« what straight friends are for | Main | cognitive dissonance »

February 16, 2005

we love you ben, cyndi; hate you 'jeff'

we love you ben, love you cyndi
I am loving the new PFLAG Stay Close ad campaign featuring famous people like Cyndi and Ben 'gasp!' physically touching and publicly showing their love for their gay sibilings or cousins. While we already knew Cyndi loves us, she puts her money where her mouth is yet again and puts her face out there to support us. And while we regret Ben's past partner choices, such as J-Lo over Matt (or ME), I'm pleased as punch to see him do this, as pleased as I was about the Daredevil movie. 'mwa' 'mwa' 'kisses' we love you and send Valentines to you.

Cheer up queers...there are those out there who are standing up for us.

But then again there are those that are not on our side, even those seemingly in our camp. All I gotta say is this to Jeff Gannon/Guckert/Whatever: you low-down, no-credentialed, back-stabbing, opportunistic feeding, skanky porn-named GOP toadie HO!

What fascinates me over and over about these 'exposed' queers and hypocrites is this: how did you not expect to get caught? With congressmen going out to DC gay bars and White House Press Corps 'journalists' (And I DON'T want to hear you "more competent" journalists dissing bloggers now, y'hear?) having multiple escort sites, what were you thinking? I can only think of 4 reasons, or a combination thereof, as to what was going on in their minds:

  1. Underestimation of people's ability to make connections: or, an arrogant disdain for people's intellects. A most likely culprit in this case, and typical of the GOP. Like those in power today, these people continually make choices and decisions thinking that no one will see what they are doing. The sad part is, we do know what they're doing, but no one seems to care.
  2. Underestimating the finite nature of the Internet and the size of DC: I was chatting with Beaverhausen John once about this the other day. I don't think people understand that the Internet(s) is a finite resource. The 'This is the End of the Internet' page is no joke, really. Anyone with rudimentary research skills and the ability to open a browser and fire up Google knows this to be true. Similarly, I am continually surprised at those who don't understand how small DC really is, especially the gay community. In other words, I have seen your gay.com profile and I know exactly how big your cock is, and I know exactly where you work. And even though it's a pic of you from the neck down, I know it's you, so stop kidding yourself. I've been on several gay athletic teams and have been involved with several gay organizations in DC, and I know a lot of people here. It is a simple task for me to do a 'background check' of anyone I'm about to date. It saves me a lot of time and trouble, and a character study can be done in relatively short time due to who I know or who I've done. "Gurl, so tell me about this guy named _____." "Oh GURL don't GO there! She is a TRAIN WRECK and she has a small dick to boot!" And so on.
  3. Underestimating the permeability of subcultural boundaries: people who are closeted think gay people only hang out with gay people and only go to gay bars. Nowadays this is simply not true, and gay people actually talk to straight people, and are actually open about themselves with their straight coworkers and families. Crazy talk, I know, but in the limited horizons of a closeted mind, they are unable to imagine that others live in more open, permeable societies. They think that the suffocating bubble they live in isn't experienced by those 'better' straight people outside of the gay community. In one example, a particularly messed up gay rugby player on the premiere 'straight' DC team goes out partying with the gay boys in NYC, but lives it straight here in DC, and doesn't expect anyone to find out. He also happens to be a bit less supportive of our team on the local rugby union board than most of the straight people. Simply put, we threaten his perception of impermeable cultural boundaries and the compartmentalization of his life.
  4. Deliberate Career Suicide: I have a theory that people who are living miserable lives and hating themselves, or working in miserable conditions will commit a kind of "career suicide," especially if they don't have the balls to make positive changes on a conscious level on their own. So they will do things that will get them busted or fired so their life changes around for the better some day. Case in point: me. When I worked as a web designer at National Airport I had to work with an abusive coworker who actually made some other coworkers cry on a weekly basis. I was miserable there and also bored out of my skull. So I surfed the Internet - a lot, knowing full well that they had draconian policies regarding such misuse of company equipment. Not surprisingly, I got fired because of it. It was a long and hard 2 years that got me to the much improved environment I'm in today, but I'm thankful for it. Who knows how miserable I would be if I was still at the airport? I did not surf the Internet excessively consciously thinking I would get fired. I believe I was doing it on a subconscious level. Similarly, I don't think Jeff Gannon/Guckert/Whatever consciously wanted to get busted, but I think on some level he knew it was possible. Living a hypocritical, compartmentalized and hateful lifestyle made him miserable, but he didn't have the balls to make the positive changes consciously. So he did things and made 'mistakes' that got him busted. I bet you a forged White House Press Corps pass he'll be a staunch ally of ours after about 5 years of therapy.

Posted by jimbo at February 16, 2005 10:51 AM

Comments

Word.

(Seriously though, very well said. It's so absurd how the Right is saying that they don't understand why this is a story and that this proves that "liberals" are mean-spirited and hateful. So ridiculous.)

Posted by: Eric at February 16, 2005 6:00 PM

I feel so ashamed for thinking he is hot now! *sniffle* Thanks jimbo for making me see the error of my loins.

Posted by: moby at February 17, 2005 12:44 AM

i agree....and gotta love Cyndi...she's so gay friendly it's almost kind of funny in a cute way...like when she sings "true colors" wrapped in a rainbow flag.

Posted by: Brechi at February 17, 2005 12:51 AM

::shameless plug::

Remember folks, PFLAG is the ONLY organization made up of mostly straight people (not just moms and dads either!) who are out there fighting for our rights every day! Everyone knows about the support groups, and we've all cheered for them at pride parades, but there's so much going on - safe schools programs, GLBT youth scholarships, and meetings with Senators and Representatives at the federal and state level on every imaginable issue.

Dig deep and donate, or even better, become a member: http://www.pflag.org/index.php?id=132. Stay informed by signing up for our weekly email of news and information on the homepage. Thanks for your support.

Posted by: Sr. Development Coordinator, PFLAG at February 17, 2005 9:43 AM

I totally agree about the self-sabotage thing. I've "woken up" in some ways lately though. I think I would REALLY have to try hard to get fired (like look at gay porn sites all day). Instead, I've finally started my job search again.

Posted by: Rhinelander at February 17, 2005 2:44 PM