Who Cares Who Wears The Horn?
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This month, the Real Astrology Pearly Gates Society and Supper, Lunch, and Snack Club is pleased to bestow honorary sainthood on one Dorothy Lucille "Billy" Tipton. Tipton, an outstanding saxophonist and pianist, took the name and look of a man in 1935 at the age of 19, transforming herself into Billy ostensibly in order to get gigs on the male-dominated club circuit. With bound breasts and shorn hair, Billy not only prospered as a professional musician, but found that his soft male looks made him the dreamboat object of female fans' ardor. But as the world changed and female musicians became more common, he probably didn't need to remain as Billy until he died at age 74. That he did for self-honor. Tipton married five times and raised three adopted sons. None of his wives knew of his birth-gender, and maybe none of them would care. By all accounts he was a devoted husband, lover, and father who--though he allowed no one to touch him below the waist and wore heavy bandages to bed claiming an old accident--had such ardor that one wife was convinced that she had miscarried his child. Paramedics unmasked Tipton at his death. He had lived 54 years with his secret, one that his sons have refused to accept. Let's hope he fills his jeans in heaven, and that they learn to fill their hearts with the beauty of who Billy Tipton was.
You don't have to be dead to be a saint. Nominate your pick for sainthood. Each month's winner receives a magic wand and a super-special secret sauce to prevent that pesky wax build-up that can tarnish even the most vigilantly maintained halos. Special offer! Write in now! Send no money! Rush delivery! COD! PhD! DOA! DDT! MBA! IRS! KFC! GAT!
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