How to Spot a Bad Gay Ally, Ryan Field Gay Romance Books

How to Spot a Bad Gay Ally

The other day another gay author posted something about an initiative he started for gay southern writers. That alone bothered me. All gay writers need help, not just those in the south. I’m also sick of all that southern crap because they usually ignore the real history of the south in the US. This is also a gay writer who tends to romanticize the south, which I’m not too fond of either.

But this time this gay author posted a video with a woman and I commented very nicely about how nice it was to see him include a lesbian in this initiative. Well, he replied that the woman wasn’t a lesbian. She was a straight woman commenting on LGBTQIA fiction. He also made a point of letting me know how important straight allies really are. And I agree that straight allies are nice to have, but keep it in perspective. Some straight allies can really be trouble. And this article talks about how that can happen.

There are many things about this article I like, and here’s one.

I can understand the desire to feel included in a community that you support but to fulfill that desire by marginalizing that very community is selfish in the extreme and only serves to perpetuate the mistreatment and inequality that you may very well be fighting against.

Here’s more. The issue I always find with straight allies is that most are still so deeply rooted in their own straight privilege they often treat gay people differently than they would treat other straight people. And when do we finally reach that point where we don’t need allies? When do we finally reach the point of full equality, and that means full quality with our allies, too?

I also think a good deal of this is generational. I’m a middle-aged gay man and I tend to think a little differently than older gay men. I’m not so willing to accept things like cultural appropriation anymore.

With that said the article also mentions that there are some excellent gay allies, too.

Stepbrothers in the Attic

On Amazon

Reader Reviews: This is the first of its kind not only a gay retelling of Flowers in the Attic but the first of any kind of retelling of any of the V.C. Andrews books. Usually, two fears strike for fans of any book that is going to get a new twist.