A dilemma, indeed

When did gay America become so gay? That's a question I've been constantly asking myself these past few months. I remember turning on the news a few weeks back and seeing that Vince Vaughn was in some sort of trouble for saying "electric cars are gay" in a trailer for his upcoming movie,The Dilemma, the sheer hilarity in this and the audacity of anyone who became offended by this is almost pathetic and on every level sad, first off he's being lampooned by a man who's so far in the closet he's already starting to fall into Narnia. Anderson Cooper is not a champion of Gay America, champions of Gay America are not in the closet, they are out and they are proud. If Mr. Cooper cared so much about Gay America then I think it's about time for him to admit what people have been saying about him for years now, that he is gay. The sheer audacity in someone like, someone who is deeply "closeted" to attack free and artistic creativity is horrid, the idea that you can come out and criticize another person's work is downright disgusting, ladies and gentleman we are no longer in the dark ages. Coming from me, a person who has used the word gay as an adjective, on more than on occasion, it might be hard for you to listen objectively to what I'm saying, but you should, and you should do so attentively and open minded. The truth is that I don't think that many people in Gay America found it that unsettling or offensive, in fact the gay people I've talked to about it found that it wasn't even a big deal.


So where did this last minute crusade come from, who's idea was it to find something so little and inconsequential and make it into this big deal, I think this all came in light of the recent string of gay suicides that are coming to light around the country as we speak. Sure it's easy to blame this as a reason we want to diminish the use of gay slurs in popular culture, but to use the idea of all these gay teen suicides as a rallying point for censorship and the scaling back of using gay slurs and the misappropriation of one small word is disrespectful to their memories. To outright condemn someone for saying something inanimate is gay is laughable. At this rate we might as well banish the word gay from our vocabulary, recently it feels as though gay has become a gay slur itself. 

What I seen when I heard that GLAAD requested that the small sentence be removed from the trailer and the film I was baffled and confused. Here's an organization, I thought, that has way too much time on their hands now. They're further perpetuating the stereotype that the word gay is bad. Hundreds if not thousands of words are used incorrectly to negatively describe things. That's the beauty of the English language, words can be used and misused in anyway the person that utters them sees fit.

What I am simply calling for is a de-sensitized Gay America. It seems as though all the progress you have yearned for is about to be thrown out the window. Straight America is viewing you as weak and I'm sure that's not where you wanted to be at this point. I am not arguing that somehow Straight America is more artistic or clever than Gay America, nor am I a fan of Mr. Vaughn. In fact I am simply arguing that this is all just really a case of reverse censorship, and if GLAAD, Mr. Cooper, and those few who found such a simple and small remark in anyway offensive, or as a contribution to the recent rise in gay suicides and bullying, can live with that it's no wonder that Gay's have not advanced in the way that they've seen is greatly deserved.

Do I sympathize with Gay America in this sense, no I do not. In fact all I can do is laugh, first of all the line uttered in the trailer was not funny, I don't recall anyone laughing when they first seen the trailer, but on that same account I don't remember any mass protests or screams of disgust either. I must finally say that I applaud Ron Howard on not taking the clip out of his movie, and I appreciate the fact that he does not back down on his artistic stance and firmly attests to keeping it within the film he has created. Kudos to you Mr. Howard for taking a strong stance and for not allowing yourself to be censored.