Charles Alexander
Parting Glances: Nickname Footnotes to Stonewall
Fifty years ago when gay ID closets were leased for a lifetime, it was SOP – standard operating procedure – to go by a catchy nickname. Some gay/lesbian Detroit monikers I recall as now-and-then friends are: Little Bobby, Little Pat, Estralita, [...]
Parting Glances: May Babies May Be Gay Babies!
The "Coffee Table Book of Astrology" tattles that "taurus is the astrological sign of sexual deviancy." Or, as a friend of mine used to tell me year after year of our 40-year friendship, "Brandy" — his nickname for me, as in the alcoholic beverage, [...]
Parting Glances: Have a hateful Easter for Jesus
Just in time for Easter 2019, Fools for Christ (and Donald Trump) — an American Bible GOP group headquartered in Lumbago Falls, Texas — held a press conference on Palm Sunday to publicize "National Hate Someone Special for Jesus Week." Fools for [...]
Parting Glances: A Hug in Time
An open house I attended a blossoming spring or two ago was winding down at the home of BTL co-publishers Jan Stevenson and Susan Horowitz. Two boys of some of the invited party guests were fussing over who'd get to release balloons at the festive [...]
Parting Glances: Alexander Birth: a Guinness First?
As a gay teenager, I hung out at the Hub Grill in downtown Detroit, a greasy spoon of a place, located at the corners of Farmer and Bates in convenient walking distance of four quite popular gay bars, City Hall and the 1st Precinct Police [...]
Parting Glances: Go for Gluten-Free Communion Wafers
According to a tad too many fundygelical church know-it-alls, we LGBTQs are doomed to spend an eternity in hell. (Purgatory be damned!) So agree President Trump and VP Mike Pence, America's hand-me-down present political and past-tense, self-styled [...]
Parting Glances: Remember Life! Keep 45 in Mind!
For over 50 years Life magazine informed Americans about what was happening here and abroad. Photos and content were dramatic. Mostly conservative. Occasionally controversial. Once in awhile downright shocking. Life folded in 1973. Circulation 13 [...]
Parting Glances: The Queer Occasion of Sin
Perhaps it's ironic — if not a touch appropriate given his name — but a prominent Villanova University professor is quoted at the beginning of 2019 as saying the Roman Catholic Church is facing its greatest crisis in 500 years. "This is not like the [...]
Parting Glances: Capnippers and Boners Go Gay!
A veterinarian funded study by People & Friends of Cats and Dogs, or P-FCD, reports that "persons of rainbow personality make the best dog owners, but have little influence on pussies, er, cats, although this should not be misconstrued as [...]
Parting Glances: Black, Gay, Detroit Friends (Pt. 4)
For decades, a seeming legitimate requirement asked for admission to Detroit gay bars was three pieces of ID, including one with photo selfie (in or out of drag optional). The request was intended to keep white bars whites only and, in some cases, [...]
Parting Glances Black Gay Detroit Friends (Pt. 3)
I had my picture taken a year ago with actress Lily Tomlin, who was in Detroit — her native city — as speaker for an LGBTQ fundraiser. I was wearing a blue-patterned hoodie I had designed for ArtWear Detroit. And the juxtaposition of my design wear [...]
Parting Glances: Black Gay Detroit Friends (Pt. 2)
The year I graduated as a commercial art major from Detroit's prestigious Cass Technical High School I did not attend my senior prom. As a gay male I had no interest in dating a female classmate, although I deemed myself "hip" sporting a ducktail [...]