Jack Was Gay ?
According to a recent Washington Post article, in 1964, the FBI under then director J. Edgar Hoover tried to ascertain whether Jack Valenti, then a White House aide, was gay. No proof was ever found, but the revelation illustrates how the FBI operated during the Hoover years. The investigation seemed to focus on Jack Valenti's relationship with a male photographer that one FBI memo described as having "--the reputation of being a homosexual." The investigation did not find any evidence that Jack Valenti ever had a same sex relationship. Jack Valenti was a happily married man at the time of the investigation and, when he was a bachelor, was known to date attractive women. Jack Valenti is pictured here at Lyndon Johnson's swearing in aboard Air Force One. He is in the far left.
After a three year stint at the White House, Jack Valenti became head of the Motion Picture Association and became the chief lobbyist for the motion picture industry in Washington. Jack Valenti held the job until 2004, shortly before his death. Jack Valenti was best known for being behind the creation of the MPAA rating system used with films today (Rated R, PG, G).
The investigation of Jack Valenti's sexual preference by the FBI was part of a strategy by J. Edgar Hoover to gain leverage over the White House by obtaining embarrassing secrets. That strategy was one reason why Hoover remained director of the FBI until his death in 1972. Presidents during Hoover's long term as FBI Director would interfere with the operation of the FBI at their peril.
There has also been a suggestion of a deeper, more psychological reason for investigations of people like Jack Valenti for their sexual preference. J. Edgar Hoover was rumored to have been gay himself. Hoover, who never married, had a long term personal relationship with his aide Clyde Tolson.
Nevertheless, in the early 1960s, allegations of homosexuality could ruin a political career, something then President Lyndon Johnson was concerned about. According to the documents obtained by the Washington Post, then White House aide and current liberal public TV commentator Bill Moyers sought information on the sexual preference of members of the White House staff.
Even in these more enlightened times, allegations of homosexuality can be damaging to a political career, if the right person is accused. Liberal Democrats, such as Congressman Barney Frank, can live outside the closet with impunity. But conservative Republican Senator Larry Craig was damaged by accusations that he had tried to solicit sex from an undercover police officer in an airport men's room. Craig, unlike Frank, was insistent that he is not gay and that the accusations were false.
Source: Valenti's Sexuality Was Topic For FBI, Joe Stephens, Washington Post, February 19th, 2009
A trial opened in Germany on Wednesday with all the elements of a 21st century spy thriller: the Balkan criminal underworld, leaking of state secrets and careless pillow-talk to a gay lover.
Officially, the details are sketchy, but according to media reports, the tale began when former soldier Anton K, now 42, was posted to Kosovo in 2005, officially to work for the German foreign ministry.
In reality, however, the real job of K, whose full name has not been released, was to set up a network of informants on behalf of the German secret service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), reports say.
In doing so, he recruited a Macedonian man who said he grew up in Germany, Murat A, now 29, to be an interpreter and translator, an appointment approved by BND headquarters after background security checks.
The working relationship continued for two years, and in 2007 K's job was extended for two years, but he failed to mention to his superiors the nature of their personal relationship: they had became lovers and had moved in together.
The first that the BND heard of this was when K's wife, whom he had left behind in Germany with their children, revealed he had changed his life insurance policy, replacing her name with his interpreter's as the beneficiary.
The BND then alerted prosecutors, and the two were arrested after being summoned back to Germany on false pretences in March 2008.
K was handcuffed and bundled into an unmarked car by plain-clothes police at a suburban train station, while his alleged accomplice was arrested at his hotel.
Both men were released the next day because of a lack of evidence to hold them for longer, press reports said. They then both spent 40 days in custody in March and April this year. The couple now live near Stuttgart.
According to a statement from federal prosecutors in August, K divulged classified information to his interpreter.
Spiegel magazine reported that this included information obtained by British agents, and that K revealed it "in the bedroom" or by allowing his lover access to his laptop computer.
The latter "then intended to pass this information on either to people in the area of organised crime in Macedonia or to foreign intelligence agencies", federal prosecutors said.
For the defence, however, the two men are victims of a homophobic witch-hunt within the BND, which has been deeply embarrassed by the affair, not least because it gave the interpreter clearance.
It now claims that he has links to organised crime, and since the affair broke, the BND has reportedly been forced to sever contacts with at least 19 information sources in the Balkans.
"There is no evidence to suggest that my client passed on information," the interpreter's lawyer Christian Stuenkel was quoted as saying in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.
In the end prosecutors may only be able to convict them on charges of fiddling their expenses to the tune of close to 15,000 euro ($24,000), reports said.
Story From AFP
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Gavin Rossdale had a five-year relationship with a male pop star. The former Bush singer - who has two sons with wife Gwen Stefani and a daughter from a previous relationship - allegedly had a long romance with androgynous British singer Marilyn in the 80s.
George recalled: "When I was writing Take It Like A Man, Bush were well on their way to rock stardom and he appeared at my house to persuade me not to include him and Marilyn. "I agreed to leave some stuff out but I wasn't prepared to lie. I don't think Marilyn has ever really got over Gavin."
Gang member killed to keep gay lover secret. Criminal Prosecutors in Salem, Massachusetts said Latin Kings gang member Christian Almonte was at his friend's house on the night of Feb. 24, 2008, just down the street from his secret lover Willie Escobar's Methuen apartment, when his friend said he needed a car.
The apartment door had been locked when the roommate got home. Escobar's apartment keys were on the same ring as the car keys Almonte gave his friend that night, Camelio said. Camelio made his case against Almonte during yesterday's opening statements, saying the North Andover gang member killed Escobar because he didn't want Escobar breaking the "code of silence" hanging over their secret homosexual relationship. He also was angry that Escobar was sleeping around with other men.
There's the eyeliner. There's the YouTube video (see it below) in which he declares kissing girls is "not necessarily" his preference. There are the Web photos of him making out with guys. None of it seems to matter. 
Growing up gay is tough. Isolation, bullying and threats will tear a child's soul to pieces. Surviving elementary school is just the beginning. American society continues to punish homosexuals through legislation for simply being born different. Even Barack Obama has yet to tear down the wall of America's last sanctioned hate. 
Dean Sheremet is married to country music star LeAnn Rimes. Don't you just think he is hot? Perhaps a little bit too hot. Rumors hit the wire today that he may be gay. Shit has really hit the fan from The Great Lakes State to The Grand Ole Opry.
