Tammy Faye at gay pride festival.

July 9, 2001 9:56 PM

Tammy Faye at gay pride festival. Not much to add here except sometimes people behave better than you expect them to.
posted by rdr (3 comments total)

As noted, she and Jim Bakker did embrace gays and HIV+ people via PTL Ministries, and she later hosted a talk show with Jm [sic] J. Bullock (the actor who's so gay, even he claims he has no idea why he was cast as a ladies' man on Too Close for Comfort), and now her campy gay appeal is cemented by a documentary narrated by RuPaul.
posted by dhartung at 11:03 PM on July 9, 2001

From both articles in the original post: "She embraced them at a time when the rest of America was fearful of AIDS"

Is anybody else irritated by cruddy writing? I'm sure the writer intended for the sentence to mean "fearful that AIDS was transmitted exclusively by homosexuals" or some such thing. I understand that deadlines often make for sloppiness like this, but you'd still hope the writer & editor would put a bit more thought into the story before sending it to print. Then again, we're talking about an AP article posted on Salon.com -- not exactly a blockbuster combination for thoughtful writing.

Or is it just that I'm the only American still fearful of AIDS? Maybe I should'nt be such a worrywart, eh?
posted by Bixby23 at 11:16 PM on July 9, 2001

I think the phrase "fearful of AIDS" in usually intended to mean "irrationally fearful of AIDS." We all should fear it, every one of us who is sexually active, American or not. It shouldn't stop us from living our lives, but if that fear makes us pause and consider the possible ramifications of our actions, well, then that fear is a good thing. My recollections is that what Ms. Bakker and her husband tried to warn America about - long before most people even thought the issue would ever have any relevance in their lives - was the irrational fear.
posted by m.polo at 8:10 AM on July 10, 2001