The Rittenhouse Review

A Philadelphia Journal of Politics, Finance, Ethics, and Culture


Monday, December 01, 2003  

THAT TAP-DANCING GUY
Pete Williams and Mike Signorile (Not a Couple, By the Way),
But More Pete Williams: A Personal Reminiscence

Atrios today alerts readers to the publication of the tenth anniversary issue of Michelangelo Signorile’s Queer in America, and in so doing makes reference to the long-ago “outing” of then and former Defense Department spokesman Pete Williams.

The whole Pete Williams “outing” thing really takes me back. Takes me back to days gone by. Days when I lived in Washington. A Washington where the Pentagon’s chief spokesman would annually perform, with a friend, a rousing tap dance at Christmas parties.

And everyone in the power crowd, or anyone with power in the crowd, which would exclude me, smiled and laughed and applauded and nodded knowingly and said not a word and silently promised each other they wouldn’t say a word and felt all pleased and privileged about being in on the little secret and talked about it in the car afterward and I just went home feeling sick.

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