Some Dispatches from the Good Guys
BY ED SIKOV
If your email inbox resembles mine — and
I hope it doesn’t, because mine’s a mess
— you get daily updates from two queer
media outlets: Queerty and LGBTQ Nation.
I’m rather fond of both of them.
Queerty is the sillier of the two, what with its
loads of eye candy clickbait. In fact, sometimes
an “article” consists entirely of reprinted Instagram
posts of beautiful men with ripped abs,
ripped abs, pretty faces, and ripped abs. Leaving
aside the fact that these photos make me
feel totally inadequate, they’re a lot of fun.
On one recent, representative day, some
hot stuff named Carson Jones showed off his
ripped abs in a sweaty locker room selfie, then
proceeded to write a lengthy caption about how
“broken” he felt in 2019; scrumptious Omar
Sharif Jr. displayed his perfect body in aquamarine
Speedos; a lightly hairy somebody
named Matthew Risch worked on his tan in
green Speedos; a muscle-bound man named
Victor Turpin stood magnificently on a beach in
Colombia; the beautiful Olympic swimmer Tom
Daley smirked as he flexed his fine, ripped
abs on the deck of a pool; a cutie called Richard
Hadfield drank a beer in the ocean, the
water coming up conveniently just below his
nipples…
Well, you get the idea.
All is not eye candy on Queerty, however. In
the same issue is a story about a young gay
crank who apparently killed himself soon after
protesting a drag queen story hour held at a local
library in Australia. No worries: even I won’t
➤ BASHING BUTTIGIEG, from p.20
about LGBTQ rights are a staple of Democratic
debates, Buttigieg’s identity only comes up
when he raises it. Imagine that a Black candidate’s
race or a woman candidate’s sex were
never mentioned. Wouldn’t we think the silence
is a cover for discomfort? Why should it be different
for a gay man? The fact that his gayness
is unmentionable is a clue that it’s a charged
subject. When “SNL” did a skit in which a Black
family ponders voting for Buttigieg and then
breaks out laughing, the joke worked because
the whole audience understood the sentiment,
even as it was projected onto people of color.
Which brings me to the slurs directed at him
from the queer left. Queer as in dissident or
proudly different from the norm. This is where
the nastiest venom is spit, resulting in heinous
allusions to his lack of balls (from a writer for
Out) and insults like “Mary Pete.” Let’s be clear:
When gay men use femininizing language to
describe one of their own, they are usually saying
drop the pretense of being butch. But some
gay men really are butch, and it doesn’t feel like
A 2018 appearance in Queery by Olympic swimming champion Tom
Daley.
make fun of him.
QUEERTY.COM
LGBTQ Nation tends to be less focused
on men’s bodies than Queerty. That’s not to
say it’s not entertaining. For example, here’s an
item from a recent edition:
“Mark Steyn, a frequent guest host for Tucker
Carlson’s show on Fox News, filled in for Rush
Limbaugh this week and questioned whether
an act with Buttigieg. So, what this slander actually
means is: If you don’t qualify as queer,
you aren’t allowed represent us.
I understand the anger at gays whose presentation
entitles them — the rewards of normalcy
are a bitter reminder of how race- and
gender-bound LGBTQ life remains. But electoral
politics cuts the edges off movements for
change. Barack Obama would not have been
president if he’d come on like James Brown. The
first members of any minority to succeed on a
national scale are those who adopt the dominant
code of conduct. Yet, because he’s good at
it, Buttigieg must bear the rancor of those who
are not. It reminds me of the old motto about
left sectarianism: “My worst enemy is the one
closest to me.”
I’m not saying you should vote for Buttigieg
because he’s gay. I’m saying that his sexuality
and its implications must be part of the debate.
And he should be grilled about LGBTQ rights.
What does he think about issues that matter
to his community — and does the community
matter to him? It may be that, like many gay
assimilationists, he is more conservative about
P E R S P E C T I V E : M e d i a C i r c u s
out presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is actually
gay . Steyn also wanted to know if Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the only female candidate
remaining with a chance of winning the
nomination, is actually a woman.”
From the same reporter, the always amusing
Bil Browning, comes this gem: “Evangelicals
are praying that God ‘exposes’ Michelle Obama
as transgender .” And this: “ Quentin Tarantino
says he owes his career to the ‘Golden Girls .’”
Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator in a
two-part episode. Said Tarantino, “By the time
the residuals were over three years later, I made
like $3,000… And that kept me going during
our pre-production time trying to get ‘Reservoir
Dogs’ going.”
Browning certainly has an admirable absurdist
streak.
Quote without comment from the British
PinkNews: “Surprise, surprise, Donald Trump
has appointed a campaign advisor who promotes
conversion therapy and thinks HIV in
gay men is ‘God’s moral law.’ Anti-LGBT+ extremist
Jenna Ellis is a right-wing news pundit
and former constitutional law attorney. She
does nothing to hide her strongly homophobic
views and has a long history of tirades against
‘the homosexual lifestyle’ and the ‘LGBT agenda.’
Trump appointed her for the senior role as
he was impressed by Ellis’ TV appearances... He
also indicated that he wanted to give her a bigger
job, and his team briefly discussed bringing
her into the White House.”
Follow @EdSikov on Twitter and Facebook.
gender than he should be. After all, one of his
earliest supporters in the mainstream media
was Andrew Sullivan, who has complained that
too much attention is paid to drag queens in
Pride Parades. Buttigieg could turn out to be
such a creature, or he could engage the full diversity
of LGBTQ people with all his persuasive
skills. Push him to reveal himself; don’t reject
him for what he is.
For me, gay liberation has always meant the
right to be as you are, whatever that is. A gay
man in a business suit is as gay as Billy Porter.
Neither would be themselves if the world
didn’t recognize their sexuality. Both would be
less distinguished if the acknowledgement were
withdrawn. That’s what silence does. It creates
its own closet, even when you’re out. So, bash
Mayor Pete if you don’t like his politics. But, let
his persona be. And remember: solidarity is the
best response to silence.
Richard Goldstein is the former executive editor
of The Village Voice, and the author of “ Another
Little Piece of My Heart: My Life of Rock and Revolution
in the ‘60s .”
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/QUEERTY.COM
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