Bisexuality and John Lennon

I come from a generation younger than the late John Lennon, but I know all about conforming to societal expectations and suppressing ones feelings and attractions.  I denied admitting who I really was for 37 years.  Nonetheless, I surprised to see Yoko Ono state in an recent interview that she thought Lennon was bisexual although she believes he never acted on his same sex attraction.  The take away?  That many of us live lives that hide aspects about ourselves and try to be what we believe others expect us to be.  It can be stifling and oppressive.  Some will likely claim that Ono is sullying Lennon's memory.  I am not of that view.  Here are highlights from The Advocate on Ono's interview:

John Lennon has long been rumored to have been bisexual, and now his widow, Yoko Ono, says he had a desire to have sex with men but she believes he never acted on it.

“I think he had a desire to, but I think he was too inhibited,” Ono told The Daily Beast in a wide-ranging interview published today. She noted that Lennon had to be both physically and intellectually attracted to a partner. “He said, ‘I don’t mind if there’s an incredibly attractive guy.’ It’s very difficult: They would have to be not just physically attractive, but mentally very advanced too. And you can’t find people like that.”

Despite rumors Lennon that had been sexually intimate with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who was gay, Ono says Lennon was not sexually involved with Epstein or any other man.

“Uh, well, the story I was told was a very explicit story, and from that I think [Lennon and Epstein] didn’t have it [sex],” Ono told the Beast. “But they went to Spain, and when they came back, tons of reporters were asking, ‘Did you do it, did you do it?’ So he said, ‘I did it.’ Isn’t that amazing? But of course he would say that. I’m sure Brian Epstein made a move, yeah.”

Ono believes Lennon’s lack of sexual intimacy with men had more to do with societal limitations than Lennon’s sexuality.

“John and I had a big talk about it, saying, basically, all of us must be bisexual. And we were sort of in a situation of thinking that we’re not [bisexual] because of society. So we are hiding the other side of ourselves, which is less acceptable."

1 in 3 American Young Adults Identify as Bisexual

Brace yourself for spittle flecked rants that "the gay agenda" is turning America's youth gay or at least bisexual.  A study (which can be found here) that followed on the heels of one in the UK looked surveyed Americans an just shy of a third of young Americans said that they aren’t “100% heterosexual."  Bryan Fischer, Maggie Gallagher and Victoria Cobb will be no doubt apoplectic.  Older Americans claim to be much less bisexual, although the older generations are much more experienced in denial - both to themselves and the rest of society.  The Advocate looks at the study findings.  Here are story excerpts: 

[H]alf of the U.K.’s young adults aren’t “100% heterosexual,” new research indicates one-third of American young adults feel the same way.  [R]esearchers for YouGov used a modified Kinsey scale to measure sexuality by asking participants to place themselves on a range between "exclusively heterosexual" and "exclusively homosexual."

According to the study, “Overall 78% of Americans say that they are completely heterosexual while 4% say that they are completely homosexual. 16% of American adults say that they fall somewhere in between. In this group, the bulk of the respondents (10%) said that they are more heterosexual than homosexual, while 3% put themselves in the middle, and another 3% say that they are predominantly homosexual.”

Yet a percentage of those who classified themselves as heterosexual admitted to having same-sex experiences. “A large number of Americans who classify themselves as heterosexual still admit to having had same sex experiences. 12% of heterosexual American adults say that they have had a sexual experience with someone of the same sex. “

Notably, the study found that the older someone is, the less likely they are to say their sexuality is on the bisexual spectrum. According to the researchers, “24% of people aged 30 to 44 say that they're somewhere on the scale of bisexuality, compared to 8% or less of over-45s.”

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Music Producer Clive Davis Comes Out as Bisexual and In A Same Sex Relationship

While he is now 80 years old, Clive Davis, the legendary music producer, has come out as bisexual and has confirmed that his last two relationships (including his current one) are with men.  Many in Davis age bracket would have remained closeted, so I greatly applaud Davis for coming out as he has done.  As noted many times on this blog, in many ways coming out as LGBT is the most powerful form of activism one can undertake because it forces family, friends and co-workers to rethink often long held prejudices.  Here are article highlights on this development:

Legendary music producer Clive Davis acknowledges his bisexuality in his memoir that hit bookstores on Tuesday.

“I was only turning to bisexuality after my second marriage failed, so that it was not an issue through my life,” he told Katie Couric during a segment about his book on her talk show. “Neither of my marriages were affected. I was totally attracted to women. When the marriage failed in the mid-80s, I opened myself up to the possibility that I could have a relationship with a man as well as with the two that I had with a woman.”

Rolling Stone reported Davis, 80, wrote in “The Soundtrack of My Life” that he had his first sexual encounter with another man during “the era of Studio 54.” He said he was in a “monogamous relationship” with a male doctor from 1990 to 2004.

Davis, who told Couric he is currently in a relationship with another man, said he “immediately” revealed his bisexuality to his four children and close friends.  “I felt it was private,” he said. “I did immediately reveal it to the people who count. I just didn’t hold a sign up.”

Davis acknowledged attitudes against bisexuality also contributed to his decision to not publicly come out  .  .  .  . 

Davis, who has worked with hundreds of artists including Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys and the late-Whitney Houston, told Couric he hopes his decision to come out will help change attitudes about those who are bisexual.  I’m still attracted to women,” he said. “You don’t have to be only one thing or another. For me, it’s the person. I’m in a monogamous relationship. I respect monogamy, and I hope that this is understood.”

I can already hear the Christofascists shrieking and carrying on about Hollywood and  pop music destroying America's morality.

Romney Exposed for Anti-LGBT Bigorty While in Massachusetts

New information out of Massachusetts indicates that Mitt Romney's anti-gay bigotry isn't something new and that, if anything, his claims to being gay friendly when he ran for the U.S. Senate were just more of his typical lies. It seems that in reality, Romney could not even stand to see the terms "transgender" and "bisexual" in print and went on to kill a state anti-bullying guide for Massachusetts public schools.  It's in keeping with the GOP's desire to keep LGBT citizens inferior under the law and ideally invisible.  The Boston Globe looks at Romney's action and the lie he used to cover up his real  anti-gay motivation.Andrew Sullivan rightly notes "And we all know what Mitt would have done to them in high school" referring to Romney's assault of a fellow high school student years ago who was perceived to be gay.  Here are highlights from the Boston Globe:

Former governor Mitt Romney’s administration in 2006 blocked publication of a state antibullying guide for Massachusetts public schools because officials objected to use of the terms “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ in passages about protecting certain students from harassment, according to state records and interviews with current and former state officials.

Romney aides said publicly at the time that publication of the guide had been delayed because it was a lengthy document that required further review. But an e-mail authored in May of that year by a high-ranking Department of Public Health official - and obtained last week by the Globe through a public records request - reflected a different reason.

“Because this is using the terms ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgendered,’ DPH’s name may not be used in this publication,’’ wrote the official, Alda Rego-Weathers, then the deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Rego-Weathers said in the e-mail that she had been consulting with Romney’s office on the issue.

Stifling the guide’s publication was among steps that Romney and his aides took during his last year in office to distance the Republican governor from state programs designed to specifically support gays, lesbians, and bisexual and transgender people. His critics said it was part of an effort to court social conservatives as he prepared for his first campaign for president in 2008.

“Romney put his own political interests ahead of the safety of vulnerable youth,’’ said Don Gorton, a gay-rights advocate and author of the 120-page antibullying report, which was not printed and distributed until after Romney left office.

About 10,000 copies of the 120-page “Guide to Bullying Prevention’’ were ultimately published in 2008, during Democrat Deval Patrick’s first term in office. It contains advice for school administrators and teachers on how to curb bullying, cyberbullying, and hazing. A two-page section describes how gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are frequent targets of bullying, and it offers contact information to find help.

The 2006 e-mail objecting to the “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ language offers some of the clearest evidence of how some of Romney’s actions in office aligned with the goals of socially conservative activists, a key constituency in Republican presidential primary elections.

Many of the nation’s largest conservative, evangelical, and profamily organizations-such as the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and Concerned Women for America - have opposed suicide prevention and anti-bullying programs intended to protect gay teens
In July 2006, Romney vetoed a $158,000 budget line item that was earmarked for counseling violence victims in the “LGBT community.’’ The appropriation was intended to prevent sexual violence and rape, and also for suicide prevention.The move to block the bullying report immediately followed Romney’s threat to shut down the Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission.

The question of Romney’s sensitivity to antigay bullying was raised anew recently after the Washington Post published an account of Romney’s days in prep school in 1965 when Romney allegedly held a fellow student down against his will and, along with classmates and to the cheers of others, forcibly cut off his long, bleached-blond hair. The student was gay, although not openly, and it was unclear to some whether Romney knew the boy’s sexual orientation at the time. Romney said he could not recall the incident . . . . 

Let's face reality: Romney is a bully, a liar, a bigot and a flaming asshole.  And, if elected, he'll be a puppet of the Christofascist hate merchants.  The nation does not need this type of "leadership."

“Bi-Curious” Summer

That's the title of a column on Wingnut Daily by Christianist Brent Bozell, III, which would be almost laughable were it not for the fact that it epitomizes the Christianist mindset that everything is supposed to conform to THEIR religious views. Especially when it comes to homosexuality. The Christianists want to pretend that we do not exists or that we have rights and a significant purchasing power. With Christianists, the concept of simply changing the channel or that parents - not broadcasters - should be responsible to monitor what their children watch never seems to register on the radar screen. Personally, even though I might never watch the shows that set Bozell to ranting, I applaud MTV and the others that Bozell lambastes for refusing to censor their broadcasting to satisfy the Bozell's Christianist world view. One thought however: Do Christianists like Bozell rant because of their prudishness or because of their own repressed sexual frustration/dysfunction which is threatened by gays and bisexuals? My guess is that it's the latter. Here is a sampling of Bozell's rantings:

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When our culture merchants calculate how to exploit societal attitudes toward the homosexual lifestyle, one factor doesn't enter into the equation. Frankly, they don't give a damn about people who believe it’s a sin against God. Those religious people with their religious hang-ups aren’t likely to watch MTV, so why bother with their silly complaints.

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Religious concerns safely tossed aside, producers are free to explore how best to profit from pushing envelopes. They know that (most) men don’t enjoy watching gay men, but enough do like to watch women flirt with lesbianism to make it a commercially viable enterprise. Enter the idea of women being “bi-curious,” as the slang goes.

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The trend has landed on top of the Billboard pop charts and has dominated the top of the i-Tunes download list in the form of Katy Perry’s song “I Kissed A Girl.” The concept has become so mainstream that she performed her song on Fox’s summer series “So You Think You Can Dance.” She’s also made a cameo appearance on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless.” This summer she’s one of the few female performers featured on the Warped Tour, an appropriate word for her act. Her lyrics have the flirty patter down. “I kissed a girl and I liked it /The taste of her Cherry Chap-Stick / I kissed a girl just to try it / I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it.” Should the public be scandalized? Perry sings that they should not, that it’s saucy, and yet innocent: “Too good to deny it / ain’t no big deal, it’s innocent.”

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That’s all in keeping with MTV, which in the pursuit of profit will film anything short of anyone smoking a cigarette because that, after all, would be to send the wrong message to impressionable youngsters.