Yes, I know there is nothing more pathetic than staying home on a summer Friday night and watching PBS, but if you happen to have been hobbled recently, please check me out tonight.

WGVU, the west Michigan PBS station, will air the critically-acclaimed documentary, Anyone & Everyone, tonight, Friday, June 6, at 10 p.m. This is a special two-hour presentation that takes a look at diverse families across the U.S. and the ways that they deal with having a gay child. This poignant and often heartbreaking documentary depicts families representing a wide range of religions, nationalities and political leanings.

During the program, Michigan residents will also share their own coming out experiences ... which is where I come in. I was asked to tape a segment that will run throughout the documentary detailing my coming out experience. In essence, I walked into the PBS studio, was seated in a stripper's chair and asked to ramble for 10 minutes ... so I recounted my life growing up gay in the Ozarks, which was detailed in my first memoir, AMERICA'S BOY. I didn't expect to be impacted so much by the experience, but, sitting in silence, relaying my life and family and our struggles, still resonates with me to this day, even decades later. And I think it will with you, too.

The documentary and my segment is being aired during WGVU's pledge drive, and my book, AMERICA'S BOY, will be given as a thank-you gift to donors.

I plan to add the video to my web site (waderouse.com) at some point in the future.

So, if you happen to be hobbled and living in Michigan, enjoy. If not, go have a Cosmo ... and watch it later on my web site.

XO,
Wade

Saw Sex & The City Saturday night with a group of gay men, who anticipated its opening with as much excitement as any straight woman in America.

However, I went a bit on edge: I had just read the NY TIMES review, which, basically, trashed the movie version of SATC. Since I tend to agree with most NY TIMES movie reviews, I went expecting that, like many beloved TV shows that are turned into disastrous films, this would simply be a watered-down sitcom -- way past its due -- bloated into two, torturous hours.

I -- and the TIMES -- couldn't have been more wrong. The opening, indeed, was awkward, as is any movie that must catch you up on the years that have passed between little screen and big screen. But the movie was funny, and sweet, and touching, and exceedingly well-written and well-acted. It touched on deep, real themes (Miranda's marriage, Charlotte's festering fear that her perfect world is going to crumble, Samantha's love of man vs. love of self, and Carrie's marriage) with amazing grace and sincerity, and without any of the stupid dialogue and cheap stunts that nearly every "chick" movie today tends to pander.

And, the mark of a good movie? Gary and I are still reciting lines to this day: "Poughkeepsied in my pants" ... "Are you drunk? A little bit." ... "That's not a bush. It's a national forest."

The only drawback? I saw it at a Midwestern mall that was packed with young women and teen girls. The biggest groan of the movie took place when Samantha eyed a gorgeous hunk of a man, who walked past her to kiss his boyfriend on the lips. The "Gross!"es and "Oh, My God"s! and "ICK"s! that echoed made my heart sink ... so I said, a bit too loudly, "Hey, ladies? Who the fuck do you think is putting all these great words into your beloved gals' mouths? And who the fuck do you think is making them look so damn gorgeous?"

They find two men pecking on the lips shocking, and not the fact that the movie features an uncut penis, or a woman being banged from behind?

Side note: Rent "Gone, Baby, Gone" ... Just watched it and wondered how it was so overlooked. Great writing, pheonomenal performances ... a movie that makes you consider ethical choices, and whether it's always right to do what you think is right.