Why Do Straights Hate Gays? (Cont.)

I decided to move my response to a full length post.

One Response to “Why Do Straights Hate Gays?”

Not all straight people hates gay people. I am straight and I DON’T HATE gays. I love them and I respect them.

That's true Ira, but I think the aim of this article is that it's not enough for heterosexuals to simply say they support and respect gays/lesbians. From Stonewall to ACTUP, as powerful political events that shaped queer politics, things have not changed much and it's incredibly frustrating. One can change their attitudes and develop respect for each other. But *real* change demands an active public engagement against those who continue to stir and feed off of an increasingly powerful anti-gay agenda. This is the political dimension. Voting is one of those political practices to voice that support in public, and so is petition writing, opinion pieces, blogs, and so on. But "we" as straight people simply do not do enough. Or worse, "we" lack a political conviction. And the fallout is not restricted to those liberal or progressive hets either. It also extends to the state of queer activism and politics which has been largely confined to marriage, a rather heterosexual practice and institution.

Seriously. When Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked if homosexuality was immoral, she simply responded, "Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude."

WTF??? She's running to be President of the United States, and she's going to leave that decision to others???

That is not "presidential." It is not in the least bit invoking "executive privilege." It is simply cowardice. It runs from the very top of our political elites to the common person. And the worse thing about it is that we accept it without question.

Larry Kramer's final analysis is right on target:

You may say you don't hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what's the difference? Our own country's democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.

Why Do Straights Hate Gays?

I made a brief comment after the Democratic takeover of Congress last year about how I'm not sure what they stand for and what they will fight as a coherent political agenda.

I'm convinced now that neither Clinton and Obama stand for anything since it seems they're dodging gay and lesbian issues which basically permits condemnation. I can't seem to recall anyone who will stand definitively on what they think is principled and right -- unless you're a conservative, in which their platform is crystal clear and consistent. But on the liberal side? For Democrats? I don't see anyone at all.

And I'm not at all surprised when Larry Kramer, founder of ACTUP, writes an article like this:

DEAR STRAIGHT PEOPLE,

Why do you hate gay people so much?

Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us....

Huh? Wha'?

Yes it's been much too long since I've last posted here. That's actually a good thing because I've been productive and writing my chapter and reading more law reviews on Virginia v. Black. At least, I'm trying to fit that in whenever I can on top of teaching classes.

I've been following Tim Hardaway's anti-gay comments and the subsequent outcry which resulted in his banishment from the All-Star weekend in Las Vegas. One in particular, has Charles Barkley not only admonishing Hardaway's comment, but stating that he should've known better. That as an African American and a black man, the history of discrimination, negative stereotypes, and violence should've taught him better than to say something so ignorant and incendiary.

[UPDATE: Yet another video removed for TOS violations.]

I was watching it and to my surprise Barkley seemed like the elder statesman. Well, rough around the edges, but he got the gist of it. Anyways, I came across this clip and consider it as a "different" to the usual public condemnation and subsequent "apology" by Hardaway. It stars George Takei, first shown on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, and I love the fact that it throws the stereotypes back at Hardaway. I think it works quite well.

[UPDATE: Damn this was a good video clip too.]

Has Asian Masculinity Arrived? And to Where Exactly?

Well yes and no. It's a whole lot better than what it was when I was younger -- geeky, dorky, nerdy. Really depressing stuff. But today, we have images and celebrities like Yul Kwon from this season's Survivor, Daniel Dae Kim from Lost, John Cho from Harold and Kumar, and Masi Oka, the sex appeal of dorkiness, in Heroes. And they've made it in the sense that they are ranked in People's Annual Sexiest Man Alive. In case you're wondering, George Clooney topped the savory list of mouth drooling masculinity and I most definitely agree with that result.

At the same time, however, I can't help but notice how the polls are also revealing about the details. One of the polls asks "Which Lost star do you want to share a deserted isle with?" Leading the pack is Matthew Fox (47%) and Josh Holloway (44%). Daniel Dae Kim? He's at 2% and Naveen Andrews at 5%. But Harold Perrineau rounded out the bottom at 1%. I have to keep in mind that the low numbers could be about how their characters were developed in the story and I am not a Lost fan so I'm not familiar with the narrative too well. But to contrast that point, we can turn to the Heroes poll, which does look a bit more promising than the Lost crew. Milo Ventimiglia (30%), Santiago Cabrera (27%), and Adrian Pasdar (23%) lead the index of desirability, while Sendhil Ramamurthy received 18%, but Masi Oka ended up with 2%. Hmmm ... what gives?

It's refreshing, and reassuring, to see a whole new generation of Asian American men defining, and whether they know it or not, challenging preconceived notions about stereotypical representations of Asian masculinity. However, I can't help but notice the near bottom rankings of these men. It confirms for me, yet again, that our sense of desire and fantasy are racially organized. I am not surprised at this outcome but I am not discouraged. I think these polls also reveal how much further Asian American masculinity can go. There's nowhere else to go but up and that's something I can look forward to.

Thinking about 2008, Part II

I got the funniest cartoon from a student after we discussed about the possibility of Hilary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice running for President. The jabs at each other are priceless. :D

http://i.euniverse.com/funpages/cms_content/13180/HillaryCondi_HoDown.swf

Thinking about 2008

Since the midterm elections, there's been a lot of talk about potential Democratic frontrunners for the 2008 Presidential election. The Washington Post featured an article showing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as the two leading contenders. It suggested, among many things, what the campaign would look like if Obama somehow won the Democratic ticket. Would we see negative ad campaigns like the one Harold Ford bore the brunt in his re-election bid in Tennessee? Maybe worse? Could the country would stomach ads like these or reject them outright? Or would we cater to these stereotypes and exploit these divisions? What if Hilary won? What kinds of ads would be used against her?

I think the implications, and possible revelations, if either one were nominated, is that the kinds of negative ads, and our responses, will reveal how far we've really come.