Just What We Needed

A strong defender on the right.

I happened to run across this post by Robbie at the Malcontent, and sat there scratching my head for a couple of minutes.

I have no objections to the objections to the use of the word "lifestyle" in regard to gay culture. It's a fabricated concept that encapsulates hard-right ideology while belittling our humanity, based on the idea that being gay is a deliberate choice (jury's out, but the answer is probably "no"), and that our sexual activities have nothing to do with the fact that society at large has historically tried to keep us in the closet, thereby eliminating our choices on how to find, not sex, but the human contact that anyone needs. (I'm talking here about that human contact that encompasses affection, understanding, like-minded companionship, and physical as well as emotional needs.) So we have in the past had to make do with bars, backrooms, cruisy parks and public johns. Of course, those who point fingers have nothing to do with that at all. Uh-uh.

What stopped me was this:

The Outers claim that exposing closeted gays is always a good thing.

There is, needless to say, no documentation or citation for that comment, probably because it's not true. Even Mike Rogers, Mr. Out-The-Hypocrites, has been quite clear that his targets are those who are closeted and continue to work against the equality of gay men and lesbians.

He goes on:

Even if Larry Craig’s resignation sticks, does anyone believe Idaho is going to replace him with a champion of gay rights? Are the Outers pleased that many quarters of the media have just spent almost an entire week discussing gay men and public restroom sex almost synonymously?

It is a sad fact of life that closeted married types aren’t frequenting the healthiest venues to satisfy their sexual urges. Male prostitution, sex lines, public bathrooms, internet sites, minor congressional pages. Every time the hypocrisy of it all is uncovered and publicized, is it really helping us that the public spends the resulting week watching yet another gay male caught in yet another act of seedy, morally questionable sex?

Who’s being helped here? It certainly isn’t our image. While many of us are fighting for marriage on the grounds that we desire to live in a world that allows us the stability of family, the Outers pick and comb through the dregs of sexuality and triumphantly advertise yet another gay man caught doing . . . . well, what those filthy gays do!

Go ahead, Robbie -- blame the victims. It would seem to me that the target should not be those who out the hypocrites in public office, but the media and pundits who use that as an excuse to vilify gays. And, I might point out, they're not all on the right.

Instead, what we get from the so-called "right-of-centrists" at Malcontent seems to be the suggestion we should all just hurry back into the closet and not make waves. My own suggestion is why not give credit for thesse kinds of stories where credit is due? Not to the gays who are fighting the battles, but to the media who are on board with the anti-gay conservatives.

Thanks a lot, Robbie, for all your help.