The Queerness Quiz

Of course, when it happens that an honest-to-God famous person is headlining at one of the symposium events, the QM drops everything to attend.

She greatly enjoyed the talks given by Jerry Springer and Spike Lee, and when she heard that John Waters was headlining DSAGA's Awareness Days this spring, she immediately cleared her calendar.

Now, the QM has only seen one of John Waters' films (Cry Baby with Johnny Depp and Ricki Lake), and she's not all too sure that she enjoyed it, but she is almost positive that she saw John Waters himself last summer, just south of Penn Station; she was walking towards the shuttle stop, and he drove by in a large forest green car. He is the most famous Baltimorean that the QM can think of, and he has a really cool mustache; sucker that she is for famous people and daring facial hair, the QM was inspired to devote this week's quiz to the theme of Awareness Days, which are responsible for bringing John Waters to JHU. You know you want it and here it is! The Queerness Quiz!

(As an aside, the QM feels sure that never has she before written an introduction that had less to do with the actual quiz topic. Don't be fooled the questions on the Queerness Quiz deal with more than just John Waters' mustache.)

Get your answers in by 5 p.m. on Tuesday. You can bring them in to the office, e-mail them to news.letter@jhu.edu or fill out the quiz online (at http://www.jhunewsletter.com).

The winner gets $10 worth of goodies from our sponsors, Eddie's Market and Eddie's Liquors on the 3100 block of St. Paul.

1. Even though she isn't exactly an expert on the ouvre of John Waters, the QM recognizes divinity when she sees it specifically, Divine, the 350-lb. transvestite who appeared or headlined in several of Waters' films. What were Waters' first and last full-length films to feature Divine?

2. What was Divine's real name?

3. How does Homer Simpson like his homosexuals?

4. Unless you've been living with your head stuck in a closet for the past several weeks, you already know that Rosie O'Donnell Koosh-balling daytime talk host and adoption advocate is the latest celebrity officially to announce her homosexuality to the public. While her lesbianism was no secret to her family, friends and people "in the know," Rosie didn't announce her sexual preference just to take a load off her mind she came out in response to a Florida law which prevents same-sex couples from adopting children, hoping that she, like so many other celebrities have done in the past, could put her fame to good use. This piece of Florida legislature was brought under the spotlight when a gay couple, raising five HIV-positive children (three foster kids and two adopted in the state of Oregon), was told that they would have to "give up" one of their foster kids to the state. What are the names of the two men who fought to keep their children?

5. Speaking of famous people: Everyone knows the name of Anne Heche's former girlfriend, but do you know the name of her current beau and father of her freshly baked baby?

6. What are the two main gay initiative groups in the United States?

7. It is people like Jerry Falwell who make the QM long for the simpler days of her childhood, when the only subversive thing about Saturday Morning Cartoons was the numerous blatant references to illegal drug use. The QM was never a fan of the Teletubbies (who are probably the love-spawn of a secret union between the Olsen twins and a pack of Troll dolls), but her complaints that they were ubiquitous and annoying were far different than the complains of Jerry Falwell, who claimed that the purple, purse-toting, triangle-topped Teletubby was gay, and thus a threat to the nation's children. What is the name of the supposedly subversive Teletubby?

8. One of the QM's all-time favorite authors (who gave the world The Selfish Giant and The Importance of Being Ernest, among other works) was charged with being a homosexual and imprisoned for over two years. What was his name?

9. Although homosexuality is on record as far back as the time of the ancient Greeks, most linguists agree that the term "homosexual" wasn't coined until 1869. What is the name of the Hungarian physician who is credited with coining it?

10. In Europe, during World War Two, the "undesirable" members of the population Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped were tagged, tattooed and then sent to their deaths by Nazi-run Germany. Jews were easily identified by the yellow Star of David sewn onto their clothes. What was the symbol sewn on the clothes of homosexuals?

11. Three cheers for Maryland! Recently, the home of those talented terrapins passed a law that makes it illegal to discriminate against a person because of his or her sexuality. Unwilling to give up their right to be discriminatory assholes, the fun-loving religious right stepped up to the plate and organized a group to try and repeal the bill. What is the name of this group?

12. Today, we know that AIDS is an equal opportunity destroyer, but back in the day, people thought that the disease was exclusive to homosexuals. In fact, "AIDS" was not the first acronym bestowed upon the virus. Back in 1981, what four-letter acronym was used to refer to "the gay cancer," and what does the acronym stand for?

!!!Tiebreaker!!! List as many words as you can that contain the four letter series "homo." Here! The QM will get the ball rolling -homosexual.

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