Fair and fantasized

Fox News—or "God's News," as the right-wingers call it—is being questioned again, along with resident blowhard Bill O'Reilly, following an undocumented segment they did that charged that there are more than 150 "lesbian gangs" in the Washington, D.C. area "preying on young girls."

The assertion of a "lesbian gang epidemic" was made on O'Reilly's show June 21 by Fox News "Crime Analyst" Rod Wheeler, who told viewers the problem is nationwide.

Police officials called the segment "irresponsible" with "no evidence whatsoever" to back it up.

Of course, the news that Fox and O'Reilly would air a report that's totally bogus is hardly a shocker. Nevertheless I have to wonder what strange fantasy this one sprang from. Maybe Old Blowhard Bill and Wheeler were out on lunch break one day in D.C., saw a group of young black women across the street and, well, one thought led to another, and another, and still another... Eeeewww... I know, it's really, really gross deep down in minds like those, isn't it?

Encore

Prudes in Europe are all in a tizzy over a new European Union channel on YouTube called EUTube.

Most of the stuff on the channel is pretty tame, with messages about things such as climate change, road safety and human rights, but a 44-second message touting European cinema left some folks steamed in more ways than one. The clip is full of sex scenes, including gay sex scenes, from famous European movies such as "Amelie" and "Bad Education." After some skin, heavy groaning and even a passionate scream, the phrase "Let's come together" flashes on the screen.

"Tawdry and tacky," said one British conservative. "Immoral," said a Polish lawmaker.

As you might have guessed, it's quickly become the most popular video on the website, with the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, having to designate a staffer to respond to the critics online.

Not that most viewers are complaining—one commenter laments, "It's a pity it only lasts 44 seconds," and another exclaims, "makes me proud to have European Union stamped on my passport."

Turnblad trouble

Back over here, in the world of Hollywood filmmaking, actor John Travolta is complaining about the people who are complaining about him being tapped to play the role of Edna Turnblad in the remake of John Waters' classic "Hairspray."

Some people are upset, given Travolta's Scientology background, that he's playing the role made famous in the original movie by Divine and later reprised on Broadway by Harvey Fierstein.

Critics charge that Scientology is homophobic and indeed it was in its early decades, although such attitudes have now been pretty forcefully repudiated by the religion. As to being flaky and cultish, well, that's another thing altogether... Anyway, Travolta responded to the critics last week, saying, for starters, "There is nothing gay in the movie. I'm not playing a gay man."

Well, I guess that's open to interpretation, you know. If "Hairspray" isn't gay, what is?

But leave it to the original's creator, director John Waters, to have the final word. The gay icon dismissed the critics, telling the New York Daily News, "If [Travolta] was homophobic, dancing in that fat suit with as many gay people as are working on this film, he would have had a heart attack and been dead." Waters, who's executive producer on the new version, added that Travolta "is playing a loving mother, not Harvey Milk."

Rush to judgment

Finally, just to show how far into bizarredom homophobia can take folks, the mayor of Fort Lauderdale said last week that he wants the city to replace its public washrooms on the beach with new robotic toilets costing $250,000 each because the current bathrooms are full of "homosexual activity."

"They're engaging in sex, anonymous sex, illegal sex," Mayor Jim Naugle raved to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

The police said there's no evidence of that, but Naugle is undeterred. The toilets he wants to buy only let people use them for a short time before the door swings open.

There's no word on how long the mayor thinks it should take to do your business. Ten minutes? You can do a lot in 10 minutes, you know... Anyway, I guess there's not much point in asking the mayor what he thinks of that European video clip on YouTube?Ķ