Goodbye 2011, and take this junk with you on the way out
In comparison to others, I haven’t been writing as long as some sites have. I’m a relative newbie, not part of the “in crowd” and am totally comfortable with my status on the fringe. I have a decent, fringe following and I have long since passed the mark of one million hits to my site.
In terms of my coverage during 2011, I’ve stayed true to my original mission. I write about everything that catches my interest, I leave the overplayed subjects alone. I’m tired of reading them, seeing them, and wading thru 14 different replays on them because it’s all the same. Some bloggers will make no effort at all other when they copy/paste from others, and there are some who write all of their own original content. While my site is far from 100% original content, I like to think if I’m playing a subject that I’ll do my best effort to put an original spin on the content you haven’t seen elsewhere.
That being said, there are a few subjects I’m sick to death of reading about and it’s time to take out the trash. This is my final rant on these bits, and after this I promise I’ll do my best to never utter their names again:
Lady Gaga:
Why: Was there anywhere you could turn and NOT see a Lady Gaga something or other? She’s released a new single (that sucks), she’s meeting at the White House, she’s appearing here, there and everywhere. What pushed me over the top was the Lady Gaga Holiday Special. One step too far, Mother Monster. While I couldn’t bring myself to watch it, there were no reports of her wearing a Christmas turkey as a hat – surprisingly. Granted, she is a celebrity and does take to the microphone in order to talk about LGBT rights. But, until I see a quantifiable result from her posturing, it’s nothing more than that: lip service. I get the sense that she’s done being our “advocate” as soon as the gay money runs out.
My wish for her: chronic laryngitis, taste in clothing that’s not edible, and someone else to actually write her music.
Dan Choi:
Why: He’s another one who I’m done seeing as hearing about his “fierce activism”, when every incident he’s been involved in is nothing more than his instigating a fight and getting it played on television and covered in every blog, everywhere. Since the death of DADT, he’s turned up everywhere like a bad penny, and the overplayed drama of it all that long since past the point of being cliche’. Here’s a better take:
The term media whore no longer does him justice.
There’s been a running joke throughout most LGBT blogs: “The most dangerous place to stand is between Dan Choi and a camera.”
He claims to be a voice for the fallen and downtrodden, but he charges the former and latter ten thousand dollars and up in speaking fees to hear him say it.
If you can’t help him maintain his high end lifestyle, he wants nothing to do with you.
In January, Choi announced the military had sent him a collection notice over his unfinished military service. They claim Dan owes them over $2500.
In February, Choi showed up at CPAC 2011 with GOProud and openly expressed his affection for Tony Perkins and Phyllis Schlalfy while they were participating in anti-gay panel discussions
During the Summer he went to Russia and attempted to trigger an international incident with Government officials there. He heckled a bunch of Russian Neo Nazi’s into beating him and some other activists up and while sitting in a cell, he tweeted for President Obama Hillary Clinton to declare war against them.
More recently, he’s been advocating on behalf of Bradley Manning; the United States Army soldier who was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of having passed restricted material to the website WikiLeaks. and just had an Article 32 hearing that took place in an Army Base in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Choi’s stunt have turned to the more dramatic, his latest being that he was accosted at the Bradley Manning trial for simply being himself. Yeah, right. He parlayed this into a trip onto MSNBC, who oddly enough, still laps it up from Choi. Alot of gay websites didn’t even cover this bit of drama, and I’m guessing that they’re getting the sense of what I’ve been saying for more than a year now is true. The only one that Choi is really advocating for is himself.
My wish for him: Dude, find a man – any man. Get married, settle down somewhere and grow petunias. Enjoy a private life and stop trying to make LGBT rights (and any lack thereof) all about you.
Dan Savage:
Why: There are sooooo many reasons, I don’t even know how to prioritize them all.
A. He’s a “sex therapist” with absolutely no credentials as a sex therapist. Face it, he’s an advice columnist, who was a theatre major, and worked in a video store. He went from there to forming The Stranger with a friend, and his future was sealed with the paper. He even went so far as to buy Ann Lander’s desk after she died.
B. He’s got a remarkable a talent for saying the most outrageous things into a career. Which is all well and good, I mean more power to him, right? Howard Stern would be working at K-Mart if it weren’t for his mouth because that’s all that he brings to the table: a big, filthy mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from a prude, and I’ve got a mouth of my own. But when you’re being billed as a gay rights advocate, you have national exposure, and you invite Herman Cain to suck your cock, that’s where I draw the line (among other gems he’s spit into the microphone). There are scores of LGBT people everywhere who are far from being this outrageous and we have to explain this conduct away when people think we’re all this much of a dick.
C. He and his partner came up with the brilliant idea (cough, cough) of It Gets Better, a YouTube channel (now their own website) where everyday Joe’s and President’s can post their own message of hope. In theory it’s a great idea, but when you’re a kid hanging on by your bloody fingernails you need something tangible to grab onto, not a “buck up, little soldier” message from someone who’s not walked a mile in your shoes. In record breaking time It Gets Better was copyrighted, and turned into a nonprofit group in a matter of weeks (as opposed to the usual six months) by buying an existing 501c3 from Brian Pines, who was initially listed as Savage’s upcoming MTV show producer (since removed from Pine’s site). It Gets Better provides no resource for kids other than the videos you share on there, and Savage has the commercial rights to turn into any merchandise he sees fit to sell for profit – which he’s done. On the IGB site, proceeds are listed to go for the betterment of themselves (among others) but the gorilla in the room nobody’s ever paid attention to is this. What does IGB need money for? More merchandise? Savage’s salary as the grand poobah of IGB? Nobody knows, because their 990 forms are nowhere to be found so you’re guess as to what the money is being spent on is as good as mine. I sent a written request to inspect the documents, which they have to provide by law, and it’s not been responded to as of yet – months later. Last but not least on this subject, nobody called on IGB for an overhaul after two kids who actually did make videos for the project ultimately killed themselves. A project that’s supposed to help kids that racks up a body count pretty much qualifies as a failure in my book.
My wish for him: The same as Lady Gage – laryngitis. Hopefully it’ll last until he’s about 95 years old; that’ll make me happy.
Celebrities coming out as a “BREAKING NEWS” event:
Why: here’s a better question: why is it even newsworthy? I completely miss the boat on this, and I’ve admitted it before. I’m hardly a good resource when it comes to coming out. Even in 1977 when I first admitted I was gay publicly, I had the thought then that I still harbor now: what’s the big deal? I’m gay, and if that’s a problem for you then sayonara. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. It’s a complete mystery to me why a celebrity saying the very same words is a breaking news event. Did they come out while bursting through a hoop of flames and landing on Nancy Reagan’s shoulders? Yeah? OK, that’s a bit of a story. Everything else for me is just a so-fucking-what moment.
My wish for all of them (and all of those who think its’ an earth shattering event): Get over it. You’re not the first person to come out, you won’t be the last.
Those “LGBT citizen journalists” who see fit to tell you that gay marriage is all that we need to fix what’s wrong with being gay in America:
Why: When you hear, repeatedly, from virtually every gay blogger out there that marriage is all we need, that’s not advocacy. That’s psychopathy. The vast majority of gay bloggers are lousy chess players; they can’t see any further than one move in front of them at a time, and that’s at the expense of ignoring the chess board being on fire while they plot their strategy. We can’t bemoan the state of things like the below, because nobody’s talking about them:
a. gays and substance abuse
b. gay seniors
c. transgender rights (and in some cases a complete lack thereof)
d. gay domestic violence
e. HIV/AIDS, and HIV stigma from within the gay community
f. a hate crimes bill that pretty much has not prosecuted a single LGBT related hate crime.
And those are just the subjects off the top of my head. Yes, for the record, gay marriage is important to me. I think it’s complete horseshit that I can’t get married without jumping all sorts of hurdles and my straight friends can do whatever the hell they want. But, I’m not going to die because it can’t happen. Yet.
My wish for them all: That they all wake up tomorrow with the ability to think in other than two dimensions. No, I won’t be holding my breath that it’s going to happen.
That’s it for the moment. I may do a part two on this later
Related posts:
- Goodbye, Liz. I owe you. #HIV #AIDS Wanna know something? I was at the mechanic today getting...
- You know your wife hates you when she cuts off your junk and throws it in the garbage disposal I can’t even think of a set up for this...
- Note to Wannabe Thugs: If You Have to Strap by Carrying It In Your Waistband, Put the Safety On. (Your Junk Will Thank Me For This) A 20-year-old man is recovering today, May 5, after apparently...
- The weirdest LGBT stories of 2011 And, sadly, I covered more than one of them. It...
- UK News: London Pride Guide 2011 (and why the UK is miles ahead of us) No doubt about it, London knows how to put on...
