Andrew gets it, I get it.
If you’re gay and you write for and edit a newspaper that’s not gay (like I do), or a blog that’s not necessarily devoted to gay issues, anytime you mention gay stuff you get grief. Folks scream that gay stuff is all you (or your paper) ever write/writes about. Folks say this even when the evidence that it’s not true is literally staring them in the face. They’re reading the blog, they have the paper in their hands-how can they say it’s 100% gay?
I’ll admit, however, that my posts during my stint as guest blogger have been, up to now, gayer than Richard Simmons sitting on Tucker Carlson’s lap. But you know what? Our culture is pretty heavy on the gay stuff. (And, I’m sorry, but Rosie O’Donnell going into Fiddler? How could I refrain from commenting on that?) There are really two wars going on right now: The War on Terror (or the “Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism” or “Not So Many Car Bombs as the MSM Would Have You Believe” or “The Mission Accomplished Any Day Now” or whatever it is we’re calling it today) and the War on Gay Stuff. Or maybe I should say the War Over Gay Stuff.
Straight writers have a hard enough time avoiding gay issues, let alone gay writers. And it’s hard to sit on the sidelines, or let some insult or injustice pass, when you feel like you’re being attacked. And trust me… I would adore having the luxury to avoid gay issues for, oh, ten or twenty years. But if straight writers can’t, how can I?
-posted by Dan
JUDGE NOT: Take for instance the latest news about SCOTUS-bound John Roberts. Guess what? A conservative group is yanking its support for Roberts and calling on Bush to withdraw his name. Why? Because Roberts, as everyone by now knows, did a little pro-bono work (sounds dirty) for gay groups in the mid-90s. Pull down the websites, alert Lou Sheldon, off with Robert’s so-recently-lionized head.
I don’t know Jesse J. Holland, the reporter who wrote the story up for the AP, but I’m guessing he’s straight. Most men are. And yet there he is, writing about gay stuff. Why? Because he has no choice, and neither do I. Neither does Andrew. But I’ll bet you no one screams “Enough, Jesse!” when he files his gay stories. Gay issues are big news in America just now and they can’t be avoided. Not by me, not by the AP, not by Judge Roberts, not Lou Sheldon. (Check out Lou’s website-there’s more gay stuff there than Andrew could ever hope to pack on to his website.)
A lot of people who don’t like gay people-those who don’t approve, or think Jesus hates us more than he hates, say, adulterers or people who support the death penalty (I expect Jesus, if he exists, has a real issue with supporters of the death penalty)-say they’re just sick of hearing about it/us. They just wish we’d shut up and go away. Well, that’s not going to happen. We’re not going to go away, and it’s unlikely that we’ll ever shut up. But want to know how we could cut the number of headlines and AP stories and blog entries written about gays and lesbians by at least 90%? Let us have our rights. There will be a lot less debate after we’re fully enfranchised citizens, I promise you. Until that time comes-and it will come-there’s going to be a lot to say about gay stuff, unfortunately.
-posted by Dan
BUT NOT TOMORROW: But tell you what…
As an experiment I will attempt to blog away the day tomorrow without once mentioning gay stuff. Someone wrote in and asked me to write about my “other passions,” and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Can I do it? Can I rise above, as Ralph Nader once put it, gonadal politics? Tune in tomorrow to find out.
-posted by Dan
ONE PARTING GAY THOUGHT:…and it’s a doozie. Sensitive readers, or readers with a low threshold for red-hot gay action, may want to skip this item…
Rosie O’Donnell should have been cast in the 1997 Broadway revival of “Once Upon a Mattress,” not Sarah Jessica Parker. This has been eating me up for years. I mean, the lead role was originated by Carol Burnett-it’s a big, brassy, bawdy part. Half the joke is just how unprincess-like the princess is. (It’s a musical version of “The Princess and the Pea,” yo.) Parker is too slight! She’s too tiny! O’Donnell would have been perfect for the part.
Okay, enough with the gay stuff. Tune in tomorrow for so-straight-you’ll-be-begging-me-to-go-gay-again blog-a-thon.
-posted by Dan
The Dish 