ATLmalcontent

is rupert everett a self-loathing homosexual?

I think all these pride marches have lost their center slightly. If you encountered them in the beginning of the 1980s when the gay community was really in crisis with its back against the wall, they were very highly charged events about survival and trying to define ourselves and keep our heads up.

Now, because of all the fighting that those people did, there is a generation of mindless drug addicts – party-grazing cows who move from one side of the planet to the other, getting high and fucking each other. I’m not saying whether that’s good or bad, but it’s not political anymore.

Maybe the thing we have to protest most is our behavior within ourselves – maybe it’s interior not exterior. It’s up to us to see where our image to the outside world now is – because that is what’s potentially dangerous.

--Actor/writer Rupert Everett, quoted today by SX News.

The gay movement hasn't matured; it's grown stale. Pride marches have turned into shopworn cavalcades of been-there, done-that decadence.

--ATLmalcontent, in a LA Times column published six years ago.

Reality may be inconvenient, but we avoid it at our peril. The gay community's justifiable struggle for relevance also requires a look inward. We may compare our crusade to the civil rights movement of the 1950 and 60s, but can we honestly say we comport ourselves with the dignity of those who marched on Selma?

--ATLmalcontent, 6/23/06

I wonder if Everett's homosexual bona fides will be called into question?

self-loathing gay propagandists for clinton

"The gay movement never would have really gotten off the ground without the feminist movement," says one of Hillbot's chief supporters. So I owe her my vote?

"But in terms of cultural symbolism and changing cultural values, electing a woman would not only be a great lift for feminist goals, but very much gay rights and gay liberation."

Time to cue up that broken record: The Clintons (two for the price of one, lest you forget) are responsible for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the Defense of Marriage Act. Hillbilly also signed the bill banning HIV-positive noncitizens from entering the country.

But why let facts get in the way of ill-informed puffery? 

When the Clintons were in office, my friends and I were dancing in the streets. We were agog. And our eyes glazed over on a daily basis at the sweet policies coming out of that administration. ...

We probably got the Clintons the first time through blind luck. But there isn't enough luck in this world to have such a brilliant presidency twice in a lifetime.

He goes on to accuse Obama of pandering.

when being progressive, one must always be fashionable

The following poorly written sentence (from an article about growing up gay and Southern) reveals plenty about the Petty Queer Establishment:

For all it's relative progressiveness -- Savannah is home to two art schools, a Marc Jacobs boutique, and an American Apparel store -- Levitt found the city's response to cultural shifts in sexual identity a bit dated.

another classy clinton supporter

Responding to a Queerty post about gays and Hillary, "Bitch Republic" comments:

Obama’s rallies remind me of the rise of Hitler. Hitler gave good speeches and got large crowds excited, too.

Meanwhile, "Jack Jett" implores the haters to leave Hillary alone!

I love this woman so much for the way she has endured such right wing bashing for dickwads like
…well like them all, and some of the very people that she has helped are giving her and her hubby shit just because they are on the Obama bandwagon.

I don’t want to get all Chris Crocker on you but please leave Hillary alone…even if you aren’t going to vote for her…don’t trash her like she is used bottle of poppers.

Obviously they've forgotten "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the "Defense of Marriage Act," legacies of the Clinton years. Clinton also signed the bill banning HIV-positive noncitizens from entering the country.

Gay Paranoia

Not to revive a latent feud, but I have to take issue with Duane's post about the RELOCATION of Pride (among other events) from Atlanta's drought-stricken Piedmont Park.

Additionally, I wonder about the potential impact of losing the “biggest Pride festival in the south”? How will this impact the gay population in Atlanta, and how will it impact the gay presence in midtown? If Pride is canceled this year, who’s to say they won’t cancel it in the future? It also makes you wonder, if they were looking for a viable excuse to get rid of the festival in the first place, and the drought made for the perfect scapegoat? It just seems a little extreme to cancel all of those festivals over the worry for preserving grass.

I don't know about you, but I tend to prefer parks with grass. Is he really willing to sacrifice natural beauty for dykes on bikes? And to suggest that one of the nation's gay friendliest cities is looking for an excuse to cancel (uh, RELOCATE) the festival is beyond ridiculous. What about the aggrieved dogwoods? Who's fighting for their rights?

The drought requires sacrifice from everyone, and RELOCATING a dated celebration of sexual identity is the least we can do. I think the gay community will survive, provided they can muster the courage to gather a mile down the road. Hell, I bet the leather daddies will appreciate the air conditioning at the Atlanta Civic Center.

Of course, knowing this city, they'll probably turn off the AC. Do your worst, Shirley Franklin, but you'll never stop us from getting our pride on; besides, Lenox Mall is but a few MARTA stops away.

Gay 101

The Petty Queer Establishment has infiltrated academia:

ENGLISH 317. Literature and Culture.

Section 002 — How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation.

In particular, we will examine a number of cultural artifacts and activities that seem to play a prominent role in learning how to be gay: Hollywood movies, grand opera, Broadway musicals, and other works of classical and popular music, as well as camp, diva-worship, drag, muscle culture, taste, style, and political activism. Are there a number of classically 'gay' works such that, despite changing tastes and generations, all gay men, of whatever class, race, or ethnicity, need to know them, in order to be gay?

So there are things I "need to know" in order to be gay? Homosexuality is not a lifestyle (as so many Baptist ministers would attest), it's a genetic disposition.

*CORRECTION: Demonstrating my ignorance in all things scientific, I no doubt erred in labeling homosexuality a "genetic disposition." Sounded smart, or so I thought at the time.

Let's keep it in terms I can understand: You're born gay; you're not born with an affinity for show tunes. Unlike homosexuality, flamboyance is learned behavior.

The Year In Hate Speech

GLAAD continues to wallow in victimhood, compiling its list of the year's worst anti-gay slurs.  

“As a media advocacy organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, it is our responsibility to articulate the harm done when anti-gay sentiment is voiced through media platforms.  By fighting defamation with educational resources and telling the stories of the community, GLAAD changes hearts and minds so that LGBT people can live in a more understanding, accepting and inclusive society.”

People still bothered by what Isaiah Washington or Tim Hardaway had to say best get a life. Most ridiculous was the inclusion of the Snickers ad that ran during the Super Bowl.

My Kind of Dandy

I have a newfound respect for Rupert Everett after reading this profile:

After two years of civil partnerships, has he any plans to marry anyone? He laughs. "I'm not going to share my dosh with anyone. I don't want to do some awful pantomime of a dysfunctional heterosexual world. You know, being gay was much more fun when it was illegal... At least it was exciting. Now it's like a great big boy band, several million strong. Every face is the same face, and once you've had one person, you've had everything. There's no individuality in anybody. You're not allowed to be an eccentric in the world, you have to fit it.

Amen, sister (though obviously I'm glad homosexuality is no longer illegal).

Also enjoyed his take on celebrity:

The other day I saw a film called Because I Said So with Diane Keaton, and I thought, here's one of the women we loved most in 1970s cinema, debasing and humiliating herself in this load of trash. Why? Because we're such sheep, we just follow the herd... It's just part of the huge amount of product that's put out now, that's really bad. And it's our fault. We're all responsible for how the culture is. You can't draw a distinction between the celebrity nonsense on television and the major players in the film industry: De Niro, Redford, Keaton, Allen, Pacino... They're all tragic parodies of themselves. Al Pacino looks like a mad old freak now. I say, give it a rest, or go and do some serious stuff."

How Many People Can a Congressman Offend?

Why not denigrate our few remaining allies? No matter -- as long as gays are being bashed:

"We aren't the Brits. We're not the Europeans. We're not the Swedes," says Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter, who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Hunter argues that gays do not belong in the U.S. military because American troops need to be hardened warriors, unlike soldiers in the 15 NATO countries where gays serve openly.

"The Fallujahs of the world, the Ramadis of the world that require heavy combat and lots of fire-fighting capability - those are the places the Americans go. The other countries tend to go to the so-called peacekeeper zones, where they have fewer fire fights and less contact with the enemy," Hunter says. "And the European nations show little will to send large contingents of their military people into dangerous places."

Outing the Gay Media

Bravo to gay journalist Doug Ireland, who calls LOGO (the "proud" home of queer stereotypes) to task for ignoring the systematic murder of homosexuals in Iran:

I just watched your half-hour end-of-the-year “news” review on LOGO. And I was truly appalled when, in your oh-so-brief inclusion of Ahmadinejad’s infamous “no homosexuals in Iran” statement among the top ten stories of the year, there was not a word about the horrific, lethal campaign of persecution of LGBT people in Iran by its theocratic regime.

Coming just days after Iran’s hanging of 21-year-old Makwan Moloudzadeh — for having had sex (at the age of 13) with other boys his own age — aroused worldwide revulsion, your glaring omission of any word about the skein of daily repression which same-sexers face in Iran — Internet entrapment, raids on private homes and parties, arrests, torture, imprisonment, lashings, forced sex-change operations, executions, and the rest — is stunning and incomprehensible.

Your broadcast found time to talk about Ellen’s dog (twice) and about the feud between Mr. Trump and Ms. O’Donnell (twice) and other entertainment trivialities, but about the unspeakable persecutions visited on gay people in Iran you and your colleagues were utterly silent. By the way, I have yet to hear a word about the hanging of Makwan on your air. And still you call this show-biz fluff you’re doing “news”?

Unless it's trivial, a majority of the gay community tends not to care. To repeat:

Your broadcast found time to talk about Ellen’s dog (twice) and about the feud between Mr. Trump and Ms. O’Donnell (twice) and other entertainment trivialities, but about the unspeakable persecutions visited on gay people in Iran you and your colleagues were utterly silent.