Know Your LGBT History - 'The Fabulous Gays' of Steambath

Steambath was a 1970 Off-Broadway play written by Bruce Jay Friedman which tells the story of a man who dies and discovers that the afterlife is in fact a steamroom.

In 1973, PBS aired a production of this play which featured the late Bill Bixby and Valerie Perrine. That production is famous because Perrine became the first female to have her breasts displayed intentionally on network television.

Perrine's nudity was such a hallmark that the inclusion of two gay characters (played by Neil J. Schwartz and Patrick Spohn) seem to be an afterthought.

 That's a real shame . . .  or maybe not as you can see by this clip of their high-stepping performance of "Let Me Entertain You."

Of course I don't consider this clip offensive. I don't necessarily consider it positive either. It's just there.

And it is a performance that I bet you will never see done on Glee. (Editor's note - proceed with caution because there is male nudity):

 

Past Know Your LGBT Posts:

'Bigot makes fool of himself during religious right conference' and other Friday midday news briefs

Well today is the start of the religious right's "Values Voter" Summit and as predicted, it is a cornucopia of homophobia, pandering, and downright idiocy supposedly in the name of God. To get a good view of how inane it is - check out this very short twitter war between the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer and the Southern Poverty Law Center in regards to SPLC's press conference denouncing the lies of the groups sponsoring this monstrosity. Bryan lost by the way:

In the future, Bryan, if you are going to gloat, make sure you have something to gloat about. For all-day updates on this hot mess, go here.


Southern Poverty Law Center Reminds GOP Of The Hate Groups Behind Values Voter Summit - And speaking of the SPLC, the group ran an ass-kicking ad in the Washington Post this morning.

PFOX "Ex-Gays" Denounce Anti-Bullying Bills At FRC's Hate Conference - And we are surprised because?

NOM at Values Voters Summit - Look what crawled its way into the "Values Voter" Summit. Anyone packed the RAID?

Opponents Of FAIR Education Act Smear LGBT Community To Misrepresent Effect Of Law - And look what the organizers of this mess is trying to do in CA.

Punching, Burning, Electrocuting And Stabbing Your Gay Son Will Probably Not Make Him Straight - Awful story.

Paula Ettelbrick, Veteran LGBT Leader, Dies - Thank you for your services and your footsteps for us to walk in. You rest now. We will take it from here ;p.

Tony Perkins comments on SPLC press conference

Today is the beginning of the dreary religious right "Values Voters" conference which will see - amongst other things - GOP presidential candidates mingling with folks who seem to think that God gave them the patent on the words "morality," "family," and "values."

In anticipation of this, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Truth Wins Out will be holding a press conference today highlighting the venomous anti-gay rhetoric of two groups involved in this conference - the Family Association and the American Family Association.

The press conference is the latest salvo in very public fight between SPLC and various "values" organizations designated as hate groups by the organization because of their tendency to demonize the gay community through propaganda, inaccurate rhetoric, or junk science.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council weighed in on the SPLC's press conference:

Perkins said the SPLC news conference reflected an attempt to prevent free discussion of ideas and noted that he doesn’t show up at SPLC events to protest the civil rights organization’s beliefs.

“Southern Poverty Law Center is obviously desperate to try to shut down public debate,” he said.

Perkins is again casting FRC and AFA as the victims, which is what he and others affiliated with these groups have been doing since last year when the controversy began. However, SPLC is not seeking to shut down anyone. If anything, the organization wants to have a conversation as to why the FRC uses junk science - such as the work of the discredited researcher Paul Cameron (a man who claims that gays stuff gerbils up their rears) - to demonize the gay community.

Or why the organization has made the following other inaccurate claims:

• Homosexuals molest children at far higher rates than heterosexuals.

• Same-sex parents harm children.

• Homosexuals don’t live nearly as long as heterosexuals.

It would be in FRC's best interest to answer these charges. However  there will be no conversation as long as FRC double down on the "we are being attacked because of our faith" and "SPLC is trying to shut down the debate" whines.

The organization has YET to come out with a detailed response to SPLC's charges even after claiming earlier this year that it would.