GayEasterParade.COM • GayNewOrleans.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • Nov. 6-19, 2012 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • 31 big easy paparazzi What's Hot ~ New Orleans ~ Photos by Tony Leggio, Paul Melancon, Rip Naquin Hot ~ New Orleans Photos by Tony What's raises over $7,700 for Buzzy’s Boys & Girls @ Cutter’s ~ New Orleans ~ Photos by Tony Leggio, Rip Naquin raises over $7,700 for Buzzy’s Boys & Girls @ Cutter’s ~ New Orleans Photos by Tony

Art In The Hood

32 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • Nov. 6-19, 2012 • Official Gay Mardi Gras Guide • GayMardiGras.COM GayEasterParade.COM • GayNewOrleans.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • Nov. 6-19, 2012 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • 33 big easy paparazzi Halloween 29 Closing Host Party & Sponsors/Patrons Brunch; In the Clubs ~ New Orleans

34 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • Nov. 6-19, 2012 • Official Gay Mardi Gras Guide • GayMardiGras.COM reVIEW ...from 30 Mario Lavandeira - better known as Billy Brasfield - Billy B. - make-up artist for Lady Gaga, Mariah Perez Hilton from present day to the past and can, at times, be confus- Carey, Beyonce’, Tina Turner, Debbie Harry, Pink, Missy Elliott, and Noah Michelson - edits Gay Voices at ing. I’m sure some will like this book, but to me, there is many more the Huffington Post, senior editor at OUT something missing. Patrick Bristow - actor, comedian, host of Jim Henson Company’s magazine ON BEING DIFFERENT, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PUPPET UP!- UNCENSORED live show Michael Musto - blogger, Village Voice HOMOSEXUAL by Merle Miller was released in Septem- Kent Fuher - Jackie Beat - drag persona, actor, singer, and columnist ...among others. It is a cute, ber by Penguin Books. Miller (1919-1986 ) was a distin- songwriter...WIGSTOCK: THE MOVIE and FLAWLESS humorous, small coffee table book. It would guished presidential biographer, bestselling novelist and Barney Frank - the first openly gay member of the U.S. Congress be an ideal gift for that nephew, cousin, or influential magazine editor. Two years after the Stonewall Sutan Amrull - aka Raja Gemini - winner of Season 3 of RUPAUL’S friend who is having trouble coming out. riots in City he wrote What It Means to Be a DRAG RACE Interesting and a fun read. Homosexual for magazine. It was his “coming out” and a response to a homophobic article in HARPER’S magazine by Joseph Epstein. He bravely put his reputation on the line by writing this ...it was 1971, over 40 years ago ...and it is considered to be one of the earliest works affirming the importance of coming out. It was later expanded into a memoir. The book includes the original essay and letters written by Miller in response to the overwhelming public reaction to the essay. It also includes a forward by Dan Savage, whose It Gets Better project works to combat suicides by bullied teens, espe- cially LGBT children and an afterward by , author of THE GAY METROPOLIS, a New York Times book review notable book. Both men credit Merle Miller and the article What It Means to Be a Homosexual with paving the way for their coming out. It will be a reference book to most people but it is a short read and an interesting one ...a glimpse into the beginnings of gay liberation. BORN THIS WAY, Real Stories of Growing Up Gay by Paul Vitagliano is right on topic with the Merle Miller book, just 40 years later. It was published by Quirk Books on October 9, 2012, right before National Coming Out Day. It is based on the blog of the same name, Born This Way. It features 100 photographs and personal narratives about coming out ...from the 1940s to today. Vitagliano is DJ Paul V., a club and radio DJ and an event promoter ...a self- proclaimed “promosexual”. Most of the “narratives’ are from what would be termed ordinary homosexuals, if there is such a thing. Some of the celebs include: Andy Bell - musician and singer for the synth-pop duo

GayEasterParade.COM • GayNewOrleans.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • Nov. 6-19, 2012 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • 35 36 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • Nov. 6-19, 2012 • Official Gay Mardi Gras Guide • GayMardiGras.COM