Madonna & Brittany swap spit.Think about the social pressures that lead a person to feel the urge to declare publicly, "I am not gay."
This is an era when movies, main-stream media, blogs and school programs celebrate gay choice. Girl-on-girl snogging is part of prime-time TV, and gay marriage issues seem to drive national elections.
Yet you can still strike a nerve by claiming someone is gay.
Top Gun: "It's a steamy scene, but I'm still not gay."Celebrities have lots of problems with this issue. We have the extensive rotten.com writeup on "famous heterosexuals"—Michael Jackson, for example, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. [Caution—the Schwarzenegger page contains an artistic nude shot.]
Tom Cruise sued a publisher for $100 million for claiming he had a videotape of gay sex starring the sex-idol, and settled out of court for an apology and a promise that the man would "never say such things again." Retro-Crush has the entire skinny on Cruise's legal declarations as the default blog page.
Braveheart: "It's not a dress, it's a kilt."There are the shots of Mel Gibson in a kilt, from GQ in May 95, and his "deadly Scottish knife" that seem to have raised eyebrows in some places. Mel was quoted in a Spanish newspaper (El Pais): "Who might think that with this demeanor, I could be gay? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?" (Perhaps it lost some of its anger in the translation.)
Politicians have issues with being outed in error, as well. Ed Koch said nearly thirty years ago:
No, I am not a homosexual. If I were a homosexual, I would hope I would have the courage to say so. What's cruel is that you are forcing me to say I am not a homosexual. This means you are putting homosexuals down. I don't want to do that.The following year, Oklahoma governor and U.S. Senate candidate David L. Boren had to swear an oath on a Bible that he was neither homosexual nor bisexual. Far more interesting is ex-Governor of New Jersey, James McGreevey, and the WorldNetDaily article headlined, "McGreevey is not gay." Ms. Harvey's contention (no one is really gay) fits better in a blog than in an online journal. But she gets some lateral support from the Classical Values blogspot, which notes that McGreevey's ex-aide (and alleged lover) stated he himself is also not gay.
Article comments
1 - SFC Ski
I am goingto have to come back to this one, after some coffee, but it an enjoyable commentary on a social phenomenon.
2 - DrPat
I especially enjoyed finding t0nichi, the "All-Star Hunk & Part-time Wonder-boy" in Quezon, whose post today is an homage to the theme song from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
3 - Eric Olsen
great one Dr Pat, really funny but some very serious and strange issues brought up as well
4 - Steve S
Think about the social pressures that lead a person to feel the urge to declare publicly, "I am not gay."
I commend you for thinking these thoughts, Dr.Pat. Most people have no desire to even bother.
Although changing times can bring about more tolerant, if not still stereotypical television programming, the mentality of the average viewer is much slower to change.
Television is often used to show people the reality of the situation though. Think back to when Sammy Davis visited Archie Bunker. It's a slow process to open peoples eyes. So tolerance on tv can happen years/decades ahead of society catching up, I guess is my point.
Someone having to say 'I'm not gay' is basically the closet. Not only does the closet cause low self-esteem and an abnormally high suicide rate, along with higher rates of drug/alcohol abuse, low self-esteem behavior like risky sex, etc. but it affects those around the individual as well, immediate family members bringing up issues of trust and honesty just for starters.
People don't want to be labeled as gay because in this day and age there are still glass ceilings, discrimination, bullying in schools, violence, etc. although hopefully in the larger and/or more liberal areas there have been improvements in these types of things.
Many doors still close on you if you label yourself as gay, professional sports, the ability to openly serve your country, many upper corporate circles, so far the right to have a legally recognized spouse, etc.
Most of the examples you provide are in the entertainment industry. While it's possible for an out person to make it (Sir Ian McKellan or Rupert Everett come to mind, both having made it overseas first), you know it definitely limits the roles you can play. You'll probably never find an openly gay man playing James Bond or whatever, people just wouldn't buy the sexual innuendo throughout.
5 - SFC Ski
Steve S., you bring up some great points, though I don't think a guy having to say I am not gay is equivalent to being closeted, at least not if he isn't gay. That does happen, and it may be disturbing for all the reasons you outlined. Plus there is the very real possibility of getting hit on by the sex your not interested in while missing opportunites with the sex you are interested in. Minor points in comparison with gay-bashing or employment discrimination, but an accusation like this goes to the heart of a person's identity.
I'll have to re-read DrPAt's post so I don't go way OT with the rest of my response.
6 - DrPat
Since I wasn't too worried about staying OT while I wrote it, Ski, I could hardly object...
7 - SFC Ski
Some threads are doomed to spiral into chaos, but I don't want to be the one to send them on their way.
8 - Maglase
Confess, doctor, this whole post is just to give you another look at AHnolds's sausage, right?
9 - Lono
um, I am not gay either! I can prove it. Mike Piazza will verify for me. We are totally not gay.
oh yeah?
well your gay!
10 - DrPat
Oh, man, ya found me out! I will admit I got started on this scan when I lucked... uh, happened onto the rotten.com "famous heterosexuals" list, and got started thinking about why all these guys (mostly men, I noticed) felt such a need to declare their lack of gayness.
And why isn't there a word like "out-ing" to describe the statement that one is not gay? Are Tom Cruise and Arnold "in-ing" themselves? (Not together, that would be an "outing" of a different sort altogether.)
11 - Steve S
Steve S., you bring up some great points, though I don't think a guy having to say I am not gay is equivalent to being closeted, at least not if he isn't gay
Yeah, I meant if they were gay, I should have been more clear.
Plus there is the very real possibility of getting hit on by the sex your not interested in while missing opportunites with the sex you are interested in.
I've always thought you miss nothing by being labeled as gay. I've had most women be far more receptive and warm to me if they know I am gay, I don't know of any opportunities that were lost to me, should I have chosen to take them, although I guess there would have been a few.
12 - RJ
Anyone else remember the scene in "Philadelphia" when Denzell has to tell off the gay guy who's hitting on him, simply because the dude assumes he's queer because he's defending a gay guy?
Sounds similar to the case of the Mayor of SF to me...
13 - DrPat
Yeah - and why didn't Tom Hanks get pegged as gay for playing the main (gay) role? I mean, look what happened to Patrick Swayze's career after he did the drag queen in To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
Wesley Snipes and John LeGuizamo just kept rockin' along, and they were just as queer in that movie - yet my boy Patrick tanked after that, and not even a starring role as a soldier returning from Vietnam (Green Dragon) could rescue it. Except for the stinky mini-series from H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, he hasn't had a starring role since!
Swayze says his challenges have come from physical problems sustained during filming in 1997, when a horse threw him into a tree, breaking both legs and tearing four tendons in his shoulder. (He grabbed the horse's mane and flipped himself around, otherwise he would have crashed head-on into the tree.)
In other words, he's NOT GAY!
14 - du fung tu
Swayze=Gay
Cruise=Gay
Schwarznegger=Gay
Matt Damon=Gay
Jimmy Fallon =Extremely Gay
15 - Welfare Cheese
Question #1: Why do all the gay guys keep giving ME oral?
Question #2: Does being an ex-male cheerleader make you kinda gay or FULL BLOWN gay?
16 - Silas Kain
Answer #1: It's not oral. They're just flossing.
Answer #2: Nope. It makes you President of the United States.
17 - Welfare Cheese
Silas, your mom's dentist would be proud. She flosses twice daily.
18 - Silas Kain
Oh, Cheese. You're so cute. And the only reason they're giving you oral is because they needed a tootpick in a hurry.
19 - gonzo marx
ok...i'll admit it..i'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body
there i said it...
thanks for the fun Read, DrPat
/golfclap
Excelsior!
20 - Michael Wright
You mention David Boren as having sworn on a Bible that he was straight. The fact is that he was lying. Boren is queer. This is an open secret in Oklahoma, where he is now president of OU. He resigned from his seemingly safe U.S. Senate seat in 1994, after Queer Nation activist Michael Petrelis began to out him and accuse him of sexually harassing his male staff members. Boren is able to control the media in Oklahoma and keep Petrelis' correct accusations from public view. See my facebook album for documentary evidence.
21 - Michael Wright
CORRECTION:
In my first comment I had the wrong URL for my documentation about David Boren. Click on the link accompanying this comment.