Congratulations (& An Apology) To Jim Nabors

The Big Gay News of the Day: Jim Nabors married his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader!

Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

First, I owe Nabors an apology for Tweet and Facbook post implying he had, perhaps, passed his sell-by date. I'm sorry for the snark.

In my defense, even Nabors said, "I'm 82 for God's sake, and I'd better not wait any longer." The last news I remember hearing about Nabors was that he was seriously ill. I think it was when he broke his 20 year streak of singing at the Indy 500 due to illness although how I would have heard that is a mystery since I pay absolutely no attention to stupid NASCAR. I may have heard about Nabor's heart surgery last spring, but I don't think so. However, I absolutely did not make the rank amateur mistake of conflating Gomer Pyle with Goober Pyle and getting confusing the actors when George Lindsey sadly died in December.

A rare scene of the Pyle cousins together. If you don't know which is Gomer (Jim Nabors) and which is Goober (George Lindsey) stop reading my blog--we have nothing in common.

Also, I was completely sincere in giving props to Jim Nabors for snagging a firefighter--because you know I love me a hot firefighter. While FDNY gets all the attention thanks to its iconic calendar, Nabors has me thinking I need to cast a wider net and include Hawaii in my hunt for a fireman husband.

Pic from the delightful but possibly NSFW Tumblr Best of Bromance.

The news did make me wonder, did the fact that Jim Nabors is gay really come as, to use Gomer's catch phrase, a...

Jim Nabors clearly always had a little sugar in his tank which is part of what made his portrayal of Gomer Pyle so sweet as evidenced in this delightful scene
(via Diablo Cody):

I feel like I knew Jim Nabors was gay before I knew I was gay. I have a vague memory of the hearing the Jim Nabors and Rock Hudson getting secretly gay married rumor which, while false, was not completely outlandish after all (and the "Rock Pyle" joke is pretty great).

Sure, Jim Nabors never publicly admitted he was gay, and there was a surprising effort to keep his sexuality hidden as recently as two years ago. Still in my mind, he came out in 1973 when he released The World of Jim Nabors.

It's technically possible that a straight man would wear that shirt because, well... the 70's, but still it seems highly unlikely. Furthermore, any man (other than Louis Armstrong) singing "Cabaret" is tantamount to saying, "I am a big ol' queen!" in my book. However, we learned from the whole Jodie Foster brouhaha, America needs a pretty direct statement to believe someone really came out. Well, now that he's both out and married we can all say: Congratulations to Jim Nabors on taking two big steps forward for himself and the gays!