Genre Magazine Predicts Posterity

In a year-end issue that is generating lots of comment--and not all of it positive--Genre, the Hollywood-based gay magazine, includes Dan Mathews, director of campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as one of the most important gay men of the century.

Mathews is famous (or infamous) for his outrageous protests in the name of “giving animals a voice.”

In the magazine, Mathews says Andrew Cunanan is among the most important men of this century because, “he got Versace to stop doing fur.”

Topping Genre’s list (and appearing on the cover) is David Geffen, who spills the beans about Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise. Regarding a “relationship” he is rumored to have had with Reeves, Geffen says he had not even met Reeves when the myth started circulating awhile back. “I was at the Geffen Playhouse . . . and as I was going through the row, there was Keanu Reeves. I looked at him and said, ‘So was it as good for you as it was for me?’ It was the first time we had ever met.”

As for Tom Cruise, Geffen says stories casting doubt on the star’s heterosexuality are untrue. “There are people who are gay who would love to believe that anybody who is cute must be gay,” says Geffen. “Unfortunately, it’s not so.”

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“Titanic: The Exhibition” may be a tad too macabre even for die-hard (excuse the expression) fashion fans. On display: clothing and engraved jewelry owned and worn by passengers on the Titanic. The items were recovered from the wreck site in 1987 by RMS Titanic, the company that salvaged the sunken ship.

The exhibition opened last month in Las Vegas at the Rio Suites Hotel. For $10 a pop, visitors can get up close to an unknown male’s neatly folded suit, and a gold pocket watch that belonged to a passenger named Thomas Brown.

We can understand the fascination with such historical artifacts, but displaying them amid the glitz of Vegas strikes us as tacky.

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Online bridal registry and wedding-planning Web site https://www.weddingchannel.com has made it easier for engaged couples to include cultural traditions in their wedding celebrations. An expert in African-American, Caribbean and Southern U.S. traditions, wedding consultant Linnyette Richardson-Hall has joined the site’s staff. She will contribute monthly articles, conduct chat sessions and answer questions from site users. (Click on the “planning” tab.) Richardson-Hall is also a contributing editor and columnist for Signature Bride, a bridal magazine tailored to African-Americans.

“This country is diverse and marriages today are no longer straightforward affairs,” said Richardson-Hall in a news release. “A bride or groom may want to wear kente cloth or integrate traditional music to express their heritage and ancestry as they celebrate one of the most important days of their lives.”

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Esquire magazine’s January issue has hit the stands with its “1999 Dubious Achievements.” Two of our favorites: “In response to the Columbine shootings, NRA President Charlton Heston suggested arming teachers.” . . . “George W. Bush, who for months refused to answer questions about whether he had ever used drugs, finally said he had not done so in the past seven years.”

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For the Record: Aloys Habimana of Rwanda was honored last month by Human Rights Watch for helping to protect the rights of those accused of genocide.

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Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.