Petrelis Files

How Soon Before 'Osama = Gay'
Theories are Birthed?

When President Obama announced last night the killing of Osama bin Laden, and a measure of enormous justice had been achieved, I was riding my bicycle home from the SF International Film Festival over in the Fillmore district.

The movie I had just seen was "Circumstance," made by an Iranian-American director, about the not-so-illicit lesbian friendship between two young contemporary women in Tehran who do little to hide their love for each other, and their circle of 20-something gay men.

Checking the cable news channels for the latest, usual boring Sunday night news stories when after getting home, crowds had already swelled outside the White House and were on the television screen. Oh, what satisfaction I felt over the news of OBL's death.

The man who in recent days had to contend with the latest crazy conspiracy theories over his long-form Hawaiian birth certificate, last night stood proud for America and her allies at the Presidential lectern and told the world the exhilarating news regarding the deliverance of long-sought justice over September 11, 2011.

After medicating and celebrating, it occurred to me that there might be people out there concocting "Osama was gay" theories. The gay content of the film set in the Middle East mashed up with the nuttiness of the birther theories, and it gave me something to chuckle over. It's a wacky notion and no truth to the gay theories, right?

In these times when it seems many living and dead actors on the world stage are rumored to be gay I won't be surprised if suspicions about Osama being gay emerge. The Washington Post on May 25, 2010, reported the following details about an "Osama = gay" tape created by the CIA in 2003:

The agency actually did make a video purporting to show Osama bin Laden and his cronies sitting around a campfire swigging bottles of liquor and savoring their conquests with boys, one of the former CIA officers recalled, chuckling at the memory. The actors were drawn from “some of us darker-skinned employees,” he said.

Please, let's hope those gay rumors don't develop.

And congratulations Mr. President, for a job well done.