Gay Soldier Would Take A Straightness Pill, If He Could
Randy Phillips, the gay Air Force servicemember who posted his coming out to his mom, dad and the pizza man on YouTube has run out of people to come out to. So these days he spends his time thinking about how he would totally take a pill to make him straight if such he could.
He raises the old argument of “Why would someone choose to make life harder on themselves by being gay?” It’s not like he’s the only one who’s considered this: How many of us wished at some point we could be heterosexual? A lot, we assume, judging by the number of ex-gay therapists and sham marriages. And given that Phillips has spent a number of years in the military closet, we can imagine his anxiety is even more profound than most.
Of course Phillips riff on the “straight pill” is just a small moment in a larger video. We also learn that when he attended middle school in Alabama, he thought poorly of people who wore ear gauges, had purple hair, listened to scream-mo or were vegetarians.
Then he woke up one day, realized he was acting like a judgmental little queen and decided ‘If I judge others so harshly, what chance is there for others to accept me?’
His rule: as long as you’re not lying, stealing or hurting somebody, your differences shouldn’t be judged.
Does that means we can still hate the guys from The A-List Dallas?
He doesn’t say that he WOULD take a pill to become straight.
He says when he first came out, and he was asked about it, he answered that way.
From everything in that video, he no longer feels that way.
Another wonderful example of Queerty’s journalistic integrity.
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Change the title of this article. It’s incredibly misleading and just an outright lie. You need to watch the video again if this is the title you’ve chosen. A lot of people raise the pill question to themselves and for awhile think they would take the pill. However, he clarified that he would not take the pill for those who are too stupid to grasp what he was saying. You’re a skin-deep lousy sensationalist,Daniel Villarreal.
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I totally took it as a shot against the idea that we “choose” to be gay. He said if people had a “cure” then many would take the cure to prevent being ridiculed, ostracized, rejected, demonized, denied equal rights and everything else that goes with coming out and acknowledging who you are. It was meant as sarcastic. I am quite confident after watching his many youtube videos that he is proud to be a gay man serving honorably and openly in our military.
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I think you must have watched a different video from the one I watched….
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Thank you Queerty commenters because I am unable to watch the video at work and was about to have a negative perception of this guy but thankfully I read the comments and realized, once again, the quality of reporting on Queerty is perhaps the lowest I have ever run into. Misleading? Whiny? Pathetic? You betcha. Granted it’s a great site to get the latest pop news but it’s like walking in the sand but having to watch out to make sure you don’t step on any glass.
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many people who have not yet come to terms with their orientation and identity as gay men would take “the pill.”
i wouldn’t. HELL no. i love being gay, i love my life, i love the richness of experience and what i’ve learned from this very specific journey. i’m proud to be a part of a community that includes Oscar Wilde, Alan Turing, Ethan Mordden, E. Lynn Harris, Audre Lorde, Quentin Crisp, Proust, and on and on.
the reality is that Coming Out is not the “goal” – its’ the first step to attaining the real goal with is a life of authenticity and happiness. Step One is Coming Out. From there you exchange one set of complications for another – no longer lying and living the double-life, you instead meet your challenges from a place of honesty. And you make it work.
And yeah, he touches on very valid points – those people who are “different” were looked down on. He looked down on them to feel better about himself. It’s a part of our collective journey. The kids who “stood out” in high school (*raises hand*) sure do get the brunt of negativity….but it’s wholly unjustified. People have a fear of whatever doesn’t conform.
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Like this guy, I was gay and in the military in my 20s, and would go to bed every night cursing God or Whoever for making me a homo, wishing I would wake up heterosexual. Now that I’m 50 and can look back on my life in hindsight, I am so very grateful that I’m a gay man who didn’t have to put up with womens’ bullshit all those years just to get laid. Nothing against women—the same can be said for lesbians, I’m sure—but dealing with the opposite sex is such a pain in the ass for my straight friends, it makes me happy the way I am.
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I am glad I wasn’t born straight. I probably would have led a boring life, and then been compelled to make a baby, so I could extend my family bloodline and contribute to overpopulation problem.
Instead, I do not feel the societal, parental pressure to make a new baby. I can live in comfort without a kid, or I can adopt and raise a baby/kid who’s already born.
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It’s funny and a shame how all you “anonymous” [IE: fake sign-on's,] people blogging here have your OWN opinion on this “news” article. If you were as “famous” and good looking as this fellow, YOU would be doing the SAME thing! Such a shame that you ARE not, and therefore, spew hate and demean him just to get some form of notority. Get with the program. You are either FOR being Gay ~or~ just another confused homo…SB
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I THINK IT TAKES BALLS 2 COME OUT ON THE INTERNET AND 2 HAVE A VERY POSSIBLE BACKLASH FROM NOT ONLY THE OBVIOUS HOMOPHOBIC ST8TS BUT FROM CYNICAL, NEGATIVE GLBT FOLK AS WELL IS DEPRESSING. REMEMBER QUEERS. UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. LIFT ONE ANOTHER UP AND REJOICE IN ALL OUR DIFFERENT LEVELS OF “GAYNESS”. STAND TALL, BE PROUD MY BROTHAS N SISTAS. PEACE.
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I’m glad that the soldier doesn’t actually want to take the hypothetical no-mo-homo pill—he’s actually been thoughful about it, despite the misleading tabloidal headline. ||Queerty needs to rethink its editorial standards. Your reputation is fading||
I don’t remember ever wanting to be straight, but I recall wanting to have better gaydar. How many chances did I miss out on because I didn’t read others signals correctly? It’s got better since the teen years but I was full on afraid of mis-targeting my attentions on some hapless hetero.
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Look now, we’re getting taken over by special needs people who type by blowing air through a straw onto an adapted keyboard. How cool is it to read ALL CAPS or the no-caps-cuz-i’m-just-a-maverick? Is there a pilll for that?
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I think my teenage son is gay although he hasnt told me yet. And yes I love him unconditionally and I will tell him so when he does tell us. But truthfully, if there was a pill I would sneak it in his food right now before he is grown and has to live what must be a hard and a miserable adult life.
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AS I PREVIOUSLY STATED. ALL OF US NEED TO AT LEAST TOLERATE EACH OTHER’S DIFFERENCES. THAT INCLUDES MY DESIRE FOR CAPS ON. IT IS EASIER FOR ME 2 READ AND I TYPE SLOW AS MOLASSES. MAYBE 30 WPM- TOPS. NEVER EXCELLED AT COMPUTER CLASS.
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It’s no different than black people 100 years ago that were light skinned who attempted and often succeeded in passing as white.
Does that mean that there is anything wrong with being black? Of course not! It means that bigots had made being black dangerous and difficult.
Same with the people that want to change their orientation. Being gay isn’t their problem, it’s how they are treated by bigots.