No kidding: Obama's Indonesian Nanny Was A Gay Tranvestite

No wonder Obama is confused, and no wonder he wants to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell . . .

Barack Obama had gay tranvesitte nanny in Indonesia
By Toby Harnden
Telegraph.co.uk

A delicious little detail buried away in Norimitsu Onishi’s excellent NYT piece on the childhood of Barack Obama (then known as Barry Soetero) in Jakarta:

His nanny was an openly gay man who, in keeping with Indonesia’s relaxed attitudes toward homosexuality, carried on an affair with a local butcher, longtime residents said. The nanny later joined a group of transvestites called Fantastic Dolls, who, like the many transvestites who remain fixtures of Jakarta’s streetscape, entertained people by dancing and playing volleyball.

Of course, this rather undermines the notion of Obama being strongly influenced by Islamic fundamentalism during this period. But it does underline the remarkable exoticness of his upbringing.
Not many parents would hire a gay transvestite nanny to look after their son. Not many American mothers would take a job in Indonesia and leave their son with her parents in Hawaii, as Obama’s mother Ann Dunham did for a period. Not many mothers would temporarily give their son another surname.
But whatever one thinks of these unusual parental choices – or of Obama’s politics and presidency – it has to be said that this very unconventional upbringing helped produce a remarkable person.
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