Rick Perry’s new ad is so gross, and has more dislikes on YouTube than ‘Friday’, which is no small feat. I actually like Friday (haha my shame) but I am glad that people have the sense to give Perry a thumbs down. It makes me believe in this country and the good feeling and smarts and fine taste we possess as a nation.

When I worked in Austin years ago doing club sets at Capital City, people would tell me that the best way to get the audience going was to talk about how Rick Perry was gay. They said he was closeted and that this was an open secret and a familiar joke that had been bandied about the gay community for Perry’s entire political career.

Also, back then, Perry had very recently fired several openly gay government officials who worked in his office, and the people of Austin were angry about it. They said it was an attempt to hide his true identity. He didn’t want people working with him who knew about him. That’s real closet case behavior. You take measures to ensure that you are the only one, because the fewer who know, the fewer you need to protect yourself from. you can keep the charade going for longer if no one is on your team. It seems lonely. That is sad that a gay man has to hide who he is to the point of hurting those he is, but isn’t that how it goes when your live/work space is in the closet?

The ad is insane, like he’s walking in Narnia, the deep dark foresty depths of the closet, wearing the brokeback jacket of all things and talking about how gay rights somehow interferes with Christmas. Did the gays steal Christmas? Is GLBT the new Grinch?