A documentary filmmaker exploring “the phenomenon of sounding gay” is seeking funds on Kickstarter to develop a film that begs the question every gay man has asked himself at some point in his life: “Do I Sound Gay?”
Filmmaker David Thorpe admits he’s “always been self-conscious about sounding gay,” but doesn’t exactly know how to explain what “sounding gay” is. (Do any of us?)
“I knew that my anxiety came from internalized homophobia telling me: Gay = bad, so sounding gay = bad,” he says. So he’s rounded up some of pop culture’s most notable LGBT icons, including Margaret Cho, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, Dan Savage, and George Takei, to give their take on the subject:
With less than a month left to fully fund his Kickstarter goal, Thorpe has already funded 20 percent of his goal in two short days.
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Check out a trailer for the project below, and head on over to Kickstarter for more details on how to contribute:
Mezaien
I will sound you what “GAY” sound like! drop your pants band over.
Blackceo
Even though I know exactly what he means, I don’t like the term “sounds gay”. As a man of color I’ve had to deal with the “you don’t sound Black” ignorance all my life. People say I “talk white”. I’ve never gotten I talk “gay” but you can’t talk a race just like you can’t sound a sexual orientation. Yes, some gay men have a more “feminine” sounding voice and speech pattern with that vocal fry sound I can’t stand but I wish there was another term we could come up with.
Verlaine
Will the kitty cat be in the movie? I like the kitty cat!
hotboyvb81
I’ve always had the accent/lisp- and it did lead to bullying in school…would have killed for surgery that corrected it- if all the girl’s with little breasts and big noses can get them fixed- why couldn’t I get my voice deepened. It was a nightmare!
NateOcean
Oh, goody, another Kickstarter scam.
michael mellor
This film project sounds stupid. It’s as if the word “gay” has been put in the title to grab the gay community’s attention. It stereotypes gay men.
The title should be about sounding camp. It is not possible to sound gay. Sexuality doesn’t have a sound.
Boytoy
“Sound Gay”? *sigh* We love stereotypes don’t we?
Charlie in Charge
@Boytoy: Well that is what the documentary is taking on,exploring the stereotype of “sounding gay.” You know what he is referring to
bertinphilly
I think folks are equating “sounding gay” with sounding effeminate. There is a difference between sounding feminine and sounding effeminate.
DarkZephyr
As Charlie in Charge pointed out its the stereotype that this documentary aims to address. Its nothing to get up in arms about for the love of Pete.
DarkZephyr
OK I just finished watching the trailer and I really want to see this. I had the same concerns growing up. Those B**ching that this is promoting a “stereotype” are annoying to me because this is a real concern that many gay men have. Why can’t we address and discuss this? I mean here at Queerty.com men like Carey579 are ALWAYS downing fellow gay men who “open their mouths and have purses fall out”. This needs to be talked about. I spent a great amount of time as a teenager cultivating a more butch sounding voice because I was constantly being physically and verbally attacked. You keep hearing people talk about how gay men have it so much easier than minorities or Trans* people because they can “hide the fact that they are gay” but the truth of the matter is that a large portion of us can’t hide squat concerning being gay because of our speech patterns. I really want to see this film.