Now with an apology, an elaborate explanation, and a single-word edit.
Also, an official statement on the issue from Vanity Fair.
4 Replies to “The Gay Guide to Glee: “Sexy” UPDATED”
Comments are closed.
Now with an apology, an elaborate explanation, and a single-word edit.
Also, an official statement on the issue from Vanity Fair.
Comments are closed.
I would have commented over at VF, but am afraid I would have been lost in the mob of rabid tumblr-ers.
While I’m not a fan of any usage of the word “fag,” the response that you got to your article was just ridiculous. Watching hordes of overwhelmingly heterosexual individuals narrowing into that one word in a holistically very gay-positive article made me angrier than if you had used the word “fag” as an adjective to every single noun in your writing.
The hypocrisy of these people telling you (and me) as gay men how we should and should not use this word is staggering especially when a passing glance at their comments shows the vast ignorance they have of LGBT culture.
I have been a loyal reader of your “Gay Guide to Glee” and will happily remain so in the future.
Brett.. thanks for removing the ‘F’ word from your post. I’m hip, I’m current, and I’m gay and I never use it.. not so much because I think that if we gays use it, we give license for everyone else to use it too.. as much as because here in Texas it’s used so often by so many hate-filled bigots, that I wouldn’t want anyone like that to hear me speak and think I’m like them.
Not to pile on, but this has the whiff of the non-apology apology, i.e., a mea culpa only to those who may have been offended. Brett, the word “fag” is a slur regardless of its context, it’s offensive period. Your intention is irrelevant, why is this so hard to get?
Now that the dust has settled down, I want to thank you for deleting the offending word, though as another commenter said your apology is really a “non-apology apology.”
It seems to me that describing yourself as a “fun and faggy” blogger is akin to the Stepin Fetchit strategy of disarming homophobes. It shows a lack of self-respect, which is too bad since you are a talented writer. What I fear is that you are willing to sacrifice not only your own self-respect, but also the respect due to others, in order to get ahead.
I love the idea of a gay man writing about cars, but your logo of one car mounting another is pretty offensive as well as juvenile. In addition, it has the effect of saying that gayness is only about sex, though your actual columns do not say this.
I was offended by Berk’s comments and by VF’s editors allowing them. When they start using N*gg*r (by Black writers, of course, in an ironic or playful manner) or K*Ke (by Jewish writers, of course, in a light and comic way) or Sp*c (by Hispanic writers, of course, with a side-splitting hilarity), then it seems to me it would be appropriate to playfully and ironically have a faggy writer use fag. Until then, I think it would wise for VF to cease and desist.
In any case, I am glad that you and VF have apologized for the use of “fag”, even if lamely.
The problem with gay people and gay allies using the term in mixed company or at all is that it gives license to others who do not have our best interests at heart to use the word. The term “fag,” even when used ironically, is dismissive of gay people, rendering us insignificant. If just about the only gay teen couple in popular culture can be dismissed as party fags, then they certainly don’t have to be taken seriously, and surely one should have no concern about the pain gay and lesbian teens endure on high school campuses where “fag” is routinely used to denigrate others.
When VF starts allowing the use of N*gg*r (by Black writers, of course, in an ironic or playful manner) or K*Ke (by Jewish writers, of course, in a light and comic way) or Sp*c (by Hispanic writers, of course, with a side-splitting hilarity), then it seems to me it would be appropriate for them to allow a faggy writer to use fag as long as it is used ironically and comically, of course.
It ought to tell you something to learn that VF would allow the “n” word or the “k” word to be used by anyone. The very fact that they thought it was fine to use the “f” word tells everything about the status of homosexuals in our society. You, unfortunately, seem content with that status.