"Straight" Gays Snuggly, Warm, And Irony-Free Under The Blanket Of Freedom Knitted By Queens And Butch Dykes

Below are two reader comments from AOL Gay & Lesbian editor Kenneth Hill's excellent blogpost in which he quoted from my essay Watching The Defectives. Even more chilling in light of the Aviance story, is the below stated belief that gays who are gay-bashed bring it upon themselves by failing to live up to traditional standards of masculine carriage and dress. However, I suppose we should thank these two guys for underscoring the point of Defectives.

"Am I against how people decide to dress and how they provide themselves to the public, no. BUT! I do know for sure that the way many homosexual carry themselves has a lot to with "gay haters" and why they commit hate crimes. I personally am a gay male, and I act very "straight". That's the main reason people have accepted me as much as they have. I'm almost confused myself as to how gay males end up with higher pitched voices, and decide to carry themselves in a more feminine manner. Yes, some of it has to do with how you were brought up. I have four brothers, obviously that has something to with how I carry myself for the world to see how "straight" gay people can be. Which I'm very proud of. I've turned TONS of gay haters in close friends because they say, "I didn't know you guys could act like this". It's very simple, if you want society to like you, act like society." Comment from stoff21888 - 6/11/06 10:31 PM

"Everyone should be able to live their lives as they want to. Unfortunately, in the real world it doesn't work out evenly. In the USA, if you want acceptance, you have to start as close to the center as you can and work your way out, not the reverse. People who see gays and lesbians who "look like they do" will be more accepting early on, allowing a gradual acceptance of the people whose lifestyles are more eccentric (?) as time passes. One can never gain acceptance by beating people over the head. " Comment from tocaco1 - 6/11/06 3:38 PM

Smarter reaction to Defectives can be found from Moby.
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