Lesbian Pop Culture Reviews

The Whole 9 Yards: Year in Review

We associate the number nine with extremes: highs (cloud nine), lows (the ninth Psalm, predicting the coming of the Antichrist), good luck and bad. Considering the spectrum of events we lived through in 2010-2011—from the greatest victories to the worst tragedies—the number nine seems a particularly apt symbol for the past twelve months’ happenings. On the plus side, DADT was repealed; on the minus side, a near-apocalyptic disaster devastated Japan. Last year, we opened our Annual Year in Review with the crisis in Haiti, which proves again that life is fragile.

14. I HATE MYSELF FOR LOVING DUDES

Ken Mehlman, campaign manager for George W. Bush’s 2004 run and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, confirmed speculation that he’s a ‘mo. Mehlman also claimed to regret devising the “culture war” strategy using gay marriage as a political wedge, which helped elect Bush to a second term. “I can’t change the fact that I wasn’t [out] when I was in politics, and I genuinely regret that. It was very hard, personally,” he told The Atlantic in August. “If [critics] can’t offer support, at least offer understanding.” Better late than never, we guess?

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