Terry Sanrson charted media slurs agast LGBT people om the 1980s onwards. He told BuzzFeed News how he won the first-ever lg agast the prs for s anti-gay verage.
Contents:
- HOW GAY ARE YOU?
- MEET THE GUYS EXPOSG OTHER GAY MEN PARTYG DURG THE PANMIC
- YASSIFY, FUN GAY SLUR, AND THE LOSS OF ALL MEANG
- HOW THE “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW IS AFFECTG FLORIDA LGBTQ STUNTS AND TEACHERS
- A GAY COUPLE TRIED TO SIGN UP FOR A CHRISTIAN CAMP’S RNN WEEKEND. THE ANTI-LGBTQ PHBACK THEY FACED WAS THE FAL STRAW, THEY SAID.
- 13 CELEBS WHO REALLY SAID "GAY RIGHTS" AND ACTUALLY BACKED IT UP
- LGBTQ PEOPLE SHARED THEIR "BABY GAY" PICTUR WH US, AND IF THE PICTUR DON'T MAKE YOUR DAY, NOTHG WILL
- THIS MAN SPENT 25 YEARS FIGHTG NEWSPAPERS OVER THEIR ANTI-GAY REPORTG AND FALLY WON
- JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH COACH COM OUT AS GAY IN A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
- AN O TO GAY COWBOY ORGI IS THE ANTHEM FOR THE OTTAWA RISTANCE
- THE GAY NEPHEW OF THE LAWMAKER WHO CRIED WHILE VOTG AGAST MARRIAGE EQUALY HAS A MSAGE FOR HER
- LISTEN TO THE SPEECH A REPUBLIN LAWMAKER GAVE AT HIS GAY SON’S WEDDG DAYS AFTER VOTG AGAST MARRIAGE EQUALY
- A FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR ON BEG GAY, THE GOP, AND RELIG LIBERTY
- PENNSYLVANIA HIGH SCHOOL STUNTS ORGANIZE "ANTI-GAY DAY"
- PEOPLE ARE CALLG OUT PARIS HILTON’S “REBRAND” BY POTG OUT HER LONG HISTORY OF RACIST AND ANTI-GAY COMMENTS
HOW GAY ARE YOU?
Gay men are g Instagram to name and shame those attendg big parti durg the panmic. We spoke to those behd the acunts — and those who've been targeted. * buzzfeed gay news *
I am always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk to me about The Devil Wears Prada or they talk about Supernova, and they say that 'It was jt so betiful, ' you know, 'You did the right way. For four days, he chewed sleep to obssively scroll through social media and sort through hundreds of tips he’s received as part of his secret missn: e Instagram to name and shame other gay men who are partyg durg the panmic. “No part of is anger on my end, ” said the man behd @TheGayRona, a California tech dtry worker, who like others this story asked not to be intified, fearg he would bee a social media target himself.
”Most of the drama has been taloged on the Instagram acunt @GaysOverCovid, which has amassed more than 115, 000 followers and spawned several smaller imators.
“A public fom is better bee sparks change, or at least attempts to, ” the gay man his late twenti nng the acunt told reporters Taylor Lorenz and Alex Hawgood. ) In recent weeks, @GaysOverCovid played tective by checkg people’s Facebook lotn and even Venmo history to place them Puerto Vallarta, Mexi, and R Janeiro, Brazil, which over the New Year’s Eve perd hosted circu parti — all-night rav wh a reputatn for dg e and few sexual boundari — i.
MEET THE GUYS EXPOSG OTHER GAY MEN PARTYG DURG THE PANMIC
* buzzfeed gay news *
They’re gog out on Instagram, postg stori, flntg them floutg guil, ” said a mid-thirti healthre dtry worker who is one of the four people behd @BostonGaysOverCovid, which has been exposg the behavr of that cy’s gay muny. One man offered a $500 reward on a circu party Facebook group for the inty of whoever’s behd @GaysOverCovid, tellg Lorenz and Hawgood the acunt was “like Salem Wch huntg. ”Vox reporter Alex Abad-Santos has been the most proment chronicler of the drama on Twter where he has shared a seri of viral updat about what he jok has been a “Gay Civil War.
When Brazilian police shut down a circu party, gay men reveled their unterparts’ wasted told BuzzFeed News gay men were transfixed by the saga bee of the proment place circu parti hold the muny — and the horror om some that they might ntue a adly panmic.
YASSIFY, FUN GAY SLUR, AND THE LOSS OF ALL MEANG
Jacksonville Jaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen has e out as gay. * buzzfeed gay news *
“I mean, I thk there's fely other issu that this fight is touchg on when to the way gay men look at ourselv, what we value, and how we look at other gay men.
Zack Ford, the prs secretary for the Alliance for Jtice and a former LGBTQ edor for Thk Progrs whose own take on the parti went viral, told BuzzFeed News the bate touch on issu of male body image and social media that n e prsn the gay muny.
HOW THE “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW IS AFFECTG FLORIDA LGBTQ STUNTS AND TEACHERS
Read all the latt news on Buzzfeed Gay. Fans At John Mulaney’s Show Said They Felt “Ambhed” When Dave Chappelle Opened It Wh Anti-Trans Jok * buzzfeed gay news *
Palm Sprgs Mayor Christy Holstege told BuzzFeed News dozens of rints of her California cy, long a haven and travel statn for the LGBTQ muny, had ntacted her office ncerned by what they’ve seen posted by @GaysOverCovidPage. ”The tech dtry worker behd @TheGayRona said his acunt has been particularly foced on exposg medil practners who have been preachg safe COVID-19 practic or uploadg photos of themselv receivg a ronavis vacce, only to then share party pics.
The @BostonGaysOverCovid acunt was spend Tuday night after one of the admistrators posted a story allegg a man had been lyg about his HIV stat to sexual partners. ”But whether be men partyg on Fire Island for the 4th of July or vatng on a private island wh iends, the gay muny has been policg their own throughout the panmic. ”Herrera add that the vigilante acunts are also a reflectn of the ernment’s failed rponse to the panmic, forcg the gay muny to police their own, “which is a really dangero and ethilly vague posn, but ’s the only one we have.
A GAY COUPLE TRIED TO SIGN UP FOR A CHRISTIAN CAMP’S RNN WEEKEND. THE ANTI-LGBTQ PHBACK THEY FACED WAS THE FAL STRAW, THEY SAID.
Missouri Republin Rep. Vicky Hartzler went viral for her teary (and unsuccsful) plea to stop the Rpect for Marriage Act. Her gay nephew wants a word. * buzzfeed gay news *
Foreman, a 60-year-old lbian wh short gray hair and wire-rimmed glass, is a sponsor of the school’s gay–straight is the fifth-most-diverse public school the state: 28% of stunts are whe, another 28% are Latx, and 27% are Black.
There are many people who ntributed to the formatn of our untry that serve regnn, ” she said, mentng gay general Baron Friedrich von Stben, who was tegral to Ameri wng the Revolutnary sce the passage of the Parental Rights Edutn Bill, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by crics, attendance has been down Ballard’s classroom. Although “Don’t Say Gay” didn’t go to effect until Augt, the rabows me down Foreman’s room when the bill was proposed March, and school board meetgs turned to shoutg match over gay and lbian teachers and cril race theory. Acrdg to spokperson Maniglia, “Unr [the Parental Rights Edutn Act] [a Sarasota County] teacher/staff member is not obligated to tell the parent if stunt disclos to them that they are gay etc.
DeSantis ma clear that the tent and effect of the bill is to supprs the abily of gay or transgenr stunts to exprs themselv, while allowg heterosexual, cisgenr stunts to do so.
13 CELEBS WHO REALLY SAID "GAY RIGHTS" AND ACTUALLY BACKED IT UP
<b>Guy Benson is gay, but he don't really thk that matters.</b> The polil edor do, however, thk LGBT people should be more open to gay Republins — even as he thks gay issu prent a "real obstacle" for his party. * buzzfeed gay news *
” And the stunts told me no rabows or LGBTQ symbols had been removed om their the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed, hundreds of middle and high school stunts at Pe View staged a walkout on March 3. Zanr Moricz, who graduated May 2022, anized the walkout and beme the youngt platiff a lawsu brought by the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights and law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fk agast “Don’t Say Gay, ” seekg to block enforcement of the law on the grounds that vlated stunts’ rights to ee speech, equal protectn, and due procs. )The overwhelmg sentiment that the stunts kept brgg up was fear: fear that classmat would be outed to their parents, that gay teachers would be forced to rign, and that tn would no longer be about learng but about polics stead.
When I asked the stunts if this was actually happeng at school, all four said belief that public school teachers are forcg stunts to be trans or gay is “100% driven by this mass irratnal fear on behalf of nservative voic the muny, ” Bailey said. ” Lily add that she only remembered beg tght about gay people or genr once durg her years school, “durg an AP European History class, which was the textbook that the College Board provid . “Don’t Say Gay” has “allowed the Sarasota County School Board to create new polici that are, for lack of better words, extremely reprsive wh our school, ” Mchell said.
LGBTQ PEOPLE SHARED THEIR "BABY GAY" PICTUR WH US, AND IF THE PICTUR DON'T MAKE YOUR DAY, NOTHG WILL
<b>The stunts ordated wearg flannel shirts and wrote "anti-gay" on their hands after the school's Gay-Straight Alliance held a "Day of Silence."</b> * buzzfeed gay news *
Thomas, now 32 and a social worker Taa, Washgton, last vised the mp on the Prcs Louisa let when he was 23 years old before he was kicked out for beg gay, he told BuzzFeed News. The stori beneath would expand on the pejorativ, jtifyg them wh news of “sick”, “evil”, “predatory” gays — all arisg om a prumptn: that rears would me at the worst time. After the burgeong liberatn movement and the shirts-off, arms-up dis era, gay men started dyg the hundreds, then AIDS h the early 1980s, Fleet Street, then the home of Bra’s newspaper dtry, rpond by blamg gay people for their own aths; lyg about the of the disease; llg for a return to the closet, to abstence, and even to prison.
Later, when the Conservative ernment gagged teachers om discsg homosexualy, many newspapers roared there was one gay man who cid to fight back, wh words of his 1983, Terry Sanrson began to document newspapers’ slurs agast the muny a lumn for Gay Tim magaze (then the most important gay publitn) lled “Media Watch”. He acced tabloids of turng s verage of gay people to a “blood sport” — the difference beg that “wh gay-bag nobody seems ncerned about the barbaric celty of all.
THIS MAN SPENT 25 YEARS FIGHTG NEWSPAPERS OVER THEIR ANTI-GAY REPORTG AND FALLY WON
” He mocked the most what-the-fuck ludicro verage — the Daily Star’s assertn that “the Rottweiler is the gay muny’s favoure pet” or the Sun’s headle: “Gays Axe Christmas”. And he lambasted his own muny, too — if emed to betray the one ocsn, Kenh Williams, the famoly self-hatg gay actor, told an terviewer, “Anybody who pretends that two men n live together happily like man and wife is talkg a load of bbish. But he didn’t stop for 25 years, outlastg all the lumnists who were othg when he first also secured a first: a historic w, holdg a newspaper to acunt for s smears agast gay people.
While workg a photographer’s shop Rotherham, he found a lol, Yorkshire-based branch of the Campaign for Homosexual Equaly, one of the early and rather pole gay groups. “I started to read Gay News, ” he says, referrg to the publitn that would bee Gay Tim, “and see [om s reportg] all the discrimatns happeng: gay people gettg kicked out of their jobs, parents rejectg them. The first, a Sunday People spread unr the headle “Ban the Panto Fairi”, saw the edian Bernard Manng argug that gay actors should not be allowed on “televisn, on stage, clubs or pubs” orr that they don’t “rpt the children”.
JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH COACH COM OUT AS GAY IN A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
Meanwhile, the Solihull Daily Tim blared a headle: “Row over poofs and queers” the same lumn, he reported that the Sun, Bra’s btsellg newspaper, had “negative gay stori almost every day for the past few weeks”. ”The attacks, the prs and the street, me at a time when there were no legal protectns for LGBT people: the law did not regnise anti-gay hate crim, you uld be fired or evicted bee of your sexualy, and the age of nsent was 21 for gay was the AIDS crisis, risg through the 1980s, that brought Sanrson’s lumn to terrifyg foc. Shortly after the Sun’s near-daily anti-gay verage, The Tim clared s official posn a lear edorial: “Many members of the public are tempted to see AIDS some sort of retributn for a qutnable style of life.
“The News of the World rried ‘gay plague’ headl three nsecutive issu, ” wrote Sanrson, tailg each one: “Victims of gay plague long to die”; “My doomed son’s gay plague agony”; “Art geni stroyed by gay killer bug” of which, he wrote, reeked of a “sick self-ngratulatn” redolent of a self-soothg lie: “It n’t happen to bee we’re straight. ”When the Sun then lled gay men “walkg time bombs” wh the “killer disease AIDS” who are a “menace to all society”, Sanrson wrote to the edor, Kelv MacKenzie, askg “whether he was prepared to take rponsibily for acts of vlence which might be ced agast gay men by this highly provotive edorial”. MacKenzie’s reply was reported Media Watch: “I do not accept that our edorial did any more than urge all homosexuals, the terts of the entire muny, to thk twice before givg blood.
AN O TO GAY COWBOY ORGI IS THE ANTHEM FOR THE OTTAWA RISTANCE
Even when the evince was clear that heterosexuals also had HIV, the Sun, wrote Sanrson, “still sisted that AIDS sufferers were ‘gay plague victims’” and merrily prted headl unencumbered by facts: “Beer mugs may spread the disease”. The Telegraph published a lumn argug that wasn’t spegoatg to acce gay men of spreadg AIDS bee “male homosexuals are undoubtedly rponsible” this quote, Sanrson wrote a multipot plan of actn for any rear wantg to fight the bombardment. Sanrson feared that homosexualy self would be recrimalised — not a stretch when the Sun had suggted lockg gay people up, sce they were, apparently, an “evil threat to society”.
THE GAY NEPHEW OF THE LAWMAKER WHO CRIED WHILE VOTG AGAST MARRIAGE EQUALY HAS A MSAGE FOR HER
The Guardian warned 1987 that such verage reprented a “staed attempt to rurrect the mob” gay people Sanrson knew at the time simply refed to look at newspapers, “pretendg they didn’t exist”. ”In 1988, when Sectn 28, the new law preventg mentn of homosexualy schools, was the news, Sanrson aga ed “Media Watch” to galvanise the muny: “Now we mt be ready to fight every step of the way. When the Eveng Standard wailed about a “Storm over gay sex books for 2 year olds” (also durg the Sectn 28 furore), Sanrson untered, “Prumably the books are available a school for fant prodigi who n read at the age of two?
LISTEN TO THE SPEECH A REPUBLIN LAWMAKER GAVE AT HIS GAY SON’S WEDDG DAYS AFTER VOTG AGAST MARRIAGE EQUALY
”And when EastEnrs beme, 1989, the first Brish soap opera to show a gay kiss, Sanrson quoted the Sun: “The homosexual love scene between yuppie poofs was screened the early eveng when lns of children were watchg” before puncturg the hypocrisy there: “jt se any Sun-readg kiddie missed , the shockg peck was photographilly reproduced for their edifitn” Guardian, which later claimed to be “the world’s leadg liberal voice”, was not whout flt, eher, Sanrson says. In 1987, When Jam Baldw, one of the most important voic of the 20th century, died, “Media Watch” sffed: “The two subjects on which Jam Baldw wrote most passnately were racism and homosexualy. Siarly, 1984, when Gay’s the Word bookshop was raid by Ctoms and Excise officers, wh 144 tl nfisted on the grounds of obsceny — books by such apparent pornographers as Jean-Pl Sartre and Gore Vidal — the lumn fumed: “No mentn the natnal newspapers” this, “Media Watch” ptured a ld tth: Newspapers were unterted the harm mted agast gay people bee they were too by mtg ocsn, however, the papers would report hate crim — orr to cheer.
When homophob vandalised a flowerbed that had been planted Manchter to celebrate Pri, the Sun’s “predictably jeerg reactn”, wrote Sanrson, was: “Anti-gay gang wipe out pansi! The lumns ntaed such refed termology as “woofter” and “poof”, attacks on televisn programm that “promote homosexualy, ” and l such as, “It mt be te what they say about nobody beg all bad … even Stal banned poofs! Sanrson had s lg, the uncil said: “The words ‘poof’ and ‘poofter’… were so offensive to male homosexuals as not to be a matter of taste or opn” and therefore should only be prted where “necsary for the purpose of proper unrstandg of the em which the offensive words appear”.
A FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR ON BEG GAY, THE GOP, AND RELIG LIBERTY
Along wh newspapers bristlg wh digny for beg told off, the Sun self rpond wh the headle: “You Can’t Call ’em Poofers” unr which the paper raged agast the uncil for s “lordly manner over language” while accg gay people of “appropriatg” the word “gay” om s dictnary the backlash eventually ebbed, says Sanrson, as newspapers began to realise “which way the wd was blowg”.
”One of the problems regardg how journalists approach the trans muny, says Sanrson, is “people don’t unrstand , and that was a very siar thg wh the early days of gay visibily. Latt News On Buzzfeed Gay Fans At John Mulaney’s Show Said They Felt “Ambhed” When Dave Chappelle Opened It Wh Anti-Trans Jok“I have a lot of trans iends, and I’m gay myself so I was really disappoted that Dave was allowed to perform given that he has a history of transphobic jok, ” one attene told BuzzFeed folks will cry about everythg and anythg till the earth ends cuz they are so special and everythg is out to get em (they're really jt crazy) so might as well jt move on. 5/22/2022 1:33:00 PM He’s His Son, He’s Straight, And He’s From KansasThe Other Two creator Chris Kelly and actor Noam Ash talked wh BuzzFeed News about the episo that left gay viewers reelg.
PENNSYLVANIA HIGH SCHOOL STUNTS ORGANIZE "ANTI-GAY DAY"
9/1/2021 3:45:00 AM Disgraced Polician Com Out as Gay HypocreDisgraced polician out as gay hypocre3/6/2020 12:00:00 AM The Story Behd The Viral 2004 Christmas Movie Wh Two Versns — One Wh Two Dads And Another Wh Straight ParentsHere's The Story Behd The Viral 2004 Christmas Movie Wh Two Versns11/15/2019 11:34:00 PM Karamo Brown From 'Queer Eye' Rpond To The Cricism Over His Defense Of Sean SpicerKaramo Brown Says His Son Received Death Threats After His Sean Spicer Comments11/6/2019 10:45:00 PM Reporter alleg Jill Abramson lifted material for her bookFormer executive edor of The New York Tim is facg allegatns she lifted material om other sourc for her book, halie wr. 2/7/2019 8:31:00 AM Morng Update: Here Are The Tmp Tower Mosw PlansMorng Update: Here Are The Tmp Tower Mosw Plans1/23/2019 3:21:00 PM The Dg GHB Is Killg Gay Men. Hartzler is among the most anti-gay members of Congrs, havg nsistently received a sre of zero the annual srerd om the Human Rights Campaign, which ranks members on their support for equaly she was elected to Congrs 2011, Hartzler was a home enomics teacher and then a lawmaker the Missouri state ernment.
Will Byers’ sexualy has been subject to scty throughout all four seasons of Stranger Thgs; 's been heavily implied throughout the Netflix show that the teenager is gay. “I thk that’s the bety of , that ’s jt up to the dience’s terpretatn, if ’s Will kd of jt refg to grow up and growg up slower than his iends, or if he is really gay.
PEOPLE ARE CALLG OUT PARIS HILTON’S “REBRAND” BY POTG OUT HER LONG HISTORY OF RACIST AND ANTI-GAY COMMENTS
And others have shared their siar mdset on social media, wh one person retweetg Noah’s ments about the “bety” of Will’s sexualy beg how open to terpretatn is and addg: “Only straight ppl would thk 's betiful to never acknowledge gayns.
“In the 80s beg gay was not like is now - the AIDS epimic was a huge al, there were very few gay characters or role mols to look up to, and many more people were closeted.
’ His iends have no ncept of what gay is or what means, and -world most everyone is so preoccupied by survivg the Upsi Down they (and Will himself) have no chance to procs Wills own sexualy. Relatnships are so much a part of mp life that one blogy profsor offered his class extra cred last year if they went on a assignment was eventually changed when Le Wthoff, a first-year chemistry major who is gay, told the profsor he uldn’t participate bee of BYU’s l, which prohib LGBTQ stunts om datg one another. Others wore cloth that illtrated their pri, like a sweatshirt portrayg art by Keh Harg, a gay graffi artist om the 1980s famo for his prott art agast the ernment’s treatment of the HIV/AIDS crisis.