Bergeron rodeo grounds in Davie.

Levi is destined to be the heartbreaker of the show, not just because he is the only real cowboy in the cast but because speculation and reports about the size of his endowment constitute a good portion of the script. He is also a sly charmer who, in the course of our meeting, told me much about his life while diverting my eyes by stroking his large brass steerhead belt buckle.

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