Elizabeth Bishop liked ladies, man

For the record, Elizabeth Bishop was a lesbian. Not sure why William Logan got all cagey about it in a review of a book of Bishop's letters in the New York Times. Also, didn't they just publish a book of Bishop letters? Is every napkin she ever scrawled on eventually going to be published? I'm just saying, people are kind of obsessed with her. She was a fine poet, yes, but I have a hard enough time keeping up with my email let alone sitting down to pour over Bishop's missives.

Oh, and about the lesbian omission thing in the Times. John Aravosis tells us why it matters:

"We're not even able to marry in most of this country, and the few marriages we do have aren't recognized by the federal government, and thus are not granted any of the 1,100 or so federal rights that accrue to married couples. The fact that one of the most famous American poets was lesbian is a big deal."

I guess Logan didn't have a little voice in his head imploring him to "Write it."

Via America Blog Gay.

A lot of folks don't even live this long

Congrats to Caroline Leto and Venera Magazzu, a lesbian couple who will celebrate their 70th anniversary on Aug. 17.

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

"In 1996 the couple registered as domestic partners in New York City. They said they did it because they felt the need to tell everyone about their life together. ... Years later they moved to Florida, where they got more active in the gay and lesbian community, attending rallies and galas and recounting their story. They lead the life of any Florida retiree couple, going on cruises, playing poker on Tuesday nights with friends. At one point, they adopted a pet monkey named Chi-Chi."

Hey, nobody's perfect.

Gay penguins spawn a good kids' book

And Tango Makes Three, the true story of two male penguins who parented a baby girl penguin in the Central Park Zoo, has been causing a shit storm since it came out in 2005, but I did not read it until tonight, after finding it in the Buy One Get One Free bin at Borders. And I have to say, it's a really good book. For one thing, it feature monkeys ("There are monkey dads and monkey moms raising noisy monkey babies ... and cotton-top tamarin families too"). For another, it's a sweet story about parenting and families and it does a nice job presenting animals as creatures with emotions and intention, which is great if you, like me, want to raise compassionate kids who respect other living beings.

For those folks who are freaked out by this book, I think it's important to remember that it's about penguins, for goodness sakes. Reading about gay penguins will not make a kid gay. Everyone knows that gay men are the result of overbearing mothers. Lesbians, on the other hand, are the result of girls seeing Linda Carter as Wonder Woman in the formative years. Facts.