By the time Tammy Faye Messner died Friday, the outspoken, fake-eyelash-donning 65-year-old had gone from Christian televangelist to reviled woman to gay icon. How did Messner become a gay icon? With fabulousness and honesty. Tammy Faye's religious background made her an unlikely object for this kind of adulation, but in many ways she had the classic profile of a gay icon. Like many others, she became celebrated for her perseverance. She fell from grace (and lost much of her money) when it was discovered that her husband, Jim Bakker, had cheated on her and swindled their followers out of $158...
