Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 109 Editor's Choice: 12
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Huh?
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If I read this review correctly, the "critic" didn't bother to go to see Half Nelson, he just wrote a review based on Kevin Smith's review of the movie? This is the 2nd time this week that Salon has run a review where the self-proclaimed critic hadn't bothered to watch it (the other being the suggestion to cancel "The Closer.") Can't Salon at least get people who can do the work before writing the article?
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The public eye
[Read the article: Open the closets on Capitol Hill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The poster who says that it would be political suicide for gay politicians and aids to be out is correct, but the problem is that many of these same men and women are working against gays in their job.
Orientation is not a choice, but your job is definitely a choice. Moving into a job with a high profile means a certain level of scrutiny. It's like the actors who take the film roles but complain about the press. It's part of the job.
I do think that there are many levels of out-ness from being in total denial to living what Bayard calls an open secret. At the open secret level where someone brings their same sex partner to events, I don't feel press coverage of that is outing. It's merely breaking the silence on that so-called gentleman's agreement.
Just as it was not widely reported that FDR's mistress was with him when he died in the 1940s, now we have national coverage of presidential extra-marital sex. Equality means equality, and gays should be held to that same level of scrutiny, like it or not.
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Pathology of the homo-haters
[Read the article: "I'm guilty of sexual immorality," Haggard tells his flock]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Over and over, I see the same patterns emerge. The people who are most rabidly anti-gay fall into two related camps. The first includes Alan Keyes, Pete Knight, Phyllis Schafly and the like. All of them have a gay/lesbian child that they cannot come to grips with. As a result, they choose to try to mold public policy to remove the "blight" from society and by extension their family.
The second group includes Kolbe, Foley, and dear Pastor Ted, along with who knows how many gay bashers in the news. These people cannot come to grips with who they are personally and as a result, act out in public and sometimes violent ways. Pastor Ted is just another man who cannot come to grips with his own homosexuality, and rather than work on healing himself tries to battle it out in the public arena. In all the seedy details of Pastor Ted's affair, I haven't read a cogent piece on why a gay man would behave in some rabidly anti-gay ways.
All of these are just the gay equivalent of Strom Thurmond's black lover. Those who cannot merge their public and personal selves often try to demonize the personal. I wish they'd just go see a therapist and leave the rest of us alone.
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NBC in jokes
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As an ex-GE employee, I usually just watch the show for the occassional and subtle jabs at the company. The 6 sigma lines are spot on what was taught and preached at GE during my years there. While the rest of the show can be a bit lame, I do like the pokes at my former employer.
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What is "outing"?
[Read the article: Perez Hilton's gay witch hunt]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've long wondered about how to precisely define "outing." For many it is merely breaking the code of silence that many journalists have developed with gay stars and politicians. It allows these people to attend award shows, parties, clubs and practically every possible venue with a partner, spouse or same sex date, and the journalists choose not to report it in the MSM.
If Lance Bass is in Palm Springs with a man at a gay sex club, then is it really outing to report that? Or is it just more celebrity news? Mark Foley and his partner went to all the Republican functions together. Is he in the closet just because the press doesn't report it?
If celebrities or public figures wish to remain closeted (which I think of as being secretive and unwilling to give any clue of sexual orientation), then let them stay home. If they choose to bring a same sex date or partner, then they have made a statement, and the press should be free to report it.
I agree that reporting on these matters is just equalizing. Heterosexual celebs and politicians would be covered if they brought a date that wasn't their spouse or brought a new boy/girlfriend. Why should it be different for gays?
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Cox in Dirt
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As much as I was looking forward to seeing Cox post-Friends, I was extremely disappointed in Dirt. I kept having flashbacks to her performance in the Scream movies, where she played a driven reporter. Her performance would have been one note, if not for her interactions with Arquette (future husband and on-screen love interest.) Those scenes gave her humanity while she walked all over the other characters in search of a story.
There's no such interaction in Dirt and the character suffers for it.
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Sullivan's "homophobic" remark
[Read the article: Penalty Boxer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I read this, I had deja vu to the whole Kelly Ripa, Clay Aiken, Rosie fiasco. Kelly made a gaffe and Rosie called it homophobic. The statement was significant because of what it implied. Clay was gay.
And now we have Andrew Sullivan saying the same thing about Barbara Boxer's comments about Condi Rice. The statement makes sense only when you accept that Condi is a lesbian. Is that why the Republican noise machine is in full gear? Did Boxer come too close to "outing" Rice with that comment?
It always has struck me odd that Rice has made it to age 50 with no significant sexual relationship. Geez, she once called Bush her "husband," which was kind of icky.
Perhaps all this sound and fury is just to deflect speculation on Condi's sexuality and the firestorm it would create on the right if this were common knowledge?