It’s OK to say “gay” — as long as you’re not in Florida — but let’s just banish these offenders from polite conversation. — I’m old enough to remember when “queer” was a dirty word, scarlet letters gay people were expected to wear with shame. “He’s queer,” the old church lady might say, whispering “queer,” because it was just too awful to say out loud in polite Christian company. It wasn’t until the great…

An open letter to the grand old party of hypocrisy and B.S. — You people are all bluster and bravado these days, but as always, it’s only an act. You love to talk tough like your patron saint John Wayne, like America today is still the Wild Wild West and you’re riding in on white horses to save it and make it great…

I can’t believe anyone’s actually asking that question. — I read an article the other day (one of several I’ve since come across) that singled out the great, legendary Willie Nelson as the 2023 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame least deserving of the honor. I was expecting George Michael, The Spinners, and even Missy Elliott…

“What are you wearing tonight, then?” — Last week, for the first time in decades, Hugh Grant broke the Internet — which they didn’t actually say decades ago. So perhaps I should say, for the first time in decades, Hugh Grant was trending. They didn’t say that decades ago either, but the gist of what happened was…

Radio could be a land of confusion back then — and that was music to our ears. — Kids today are so literal. And nobody caters to that common denominator quite like the modern pop star. The committee-style songwriting that produces most contemporary hits doesn’t leave much to the imagination. You know pretty much everything you need to know the first time you listen to Lizzo’s “About Damn…

Mental incompetence, like one’s prime, can happen at any age. — Over the past 10 days or so, there’s been much ado about comments Don Lemon made February 16 on his show CNN This Morning. He said, among other things, that according to Google, women are no longer in their prime once they’re past the age of 50. Now that isn’t…

To the (White) victors go the spoils — This has not been a banner award season for Black performers. Don’t be fooled by Angela Bassett’s frontrunner status for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Not only is her nomination for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever only her second career nod and her first in 29 years (she was up for…

Why do I love women? It’s never been because of what they’re wearing. — Although I like to think of myself as an overachiever, the best I can be, by Queer Eye standards, my gay sensibility is somewhat lacking. Yes, I love soap operas, the Oscars, Lifetime, lists, and rooms with a view, but try as I might, I’ve never really gotten into show…

How I went from merely accepting my race to proudly and passionately embracing it. — There’s a memorable episode of the ’70s and ’80s TV sitcom The Jeffersons in which Allan Willis, the White son of mixed-race couple Tom and Helen Willis, makes an uncomfortable blanket presumption. While discussing race and jealousy with his sister, Jenny, who is Black, and several of the show’s other…