Gay Thespians Must Leave Lippie Behind

"The only thing worse
than being talked about
is not being talked about."

For over a decade, Oscar Wilde fans have flocked to a famous Paris cemetery and left lipstick kisses all over his grave.
But from now on, they can only pay their respects through a screen. This follows a recent renovation that left it scrubbed clean, and surrounded by glass to stop visitors from degrading it.
Wilde's grave was last renovated in the 1990s. Decades of graffiti had prompted his descendants to get an historical monument listing for the tombstone, in hopes it would discourage vandalism: the graffiti stopped but then the kissing started.
Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland: "If they'd kissed it without lipstick, we wouldn't have had to do this." He thought that even though Wilde would have loved the attention, he'd have been uncomfortable at the lippie defacing it. "I don't think he would like graffiti very much because he loved perfect clothes, perfect houses. I think he'd like his statue to be clean and beautiful."

fag hags, queue here...

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (true!!) is best known for the farcical play The Importance of Being Earnest (remember that as part of the school curriculum?), the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and copious epigrams. He was born in Dublin in 1854, but was living in London when he was jailed in 1895 for two years for homosexuality. After that he left for France, where he died destitute in Paris in 1900. Last Wed.30 November was the 111th.anvsy. of his death.
The Pere Lachaise cemetery's burial list reads like a Who's Who of famous deceased dudes, including Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust and Jim Morrison of The Doors (yes, he really is dead!).