Quote of the Day

“As a kid, I went to church and all I did was look at women’s hats.”

--Bill Cunningham, the New York Times' On the Street photographer and subject of a new documentary. 

Is New York Times Trying to Straight-Wash Farley Granger?

An Associated Press obituary of Farley Granger was published on-line today by the New York Times.  In it, Granger is called a "lifelong bachelor" whose only real romance was with Shelley Winters.  As of this post, there is no mention of Granger's decades-long partner, Robert Calhoun.  In fact, Granger and Calhoun co-wrote the memoir Include Me Out in which they spoke of becoming lovers in 1963.  They became domestic partners and remained so until Calhoun's death three years ago.  Granger was quite open about his affairs with many men and women, including Winters, Ava Gardner, Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents, but it was with Calhoun that he forged a life of nearly 50 years.  I believe that deserves a mention in his obituary, at the very least.  

UPDATE:  The AP article has been replaced with a far more appropriate obituary by Times theater and film critic Neil Genzlinger.  Granger's long relationship with Calhoun is noted. 

Quote of the Day

"There’s not much to do except to keep fighting the epidemic, and those whose actions or inactions prolong it, until I get too sick to fight. I’ll try to die a good death, if I can figure out what one is. After that, thanks to the epidemic and what it taught me about myself, I expect to rest in peace."

--Robert Rafsky, in an editorial first published in the New York Times on April 19, 1992.  It was reprinted today in a retrospective on the 40th anniversary of the Op/Ed page.  Mr. Rafsky died in 1993.  Read the rest here.    His obituary is here.