Gay Brits

by your guest blogger

I came upon this list which was published last November in Observer Magazine. I've never spent time in Britain, so it's no surprise that I've only heard of three of these people--Tillmans (who's German anyway), Tatchell, and Bourne. Still, it's a pretty odd list, don't you think? I mean: two comedians and a shoe designer, but not Ian McKellan?

There are two novelists on the list. I'd never heard of either of them, but amazon.com tells me they're both published in the U.S., so I should check them out. But if you're picking two gay Brit novelists, these are strange choices. What about Peter Ackroyd? Emma Donahue? Jeanette Winterson? Stephen Fry? Alan Hollinghurst?

Ah well, it's typical of this kind of list. I shudder to think what we'd see if People magazine decided to pick the top 20 U.S. queers.