Want to know why I am so sick of straight folks as gay icons?
Then cast a look over Cher’s twitter feed (@cher)
She writes a tweet praising homophobic pastor Joel
Osteen:
“I love Joel Osteen,hes example of Christian!He makes Every1 feel welcome 2 his church no matter who they R!1st book like this I ever bought”
And someone, naturally, wrote back:
“@cher Umm... not everyone. He's pretty uncool about gays.”
(Personally I would have said he’s a raging bigot and
utter scum, but that’s me). After all, an utter homophobe does not make gay
people seem welcome. This is an extremely polite and gentle correction, I
think, especially by internet standards. And Cher’s response?
“But IM NOT!Proved this my WHOLE LIFE! We have a BOND! Christians hav hard time,but WE COULD HELP CHANGE THISRTHe's pretty uncool about gays.”“4 gays to get married & on & on! Chaz could be out & loved! Anything can change when we make ppl c us loving human beings! If u can cut me”“Loose because i think we can change what pple believe today then my heart is broken! Maybe im naive to believe everything can change ,”“But gay pple have stayed w/me through 40 yrs when every1 else left! If i broke our bond & u hav no love 4 me anymore this is my last txt”“U hav been my best Friends!My Heart has broken MANYx's because ive lost 1 of U!I hav Sat w/U til last your LAST BREATH!I will ALWAYS LUV U”
Um… wow? Someone pointed out you were singing the praises
of a homophobe and calling his bigoted church welcoming and you have to splurge
your ally credentials, how you love gay people and how very very very hurt and
sad it makes you to face… a gently worded correct? Seriously?
How would you have reacted if someone had ACTUALLY
criticised you? Or would that be stepping way out of line for a GBLT person to
do?
And I know you can take criticism – 2 steps down your
feed someone is pointing out your praise of Churchill missed some of the crap
he did – and you said you’d do some more research. I guess GBLT people have no
right to question? Get in line and fawn, you’re an icon, how dare the devotion
not be forthcoming!
This could even be seen as a hint that she
may be leaving Twitter?
Fine, buh-bye now, because this is a text book example of
how straight allies
If a gay person gently adds a correction (and how much
more gently could it be?) when you are supporting a raging homophobe because
you couldn’t be bothered to google the people you’re praising and you lose your
ever loving shit about it? Then you’re not an ally or a friend, you’re yet
another straight person who expects us to be your minions and fawning
sycophants.
Cher, you said something without realising the full
facts. Someone pointed out what you missed. The correct response is to say “I
did not know that, I’ll do some googling, thank you.” Not “ZOMG I AM SUCH A
PROGAY PERSON! OH MY HEART IS BROKEN!!!!”
The former tells us you care about homophobia. The latter
tells us you care about us fawning over you.
So no, I won’t be part of the #pleasedontleavecher
hashtag, because this is seriously fucked up. No matter how much of an ally you
are, we don’t owe you fawning devotion and we don’t have to keep our traps shut
no matter what you say because your
fee-fees have a melt down if we do anything other than yap like lap-dogs over
you. We’re not your pets or your toys.
