An open letter to my fellow whe gay cis men: there should be no "returng to normal" after this.
Contents:
- GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET
- I THK GAYS ARE DISGTG, BUT STILL TREAT THEM AS NORMAL PEOPLE. AM I A BAD PERSON?
- THE GAY VOICE
- ARE HOMOPHOBIC PEOPLE REALLY GAY AND NOT ACCEPTG IT?
- WHY DO GAY PEOPLE BOTHER ME?
- THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?
GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET
* why are gay people so annoying *
But even though the nversatns that muted this lumn for six weeks are nowhere close to beg over, I do feel like some thgs that me up durg that time of ntemplatn are worth sayg now — particularly to my fellow whe gay cis out more stori on LGBTQ+ ins and activistsHowever, the ghost of Larry Kramer very much remaed my own head as I ma my way through a Pri month unlike any other. I spent a few quiet afternoons readg his 1978 but novel Faggots, a satiril (yet clearly tobgraphil) look at the liv of gay men 1970s New York Cy that he wrote jt before AIDS ma him a figurehead of Amerin activism.
I THK GAYS ARE DISGTG, BUT STILL TREAT THEM AS NORMAL PEOPLE. AM I A BAD PERSON?
Wele back to Ask a Homo, a judgment-ee zone where the gays of Outward answer qutns about LGBTQ polics, culture, etiquette, language, and... * why are gay people so annoying *
Followg a man his late 30s (based on Kramer himself) who is seekg out a lovg, long-term relatnship a sea of hedonism, the novel has a clear msage: gay men need to start lovg each other stead of beg so obssed wh gettg fucked up and (lerally and figuratively) fuckg each other. - Larry Kramer his but novelUpon publitn, Faggots was dismissed by many as puranil and self-loathg for s cricism of gay men's obssn wh vany, promiscuy and recreatnal dg e.
THE GAY VOICE
In two studi, lbians, gay men and bisexuals were queried ncerng mistak that well-meang heterosexual people have ma when teractg wh them. In qualative, open-end rearch, we termed that the most mon mistak ncerned heterosexuals' potg out that they know someone w … * why are gay people so annoying *
And while, on one level, the book is a wild (if at tim problematic) wdow to an era of gay culture 40 years the past, also felt like had a lot to say about gay culture today. What even do mean to say "gay culture"?
ARE HOMOPHOBIC PEOPLE REALLY GAY AND NOT ACCEPTG IT?
I ed to do everythg I uld to avoid beg lled a ‘faggot’. But gay men have given the word a new meang * why are gay people so annoying *
In mastream gay media, the phrase almost always refers to a fairly specific subset of the LGBTQ "muny" largely ma up of whe gay cis men — even though many of the battl won around queer rights were fought by people of lour, trans and genr-nonnformg folks, and queer women, and fact the morn Pri movement self was large part iated by Black trans women. If an imprsn of a monolhic "gay culture" fed by such a homogeneo mographic exists, is bee whe gay cis men have until very recently domated mastream reprentatn unr the LGBTQ umbrella and have, general, been hand a level of privilege the last that is wildly disproportnate to any other mographic unr said umbrella. (Prophetilly enough, Fire Island is where the climax of Faggots — Kramer's exriatn of "gay culture" — tak place.
WHY DO GAY PEOPLE BOTHER ME?
The panmic sentially shut down all of social gay culture, relievg me of prsur to participate . Gay bars were shuttered and, unls you were beg a horribly irrponsible person, Grdr was no more.
When was the last time I actually had a good time at gay bar full of people I have fely spoken to on social media or apps but who act like I'm pletely sane when I se or say hello person? In analyzg the show's pictn of young gay men livg San Francis, wrer Daniel Wenger diagnos what he terms the "new gay sadns": an entire generatn of urban, privileged gay men who seem to have no clue what they're lookg for or who they are.
THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?
Largely born the 1980s, they are the earlit wave of a "post-Stonewall, post-plague, post-activist" generatn of gays — "too old to have brought a boy to the prom and too young to have nursed a fantasy of nng away to an urban gay utopia, " Wenger explas.