Resolution / Redemption

"Push a few of them OFF the Hudson Piers...the rest will get the message." - a gay right-wing blogger, commenting on my post, Dollars Vs. Gay Youth.

Unsurprisingly, they all are white males, these bloggers, these gay men whose sites are an infected rash upon the skin of the blogosphere. Some of them are no more than hate-bloggers, back-slapping and high-fiving each other in circle jerks of racism, misogyny, classism, xenophobia, and most of all, homophobia.

Yes, homophobia. Because above all, the thing that they hate the most (and if you are unfortunate enough to come across any of these blogs, hate is often the Daily Special), is themselves. These are capital "A" assimilationists, mocking the mere existence of gay neighborhoods and belittling those who reside within, ridiculing the work of GLAAD and HRC, and making vicious attacks on Pride events. To some of them, people with HIV or AIDS are promiscuous, dirty drug addicts who got what they deserved. These gay right-wingers long for a world free of openly queer culture, a world where gays live fully integrated (and therefore invisible) in their picket-fenced, cul-de-sac'd McMansions. They shout that "gay is only a small part" of who they are, yet fail to see the irony in their blog titles which use words such as "gay", "queer", even "faggot". Talk about cognitive dissonance.

These gay right-wing bloggers are also inordinately smug about their own perceived personal masculinity. Many are transphobic, femme-phobic, dagger-phobic. Many of them bitch and whine about TV characters like Will & Grace's Jack as unrepresentative of the true homo world, something they probably do believe, because they wouldn't have someone like Jack for a friend in the first place. They don't want flamboyant queens representing THEM on national TV. They want lawyers and truck drivers and football players who Just Happen To Be Gay and are never, ever, ever the slightest bit queeny. (Or interesting, as is so often the case. Example: Will.)

Full disclosure: I used to haunt these blogs and occasionally post in their comments, in some fruitless effort to provide opposing views in their echo chamber of self-congratulatory cuntiness. My final straw moment came when the host of one of these sites posted that my opinion must be caused by some AIDS-dementia. (No, really. He did.) But no more. I have resolved that I will be strong. No longer will I read, comment upon or link to the gay right-wing blogs. I will leave these unhappy men to themselves and their daily tens of readers.

However, outside of the world of these mostly unnoticed gay right-wing bloggers, these is an occasional redemptive moment. Andrew Sullivan has long been vilified by gay lefties, usually for his support of President Bush and the Iraqi war, but often for an embarrassing personal situation (references to which will be removed from my comments, by the way). Regular readers of Sullivan are already aware that he has now changed his mind about Bush and devotes the bulk of his postings to blistering critiques of the Bush II administration, the handling of the war effort, the grotesque bloating of the budget, the nasty viciousness of the Republican Party and Bush's obeisance to the American Christianists who want to turn this country into a Christian version of Iran, complete with its own Levitical sharia laws. Sullivan is still a self-described conservative, but now I find myself reading him and coming away inspired and nodding my head. Those of you who wrote Sullivan off long ago, should visit his blog again. You'll find a man who isn't afraid to say that he's changed his mind, which I find impressive and refreshing, especially coming from one of the leaders of the pundit world.


UPDATE: Reaction to this post: here.