Give “Looking” a Break
In the course of a week while I’m searching for lgbt news items to comment on, I come across some of the most blatant passive aggressive homophobic pieces there are. I see film stars like James Franco exploiting gay men for his own gain, I see comments from idiots like Rose McGowan slamming gay men and pride events, and I even see gay D-list actors who have played gay working gay men for all they are worth on social media to gain more exposure.
But what really surprises me the most is that so many gay men don’t seem to realize they are actually being exploited this way by these aggressive career oriented people. They don’t realize that it’s okay to be gay as long as you be the gay they want you to be. I have seen this happen on social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook for years now. The minute they find out I’m a gay man…and a published gay writer…they all want to be friends. The minute they find out I’m not the gay man from Will and Grace they want me to be they all disappear and move on to venues where they can get more of what they want.
In the last two Presidential elections I have seen the African American community come together to support a candidate out of sheer solidarity. I know Republican African Americans who supported President Obama even though his basic beliefs went against everything they believed in. And these African Americans came out in droves to support their candidate. That kind of solidarity isn’t something that can be questioned or challenged because it’s a group of people supporting something bigger than they are as individuals. Personally, I admire that. I don’t always agree with it, but I admire it.
So when it comes to TV shows like Looking, where a segment of the gay population is being represented in an authentic way, and in an honest way, it would be nice to see this kind of support from all gay people. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t always identify with the characters, but right now that’s all I have and I plan to support this TV show and anything else like it simply because it’s all gay. I would feel the same way about a gay politician, even if I didn’t believe in everything he or she stood for. And even though I’m not sure we’ll ever see that kind of support in the LGBT community, I would like to at least try to suggest it might a goal worth working toward so “they” can’t continue to exploit us and turn us into who they want us to be. And more important, so they can’t steal our identities and silence us.
If you’re gay, it’s not going to hurt you to give Looking a break. Just because it’s gay.
Alabama Gay Marriage
US District Judge Callie Granade has ruled that Mobile County, Alabama, MUST begin issuing gay marriage licenses.
Last month Judge Granade overturned the ban on gay marriage and since that time this has been happening:
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an 11th hour order telling probate judges in the state they didn’t have to hand out licenses, causing confusion. Many probate judges, including the one in Mobile County, refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
So it’s come down to judge against judge. You can read the rest here. There are over 1,200 comments.
Judge Slams Ex-Gays
In an unrelated story about another judge, the topic of conversion therapy and ex-gays has surfaced again. In New Jersey this time. It’s interesting to note that I live a mile from the NJ state line and we often get all NJ news. This has not been in the news once. And I watch.
Advocates for conversion therapy just had their asses handed to them by a local judge in New Jersey.
Judge Peter Bariso Jr. of the Hudson County Superior Court ruled this week that likening homosexuality to a “mental illness, disease, disorder, or equivalent thereof” and suggesting it’s curable is fraud.
Of course we all know conversion therapy is not something to be taken seriously. But evidently a lot of people didn’t. It actually gets a little creepy now.
According to Slate, the services JONAH offered required patients to pay $100 to strip down in front of “therapist”Alan Downing then fondle their penises and butts while he watched. Doing this, Downing told patients, would help them turn straight.
Aside from the obvious creep aspects about this, I have no idea what kind of person would actually do it. I wouldn’t for anyone. But I guess this all runs deeper in some cases than many of us realize.
Hot College Frat Boys
I’m not always a fan of these things, but this one looks harmless enough. And the fact is that some gay men are infatuated with frat boys. I love the way they word these things. There’s nothing more painful to read than this kind of writing.
Nobody seems to understand gay men’s love of frat boys better than USF’s Kappa Sigmas. To promote their annual Bachelor Auction, which happened on February 3, the boys tapped into our deepest, darkest fantasies in a steamy two-minute video featuring hunky, shirtless Kappas doing what they do best: being Kappas.
The auction may be over, but the video (and fantasy) lives on, and it’s gay-baiting at its absolute finest.
I think these things are harmless when the intent is obvious enough and no one’s pulling any scams…unlike these actors who do it to hock movies to gays.
Fifty Shades of Grey Advertorials
It always seems as if everything surrounding Fifty Shades of Grey has something to do with Fifty Shades of Fakery. The film is now being promoted to the gay audience through advertorials in gay publications in ways that might entice gay men to go out and see a mainstream heterosexual movie with BDSM.
Here’s another one in Queerty:
5. He’s as kinky as we are.
Christian Grey’s whole thing is that he likes to play rough. In fact, he has a whole “playroom” is his mansion dedicated solely to housing kinky gear.
One more reason not to see this movie. At least make it clear these are advertorials up front at the top of the article.
The rest is here if you are so inclined to enjoy bad advertorials. Frankly, I really wouldn’t recommend this to gay men because it’s not a film I think would interest them.
