What Happened to That America? Part II

Pretenses! Ain't that mendacity? Having to pretend stuff you don't think or feel or have any idea of? . . .  I've lived with mendacity! Why can't you live with it? Hell, you got to live with it, there's nothing else to live with except mendacity, is there? 

-- Big Daddy to Brick

Well, boys, I reckon the heat musta got to me yesterday - you know it's still over 100 here ever day, and the mercury don't get below 90 till after sundown - I feel a little foolish now, that I started out talking about sociology and wound up on clothes and disco. And was stone cold sober at the time, too, swear to God. Oh well, maybe some of you enjoyed that little time trip back to the 70's, and I still intend to finish that essay in the next day or so.

But it so happens I've come across a video that is pertinent to the topic. First, in an interview with Don Lemon on the Joy Behar show, here's Randy Potts, grandson of evangelist Oral Roberts, whose moving It Gets Better video I posted here on the Blue Truck last fall:



But what I really want you to see is this video of Randy giving a talk at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa last month, in which he talks about his life growing up in a home where "the clock stopped in the 1950's" - in that America people some mourn the disappearance of. But let Randy tell you what the problem with that America was:

It Gets Better: Oral Roberts' Gay Grandson

Randy has also written an article about growing up in Tulsa with his evangelical family: "Something Good Is Going to Happen to You."


And here's a clip of Oral talking about homosex, from a post I made last year, which should tell you all you need to know about Ronnie's and Randy's struggles as gay teens and men in that family:

Newsbites

The good, the bad, and the WTF:

D.C. Council Passes Equal Marriage Law:  By 11 to 2.  Now, unless the mayor or Congress scuttle it, gays could start marrying in the nation's capital as early as March; and not only D.C. residents, but couples from anywhere in the country.  Of course, their marriage will disappear the moment they leave the District, unless they live in one of the states that recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages.  But still, a tiny bit of good news to offset the recent disappointments in Maine and New York.  Black Christianists in D.C. are still fuming, though:  "God's war has just started," one church leader said, vowing to continue efforts to torpedo the new law.

Another African Antigay Bill:  The parliament of Rwanda, a next-door neighbor of Uganda, is now considering a bill to criminalize homosex or the encouraging of it, with a penalty of five to ten years in prison.  Bloggers are pointing fingers at - you guessed it - Rick Warren, whose Saddleback Church has had operations in both countries.  I'm not saying he's behind this bill, just reporting what Pink News says.

Teen Kidnapped and Raped in West Texas:  Last Sunday, a 19-year-old man was kidnapped by two older men outside a bar in Terlingua, near the Texas-Mexico border, repeatedly sexually assaulted, and his car set on fire.  He managed to escape from the private residence where he was being held by running three miles across the desert to a highway.  The suspects have been arrested and charged, but the Brewster County sheriff isn't replying to inquiries from the Dallas Voice.  Equality Texas director Randall Terrell says that although all the facts aren't yet known, "it sounds like Matthew Shepard all over again."

Roosters in the Hen House:  The famed Shady Lady brothel out in Nevada (the only state where prositution is legal) plans to add men to its roster.  Owner Bobbi Davis, who's already received four applications for the job, says they don't have to be muscle men but should be in good shape, and able to perform once or twice a day:  "Some guys can. Some guys can't."  Dan Savage says a legal, regulated market for male prostitutes would be a good thing; and your Head Trucker agrees. 

Hey, it's honest work:  you can't get a better example of a "service industry" than that, now can you, fellas?  And no middleman.  Unless you pay extra.

Oral Roberts Dead at 91:  Finally. The multimillionaire grandaddy of the "prosperity gospel" movement, who famously threatened in 1987 that "God could call Oral Roberts home by March" if his followers didn't cough up enough dough ($8 million) to fund his medical center in Tulsa. They did, and he lived, but became the butt of a thousand comedians' jokes. Your Head Trucker remembers watching his big tent-revival show as a little kid, and the people coming down front to be touched and "healed" by him - right there on TV - and then how he would pray for the viewers' needs - "You, yes, you! Just put your hands on the television set and pray with me . . . " he would say. I'm not making this up.

Bonus:  Honk to Joe.My.God. for posting this revelation of the really, really nasty mind of Oral Roberts - who spent a lot of time, obviously, pondering all the many parts of the body where you can or can't place the male organ:  "Not in the ear, not in the nose, not in the navel . . . ."