It bothers me that in all the X-Men films they’ve relied heavily on paralleling the mutant struggle with the LGBT struggle, sometimes in ways as subtle as a house brick (X2’s “Have you tried not being a mutant?”), but they’ve never represented a LGBT character. I mean there was never even a hint to Mystique/Destiny in any of the films.
Hi Jasper. I've been a follower for a long time, and I really enjoy reading your opinion on certain issues. I was wondering if you could perhaps give me some advice on a situation?
I live in the US, and recently the Federal Reserve in my city decided to allow a Gay Pride flag to be flown in honor of LGBT Month. Cool, right? Well.... not in the South.
There were some really nasty editorials in the paper, and not one letter published wasn't extremely negative. Reading them really shook me, and I'm trying to write to the editor to give my own opinion as well, and hopefully give a more balanced field.
I'm very, very nervous, though, and... just trying to be cautious. I'm making sure to be very respectful while still getting my point across. I wonder if maybe there are any points you recommend I bring up, or certain wordings to try/avoid? Really, any input would be appreciated.
Have you considered whether the published letters were all negative because that’s all the paper got, or that the paper has a very conservative bias?
I can imagine at least one of the letters mentioned some sentiment to the effect of “please won’t someone think of the children?!” Perhaps you could talk about how assuming children are so easily influenced by a rainbow flag is to discredit their ability, and the likely objection comes form parents not having the capacity or will to explain to their child that LGBT people exist.
If there are still instances of public spaces flying the confederate flag where you live, you could drawn attention to the hypocrisy of allowing a flag that is a symbol of such heinous history to go unchallenged.
At the end of all things, will these letters have any impact on whether or not the flag will be flown? If not, try not to let them get to you. People have a right to their opinion, no matter how bigoted as long as it is expressed without bringing harm to others, or encroaching on their rights. Bigot’s right to be bigots does not trump the rights of expression to fly a flag.
Basically I’d try to get these points across:
- freedom of expression
- LGBT people exist deal with it
- sucks you might actually have to tell your kids people are allowed to live how they like
- if a rainbow flag is really that offensive to you you have problems
But in nice, eloquent terms.
If anyone else has any advice, pass it along!
❝It seems strange that we live in a time where most teenagers will have watched quite a bit of porn before they interact with another body. I hope that if I had come across the internet sooner it wouldn’t have encouraged me to think of other human beings as mere objects, devoid of emotions, feelings heart and soul - to just see them as some sort of animated collection of holes, with some erectile tissue thrown in.❞
(—— David Hoyle [Attitude Magazine])
❝The porn I enjoy is of ordinary looking people, really. As long as the people are having a happy time or doing what they want to do, I don’t really think they need to look like male super models. I like American porn star Zack Randall. He’s nice to look at, and he keeps his hearing aids in, which I think is very good. There’s no reason why he should pretend he doesn’t require hearing aids.❞
(—— David Hoyle [Attitude Magazine])
❝Porn is a fantasy, the reality is a lot clumsier than the beautiful slick efficiency of professional porn artists. In porn we’re still putting on a podium very old-fashioned concepts of masculinity and always presenting masculinity as superior to anything else. And the polarisation of gender where masculinity is good and femininity is bad needs turning on its head. There’s a lot of self-repression in our community. We’re still taking on the philosophy of our oppressors unfortunately.❞
(—— David Hoyle on gay porn fantasy vs reality [Attitude Magazine])
Leonard Matlovich - On June 22, 1988, less than a month before his 45th birthday, Matlovich died of complications from HIV/AIDS beneath a large photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. His tombstone, meant to be a memorial to all gay veterans, does not bear his name. It reads, “When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.” Matlovich’s tombstone at Congressional Cemetery is on the same row as that of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.