A Town For Sale

In 2011, I learned that the State of Nevada isn't the only place in the United States that has ghost towns. There was an online article that said that Scenic, South Dakota, in the state's southwest corner, was up for sale for $800,000.

The town, fifty miles southeast of Rapid City, was (and maybe still is) owned by a Philippines-based church. 

At the time I read the article, a thought came to me--a  group of enterprising (and wealthy) LGBTQ people should consider buying the town and transform it into a thriving LGBTQ resort. And another thought came to me--if such a group approached the church with an offer to buy the town, would the church be willing to sell it?

Three Memorable Headlines

New York Daily News: "Ford To City: Drop Dead."

New York Post: "Headless Body In Topless Bar."

The Black American (New York City), later renamed The New American in the early 1990s: "The White Lady And The Faggot." (This homophobic rant was in response to Diana Ross being kissed on the cheek by New York Mayor Ed Koch at her Central Park concert held either in 1982 or 1983.) For years it was rumored that Koch was gay and closeted.

I wish I had saved that front page. I'm sure the Schomburg Library in Harlem has that issue in its collection. 

According to Google A.I., The Black American used the headline, "The White Lady And The Faggot," to refer to James Baldwin and the white civil rights activist and author Lillian Smith in May of 1963. That may be true, but I remember it referring to Diana Ross and Ed Koch. Carl Offord, the paper's publisher, may have decided to recycle the headline years later.