“Now what will they call gay men like myself who choose not to be married? There’s no name for us. Will we be discriminated against in our old age? Ah, a new chapter in the gay struggle.”
–Filmmaker/raconteur John Waters, in his recent stage show An Evening With John Waters, as reviewed in The Hollywood Reporter
Scribe38
He might be a little right. Whenever I hear a gay man say that they never would get married, or that they want to remain single forever I look at them as a little strange. I give my partner’s best friend a little grief, because there has been a string of Mr. Rights that he has let go, as soon as they talk about moving in together he lets them go. To be fair though, its all about choice, every adult human should have the right to get married or not. As married gays become the norm, single gays shouldn’t be socially forced into doing the same.
Cam
And how will they be discriminated against? Or was Waters just making this all about himself?
No name for them? Gee, bachelor? Single? Unmarried?
balehead
He’s right! All the toxic queens who mistake marriage for a “talent” will have no problem insinuating there is something wrong with being unmarried…(My answer is always “Because I don’t have too”)….
1EqualityUSA
You “choose” not to be married and that’s your prerogative but, what of those who desire to be married? It’s not all about you.
ouragannyc
Are non married heterosexuals discriminated against?
kurt_t
It makes me smile to see that John Waters has not lost his ability to incite befuddled outrage.
Who wants to die for art?!
Modernliving3
Oh please, what reality is JW living in? My partner and I had a dinner party over the weekend with 5 of our gay male friends (4 single, 1 married), mid 30’s – early 40’s. All 5 friends, including the married one had Grindr hookups set up for later that night or had a Grindr/Scruff “story” in the past week.
Have no fear, granting equal rights to the minority of gays who do choose to get married is in no way a threat to the rest of our community who choose not to.
Straights are becoming a lot more like us than we are them.
Dustolio
@kurt_t: Glad to see that I’m not the only one in on the joke.
Homophile
He was being ironic.
Charles175
@Modernliving3: John Waters is living in the past chaotic, anarchic and hedonistic world of his two early movies entitled “Pink Flamingos” and “Female Trouble”. These his story lines came directly from inside his heart, mind and Soul. It’s the equal and yet complete opposite mindset end of how Ultra-conservative Fundamentalists would have us all live. And in this, both long for their own particular “good ol days” to come back again. Personally I’d rather not live in either wacky World at all.
Cam
@Dustolio:
This isn’t the Kaufmanesque the joke is ther’s no joke.
Miss Understood
I think there is discrimination against single people. Maybe not so much legally but certainly socially. I was invited to a wedding without a guest. My friend felt that due to the expense of throwing the event that he would only include guests who were serious partners. I knew no other guests and felt very awkward sitting amongst strangers for hours.
This is not to say that we shouldn’t have marriage equality. I just feel that along with gayness there are other types of non-conforming ways of living, dressing, or behaving which deserve acceptance.
Niall
I’m sorry, but that moustache…
boring
@Niall: Is awesome?
BritAus
<3 u kurt_t for the Female Trouble quote.
that_dude247
@Modernliving3: Could not have said it better myself.
Hairspray_Harry
sorry but the way the media is headed today…….and society,you will be very lucky to not be called a paedophile or child molester
NotStr8Acting
stop acting victims because you don’t want to be married and others now have the legal right to. Just go back to being bitter and single
Billysees
@Niall: No 13
@boring: No 14
Cute and funny comments between you two.
Billysees
@Cam: No 2
” …. bachelor? Single? Unmarried? ”
Those are the ageless words that’ll be used, I’m sure.
Cam
@Miss Understood:
So it was discrimination against YOU because your friend didn’t want to pay an extra $200.00 to invite somebody that both you and they didn’t know well?
I’m sorry, but that isn’t discrimination, that is you trying to force them to spend hundreds of dollars on somebody you and they don’t even know well.
Motard
The word that used to get bandied about back in the ACT UP! era (remember them?) was heteronormative.
One will readily grant that assimilationism largely won out the debate of how to prioritize advancing gay rights – by non-threateningly reminding society-at-large how we can be just like everyone else.
But there are parts of gay culture and life that don’t exist in that prim little suburban cottage – the leatherbears, drag queens, PnP twinks, lesbian separatists, gloryhole trolls, artfags, and a whole demi-monde of people who reject the heteronormative tropes that marriage equality confers. And all of them get to participate in the project of marriage, is the lovely part of prioritizing marriage equality.
It’s also worthwhile to point out that advancing gay visibility and tolerance has at least partly trickled over to those radicalist camps. Average Americans are less and less shocked by the rainbow sequined bootyshorted twinkmeat gesticulating on our Pride floats, and so on.
But just look at the comments here – plenty of gay people are prepared to look down on the permanently single. Did Sex and the City teach us nothing? If being gay-partnered now is so normal, why is the community so prepared to denigrate people who choose, or perhaps do not choose due to circumstance, the confirmed single? We worked so hard for equality, just to be able to feel superior to people who don’t participate?
It further underscores that for the massive importance and impact of marriage equality rights – it’s just the beginning of the project of civil rights and social tolerance, not the end.
1EqualityUSA
Bunk. Plenty of our friends, many of whom came to our wedding, choose not to be married, and family members too, and we don’t even bother them; no thoughts on it, no comments, no wishes, nor input of any kind. This problem is not a problem. The choice should be available, however, from Coast to Coast.
Miss Understood
@Cam: You are making some very strange assumptions. Who said I would be bringing someone who he or I didn’t know very well? Who tried to force anyone to do anything? You’re weird.
Niall
@boring: If by awesome you mean makes me want to run far, far away, then yes IT’S AWESOME!!!!!!!!!