AUSTRALIA: Armistead Maupin & Husband Denied Restroom For "Real Men'

Last week famed author Armistead Maupin and his husband Christopher Turner were treated shamefully by the bartender at an Alice Springs, Australia restaurant.

According to Mr Maupin, they were told to take a seat, after which Mr Maupin's husband Chris asked if he could use a rest room. "The guy said, sorry, we don't have one in here but you can go across the street to the public facility." Mr Maupin, who had used the toilet in Bojangles the day before, said he pointed in the direction of the toilet and said 'what's that over there?' "[The barman] gave me a very pointed look and said that's reserved for 'real men'," said Mr Maupin. "Neither one of us could quite believe he'd said it, and he actually repeated it, [he said] 'see the sign on the door, it says gents, it's for real men.'" Mr Maupin and Mr Turner immediately left the establishment and made an official complaint at the Visitor Information Centre. "I think it was less than 24 hours later that we got an email from Peter Griggs in the tourism office saying he'd spoken to the proprieter of the business who was just as shocked as we were and that the man had extended his apologies."

Last night Maupin commented on his Facebook page: "Just to be clear: There are no apologies necessary from either Alice Springs or Australia. I've never felt more welcomed by a country. This was a lone gunman, and we just handed him his balls on a platter. It's over."

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This Thursday In New York City

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of the publisher, today's Swag Tuesday prize is Mary Ann In Autumn, the latest in legendary gay author Armistead Maupin's Tales Of The City series. Mary Ann In Autumn is now available online and at booksellers nationwide.

More than twenty years have passed since Mary Ann left her husband and child in San Francisco for the allure of a television career in New York. Now, a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, newly wed and happily ensconced with a much younger husband. Grateful for the temporary refuge their cottage offers, Mary Ann, now at the unnerving age of fifty-seven, licks her wounds and begins to take stock of her mistakes. With the help of the Internet, Facebook especially, and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when – out the virtual blue – her speckled past comes back to haunt her in an unexpected way. Caught in her orbit is a cast of intriguing players whose stories play out against her own: her estranged daughter, Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael’s transgender gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon-Wilson and her wife D’orothea; and the legendary Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann’s former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane.

I read Mary Ann In Autumn during (appropriately enough) my flight to San Francisco last month and can report that it's every bit as delightful as the previous books in the series. As always, I most identified with Mouse (raised in Orlando, escaped to San Francisco, a single memorable night as a go-go boy) and that parallel continues in the new book with Mouse's middle-aged bear identity. Spooky!

We have three copies of Mary Ann In Autumn to give away. Enter to win by commenting on this post and please remember to leave your email address in the text of your comment. Entries close at midnight on Thursday, west coast time. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

RELATED: Armistead Maupin is currently making appearances to support Mary Ann In Autumn throughout the U.S., Britain, and Australia. On December 9th, he'll be reading at the Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Hit the link for locations near you.

SLIDESHOW: San Francisco JMG Meet-Up

I had a fantastic time meeting a ton of JMG readers at last night's meet-up at the Castro's Edge Bar. Many longtime JMG'ers were in the house, including Huntington, Castro Craig, Sean Chapin, KitchenBeard, and NoCal Drummer. Wacky SF performance artist Philip Huang even showed up! I was sorta pulled in ten directions at once, so I hope I got to properly meet and chat with everybody at least for a minute. One particular highlight was finally meeting legendary Tales Of The City author Armistead Maupin and his husband Christopher Turner. Armistead even autographed my advance copy of his upcoming novel, Mary Ann In Autumn, which I'd read on the plane. (It's great!) Thanks again to everybody for coming out! Full-screen versions of the below slideshow can be found here.

Tweet Of The Day II

DISCLAIMER: While my mole in the SF courthouse did allow me to scoop everybody by 20 minutes or so, it was not until at least ten minutes later did I learn that the lift order doesn't go into effect until Wednesday. I quickly updated my posts here and on Facebook and Twitter, but I must apologize to everybody for my premature ejacutweeting. This is why bloggers aren't considered "real" journalists, I'm afraid.

UPDATE: The National Gay & Lesbian Journalist Association's Michael Triplett has weighed in on this post.

UNRELATED: You should totally add Armistead Maupin to your follow list on Twitter. The musical version of Tales Of The City is on the way with music/lyrics by Jake Shears and Jeff Whitty!