(no subject)

[jenk]

Gay men came to embrace [Tammy Faye] Messner as a camp figure, making her the subject of gender-bending look-alike contests. She embraced them as well. She began attending gay pride events, and in 1996, she became the co-host of a syndicated television talk show with Jim J. Bullock, an openly gay actor.

“I refuse to label people,” Ms. Messner said in a 2000 documentary, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” when asked about her attitudes toward gay rights. “We’re all just people made out of the same old dirt, and God didn’t make any junk.”

- NY Times Obituary

I was not a Tammy Faye fan even when my aunt was sending the PTL Club $100/month, but this is still a nice thing to include in the obit. Mel White wrote in Stranger at the Gate that he found Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker to be uncommon among the televangelists he ghostwrote for in their support of gay rights. Of course, I'm sure Pat Robertson sees this as just another example of Messner's poor judgement...