If you haven’t read gay former Texas Rep. Glen Maxey’s memoir about his investigation of Gov. Rick Perry’s alleged homosexual escapades, you can hear the dirt on the Lambda Weekly Radio Show Wednesday morning, Dec. 28.
The radio show, which airs Wednesdays at 7 a.m. on 89.3 KNON-FM, will feature Maxey telling all about his tell-all, Head Figure Head: The Search for the Hidden Life of Rick Perry. Maxey plans to stay over in Dallas for a few hours after the radio show for an afternoon book signing that will be announced during the show. He will be signing copies of the book at TapeLenders, 3926 Cedar Springs Road in Dallas, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
The book, which got its title from an offhand remark allegedly made by a hustler who claimed he serviced the governor, became available for reading about two weeks ago online through Amazon.com. Since then the paperback has become available, and interest seems to be running high in the LGBT community, which has long buzzed with rumors about Perry’s alleged sexual trysts with other men.
Maxey said a book signing he attended in Austin Dec. 23 at Progress Coffee on San Marcos Street grossed him about $1,600 in sales for the $19.99 book. That computes to the sale of about 80 books.
Since the publication of the book, Maxey said he has received several phone and e-mail messages from others who claim they have more information to share about Perry’s alleged secret life. About a couple of dozen people now claim to have the goods on Perry, the author said.
Maxey said that while his book has attracted a lot of interest from bloggers nationwide and the LGBT community, it has also attracted the ire of conservatives who support Perry. The author said he moved from his Austin apartment to a temporary “safe house” as a result of threatening messages he received.
Maxey, who is the only openly gay politician to ever have served in the Texas Legislature, wrote his book after assisting a reporter for The Huffington Post in researching the story. Huffington Post publisher Arianna Huffington reportedly killed the story after the reporter finished writing it and his editors approved it, according to the author.
Maxey said he believes the story was killed to avoid a lawsuit by Perry. The governor’s campaign for president reportedly hired a prominent libel lawyer to send a letter to Huffington threatening to sue if the story ran, according to Politico.
Huffington said she thought the story failed to rise to the standard for publication, an assertion Maxey called a “double standard.” The former legislator, who is now a gay activist, said he believes the story would have been published if it involved heterosexual trysts.
Maxey said his frustration about the book not being published after all his work and his desire to expose Perry’s alleged hypocrisy prompted him to write the book.
Perry is the most virulently outspoken anti-gay governor Texas has ever seen. Rumors about his alleged homosexuality activity led him and his wife to take the unusual step of sitting down with an Austin American Statesman reporter six years ago to refute the allegations.
Maxey also goes into detail on Perry and his own government career in a three-part interview spread across episodes 75, 76, and 77 of the John Selig Outspoken podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/john-selig-outspoken/id260247983).
OK, here’s the thing: There are lots of men who do not identify themselves as Gay (which they see as a cultural label) who may have girlfriends or wives and even children … and still occasionally have sex with other men. In the Black community such men are perceived to be on the “Down Low.” For those of us involved in HIV awareness and prevention such men are referred to by the somewhat clinical term, “MSM”: Men who have sex with other men. These are the sorts of men who gravitate more toward furtive, anonymous sexual encounters in places like motels, roadside rest stops, and airport restrooms, rather than living their lives openly and honestly like respectable Gay men should. It may be that political figures such a Larry Craig and Andre Bauer and Rick Perry are these sorts of men. So when they vehemently deny that they are “Gay,” they may be speaking honestly. It’s just that they like boying around on the side.