unlucky7 said:

not legally

we need some charismatic people to come to the forefront and inspire people to organize and defend our rights. I think we all have the ideas and inspiration to make it happen, we just need a focal point.

GlitterStream said:

My sentiments exactly. There have never been enough of them.

Anxiety said:

Joey Arias! Love him. One of a grand total of two noteworthy people from my hometown of Ft. Bragg/Fayetteville, NC (Julianne Moore - one of the best actresses today - being the other). A good friend of mine used to write for Paper, and she said Joey was a goddamn riot to be around. He's also a sometime columnist for the magazine, so she was around him a lot. And that voice - amazing.

It made me sick to my stomach to see a certain top Hollywood celebrity professing (yet again) his 'undying love' for his latest beard (oops sorry, I meant 'girlfriend') on Entertainment Tonite a couple of days ago.

But hey, I guess when you've become more of a brand name and a commodity than a person, that comes with the territory. I just feel sad for him that he has to live his life that way, it must totally suck.

That's all I'll say.

BananaCologne said:

WHO are you talking about?

GlitterStream said:

Can't say - publicists will eat me

GlitterStream said:

This guy, maybe??

@ this thread!

Nikster said:

Like I said previously...I'll say no more.

Chico319 said:

Hey baby!!!

BananaCologne said:

for you 'nana

Natisse said:

BananaCologne said:

B.C.!!!!! Did you change your email and not tell me?

Chico319 said:

Nope? Org note time methinks.. hit me up.



















HARDER YOU BITCH!!!!

BananaCologne said:

ok

Chico319 said:

that's better.

superspaceboy said:

People who say QAF "makes it worse" have never watched more than a clip of a club scene or a read more than a critical soundbyte in the gay rags.

I've watched the show since the beginning, and sometimes it's so goddamn positive I feel like slapping the writers. An example: In the season premiere of the fifth and final season that recently aired, a line of dialogue (spoken by an HIV-positive, but not stereotypically "diseased fag" character, natch) was -and I'm paraphrasing -"Now, more than ever, it's important for us to show that a gay couple can be just as succesful as a straight one." The scene? An anniversary party, where the line was thrown in oddly and awkwardly into the dialogue.

QAF has moments like these in every single episode. Is it awkward? Yes. Is it necessary to hit us over the head with it? No. But it's there, and often an integral part of the plot, however contrived it often comes across.

QAF is far from perfect. It lacks any bisexual or trans characters, or ethnic characters. But these flaws aside, it's not as bad as those who've never actually actually gotten around to watching it say it is, and doesn't even begin to compete with trash like Will & Grace.

And now for something actually on topic.


I agree that the gay community needs someone to stand up and speak; someone to be a role model. Problem is, who? There's so much diversity of sexualities (gay, bi, trans, two-spirited, etc.) and even types of gay folks. What set of genitialia that attracts them aside, the truck driving logger in the backwoods has little to do with the art student in the big city.

Whoever our role models or spokespeople may turn out to be, it definitely needs to be "average" people and not celebrities who stand up. A star can be portrayed by conservatives as just promoting their pet cause of the month, or used as an example of how gay=rich, Hollywood elite.

meow85 said:

That would make it more of an M&M kind of show, wouldn't it? That would make it a show with the 'given' ethnic person, the 'given' drag etc.

I rather have a show about people, no matter what kind, in which the characters are true to life. The only thing is, true to life would make it boring for people to watch. Television needs embelishments in the characters and storyline to make it sellable to a certain group of people.

This is what I love about UK television, namely the BBC, where they can create something that is totally a mindspin for the sake of art or humor.

What lots of people forget is that when you present one side of gay culture, people on television will always concentrate on the flamboyant part of it. When I came out my mother would just picture these things she saw on television; men in their underwear waving flags, drag queens or shock television about the unsafe sex many gay person indeed has.
As soon as I made her understand that was not what I was about, she relaxed.

HamsterHuey said:

Oh, I don't mean there should have been "token" characters, because that's just as bad as not having any at all. But there should have been more diversity than a completely gay, all-white cast. Though the show was set in Pittsburgh,(but filmed in Toronto!) so I'm not sure if that would have any effect on the racial makeup of the cast.

That's true. Too many American shows don't bother to develop the characters beyond the stock "types".



A lot of people -including a lot of queer people -have warped understanding of what it means to be gay because of the one-sided way the media's decided we all are.

meow85 said:

Yes. I am often more at home in a straight bar than a queer bar cuz of the guys always being over the top on brands, latest trends and sillyness throughout. Them guys with the sunglasses inside or after dark just irritate the hell outa me...

But I guess it is a phase some of them just never get out of. It defines them and that's okay. I myself do not feel the need to define myself as 'gay'. I am just a guy that happens to be gay, that's all.

So to me rolemodels are just gay people who do their thing, what ever it is, without havinf to mark it as gay.

Why do ppl insist Tom Cruise is gay?

HamsterHuey said:

Huey/meow85 - you've hit the nail on the head.

Obviously I think role models are a positive thing and we do need more of them. However, I think we can all be role models in our own way - we can set our own examples.

This is easy to say once you've gone through the 'coming out' process, of course; being in the closet and having no-one to relate to or anyone to identify with can be totally alienating. But I think being proud of who you are, what you are, what you stand for - just by being yourself - can speak volumes. Without having to make a spectacle of yourself.

klhk said:

Remember a while ago, when that porn start accused him of having sex with him or something, or tried to sue him for something i don't remember, and he got all ballitstic and tried to countersue the guy for such a such amount, i forget the situation but yeah....

Denial is a step in the coming out process.

That spoke VOLUMES.

OH, and what's wrong with Will & Grace? Really? I mean, the show is supposed to be a sitcom, not some gay rights show or something. Goodness. I'm happy we have that, and that the show's as successful as it is. Watching Jack made it easier to come out. He was gay and didn't care and wasn't afraid to be himself, and that was cool to me. I came out not too long after i started watching the show. That's my gay role model. Sean Hayes. Even though he doesn't do much out of the show.

klhk said:

Who said anything about insisiting? You're presuming. The difference here is I know more than you think.

BananaCologne said:

Why is this so important to you? If a person is not out of any closet, that is up to him. He is living his own life as he sees fit.
Just cuz of the fact that he is a Hollywood celebrity does not change anything about the fact that his personal life is none of our business.

It's so tiring that the gay community wants to forcefully push people out an excisting (or non-excisting) closet. Even if the guy had sexual experiences with men, that does not make him gay. He might be bi-sexual and jeez, that is his own business.

I mean, grow up! Tom Cruise does not want to be gay. Celebrate the ones that do. Forget about the rest, it is not worth it.

HamsterHuey said:

The city I'm in doesn't have a proper gay bar -there's just a restaurant that converts itself into a queer friendly atmosphere on Saturday nights. I rarely go though, too many McHomo's running about to really have a good time there. I'd much rather go to a house party and watch a pair of drunken jocks make out with each other.

meow85 said:

'McHomos'?? LMAO!




Hmm, I wish I had invites to your parties.