She said not to feel sorry for her losses, but to instead be grateful to be alive. This, from a woman who almost died this year. (Image via video still)

At her Netherlands Celebration Tour stop, Madonna gave a five-minute speech about how AIDS revealed itself to NYC in the early '80s, remembering holding her best friend's (Martin Burgoyne) hand and encouraging him to let go when it was time, and talking about the hundreds of people she lost.

I like the tone of this speech. It is angry. Madonna is still angry about this. And she's even angrier that many people have no idea this happened so recently, or are “forgetting” it.

She's a true AIDS warrior and queer ally — or just plain queer, depending on if you count being an undeclared bisexual who has absolutely had  passionate sex with some women. What other big gay icon speaks up like this about AIDS anymore?

NYT Piece on Madonna's AIDS-Driven “Live to Tell” Performance

And yet, some young gay fan on Twitter thought it would be funny, so he snipped the part where she was describing the prevailing mentality at the time — “they're faggots, they deserve to die” — and posted that, and it's gotten almost a million views from people who are gleeful that EVEN MADONNA now believes this, and/or from people whining that it's wrong for her to use the word “faggots.” Give me a fucking break. The F-word is ugly, but it's not the N-word, and Madonna has every right to use it — and uses it here effectively, to shake the fuzz out of people's eyes.

Really terrible behavior, but it kinda fits with Madonna talking about a generation of the best and brightest gay men being wiped out. I guess that's what's left, young gay men who call themselves boujeeasshoe, stick a Palestinian flag (or whatever else is the latest trend) on their profiles and make a joke about an AIDS speech ...

(Image via video still)

Rep. George Santos (R-New York) is gone.

Santos, in a historic vote, has been expelled from Congress by a 311-114 vote.

I want you to think about all the low-down, no-good, dirty, corrupt assholes who have served in the United States Congress, from the time of slavery to now — and only 20 have ever been expelled.

Most of those were in the Senate in the 1860s for being Confederate goons. Nobody has been expelled from Congress in over 20 years, and only six have ever been expelled from the House (which has hundreds of seats up for grabs every two years).

So Kitara was really that bad.

Santos on his way out:

To hell with this place.

Next stop: Federal prison.

(Image via GerryGeddes.com)

I had the pleasure, last year, of seeing Gerry Geddes in action, reading from his then-unpublished memoir about his life as a gay man in NYC from the '60s on.

Gerry at Pangea in NYC (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

I sought him out because he wrote for Torso for years, and I was in the process of compiling my extensive oral history of that and the other Mavety magazines (coming in 2024, finally).

He is so witty and perceptive, and knows so much about LGBTQ+ life in NYC, his book Didn't I Ever Tell You This? is sure to be juicy reading. Here is how it's described:

Arriving at Columbia University in New York City in 1967, Gerry Geddes found himself in the throes of a political, cultural, social, and sexual revolution beyond his wildest imaginings. Against a backdrop of the anti-Vietnam War movement at its most intense, the cultural upheaval of the fight for racial, gender and sexual equality, the sexual revolution exploding all around him,the vibrant theatrical and musical scene of the late 20thCentury, and the tragedy and horror of the AIDS epidemic, a love story unfolds. a love story of a romantic, 20-year partnership cut short by a deadly disease, of a gay man thriving in the worlds of performance and entertainment that opened up for him in his adopted home, and of the lasting affection he feels for the city itself – the city that formed and changed his life in unexpected and lasting ways. It is a tale bursting with humor and pain and passion and history told in a voice that is funny and touching and powerful, and uniquely his own.

It's out now here.

(Image via Instagram)

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