Hollywood Columnist Army Archerd Dies at 87

Longtime Daily Variety reporter and Hollywood gossip columnist Army Archerd has died at 87. He brought a disease that was taboo and in the process of killing millions out into the light by talking publicly about Rock Hudson. L.A. Times:

"Archerd's biggest scoop was published July 23, 1985, the announcement that Hudson was battling AIDS. The actor had never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, and became the first major Hollywood figure to be linked to the scourge. 'The whispering campaign on Rock Hudson can and should stop. He has flown to Paris for further help. . . . His illness was no secret to close Hollywood friends, but its true nature was divulged to very, very few. Doctors warn that the dread disease is going to reach catastrophic proportions in all communities if a cure is not soon found.' The story sent shock waves around the world. 'It was a thunder strike,' said Bob Thomas, the veteran Associated Press reporter who helped get Archerd his first reporting job in 1945. For two days, Hudson's representatives maintained that the actor had flown to Paris to be treated for liver cancer or unexplainable fatigue. 'Someone had anonymously mailed him [Archerd] a photocopy of the doctor's records,' Archerd's wife, Selma, told The Times in 1999. 'And he'd had them for months, but it was so devastating to print it. It was so shocking -- someone that you actually knew! But he waited until Rock was really out of it. The press agents tried to discredit Army. His [previous] editor said he might have to retract it. And Army said, 'Please don't do that to me. The story is right.' And, of course, it proved to be right.'"

Pat Boone: 'I Love Gays'

Pat Boone defends the column he wrote last week in WingNutDaily comparing Prop 8 protestors to the terrorists in Mumbai, saying he loves gays, and has the stories to prove it.

****COLUMN EXCERPT***

"I need to say right here, honestly and unashamedly – I love gays. I always have, always will. I have proved it, over and over. I met my first homosexual friend while I was in high school. He was a Navy veteran who had come back to finish his schooling. He put his hand on my thigh while we were parked at a fast food drive in. I was a cow milker with a vise-like grip, and after I nearly squeezed his wrist off, letting him know he had the wrong guy, he said, 'I guess you'll tell everybody, and I'll get kicked out of school.' I assured him I wouldn't, and I told nobody. I really felt empathy for him, because he obviously was not a happy man. I've been in the entertainment business for over 50 years now, and I've had many dear and close friends, guys (and some gals) I have loved who were practicing homosexuals. How could I not? We forged real friendships, never strained or awkward. We each knew the other's perspectives and respected them. Every one of them can tell you that I've never condemned or made them uncomfortable, in my home or theirs, though they knew I couldn't approve their sexual practices. So what? We were friends, and we could be honest with each other...

"Years ago, I sat by the bed of one of my closest friends as he lay dying in a VA hospital. AIDS didn't have a name yet, but that's what was killing him. His teeth had fallen out; he had no immune system left. We prayed together, and I saw him off to heaven. I loved Roger.

"Later (you may be surprised to learn), I really went out on a limb and wrote two books, about and with homosexual friends. The first was "Joy: A Homosexual's Fulfillment," and the second "Coming Out: True Stories of the Gay Exodus." They were written with a longtime lesbian, a former very promiscuous male homosexual and with a transsexual man who had emasculated himself in an effort to be a woman. They'd been down the whole road and back again, and they told me their stories and how they'd each been able to leave the homosexual lifestyle. This was not expedient for me as an entertainer, but I did it out of real love for gays. I do care.

"...I prayed with Rock Hudson and placed my hands on his bony chest, anointing him with oil, right at the end of his life. He couldn't speak because of the lesions in his throat, but the grateful glow in his eyes told me all I needed to know. There was love between us – and I saw him off to heaven, too. I know I'll see him there again.Me, homophobic? Ridiculous. I love my homosexual friends, but I detest these irresponsible street tactics that can and do lead to violence."

***END***

Previously
Pat Boone Compares Prop 8 Demonstrators to Mumbai Terrorists [tr]
Pat Boone Helms Homophobic Robo-calls in Kentucky Governor Race [tr]

Gay Sex and Game-Fixing Alleged in Book on '62 Kentucky Football

A new book on the 1962 University of Kentucky Wildcats football team which contends that a game between UK and rivals Xavier University was fixed is stirring up controversy over its gambling allegations. The author's game-fixing claims, which are being disputed by players and the wife of the head coach at the time, were formed around an investigation which unearthed a less-disputed tale of local parties with Hollywood guests, most notably Rock Hudson, at which players would perform sex acts for money.

The Lexington Herald Leader reports: "According to [author Shannon] Ragland's account, some UK players in the early 1960s became involved with two gay men who had moved to Lexington around 1959. The two men were luring players to their Lakewood Drive residence with offers of free food, alcohol and parties even before Bradshaw became coach, the book says. Eventually, according to Ragland, some players submitted to gay oral sex in exchange for money, receiving $200 or more for each act. At some point, Ragland writes, movie star Rock Hudson became involved through his friendship with one of the party hosts. (Hudson died of complications from AIDS in 1985.) Ragland contends that the players involved probably didn't view themselves as taking part in gay sex. Rather, he says, they felt they were 'gaming' the situation. 'It was like, 'I'm getting paid for doing this? I'm putting something over on them,' Ragland said. 'Most of these guys were from rural areas and modest backgrounds. They had no real concept of homosexuality.' Kay Collier McLaughlin, whose father, Blanton Collier, preceded Bradshaw as coach at UK, says Ragland's account rings true. McLaughlin said a UK player told her about the Rock Hudson connection shortly before her father left UK, noting that she alluded to the gay-sex situation in her own 1985 book about her father. McLaughlin said she has 'reservations' about Ragland's game-fixing suggestion, 'But I don't have any doubts about the Rock Hudson stuff.'"

Ragland alleges that because of these parties "boys...were in a position to be bought" either for the want of cash or due to threat of blackmail.

The dirty thirty? [lexington herald-leader]
(via outsports)

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