Everyone keeps saying the gay community doesn’t have a single, national leader to represent its interests in public. But isn’t that what Kathy Griffin is for?
Time and again the media turn to this lady to explain to them why things like same-sex marriage. Which is fine! She is actually quite good at it! And even if Rep. Barney Frank can’t stand the woman, many Americans can, so how lovely that she’s out there telling everyone that the people who buy tickets to her tours also deserve the right to file their taxes like heterosexuals.
But if the gay alternative is Joe Solmonese, man, we’ve got some work to do.
Gray
Edit much? Come on guys, you CAN write coherent sentences if you try!!!
Sceth
“Judge Walker will reflect on this and see that he was on the wrong side of history.”
Sceth
@Sceth: It’s nice when she talks about fairness, but her grasp of the judiciary is best unelaborated.
Greg
I find myself moving to the Barney Frank end of the spectrum regarding her.
I loved Kathy early on, but she’s worn me down with her incessantly over-the-top stunts. I could hardly stand to sit through the episode when she went on Law and Order. Her refusal to take Chris Meloni’s billboard-sized hint to leave him the fuck alone was excruciating.
Yes, it’s great that she sticks up for her gays, but it comes with a trade-off that I’m increasingly less comfortable with.
Swimmer - Chicago
Excuse me! Is this the best we can do as our spokesperson for equality? Sure, she is a strong supporter of gay rights – but wouldn’t Ellen be better? Ricky Martin? At least they are gay…
jojoko
I like Kathy Griffin, and I appreciate that she supports our cause and gets people riled up. But she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She’s not interested in the politics and she isn’t educated on the issues. She may think she’s lending her face to the issue but she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She should stick to being a comedian.
As for @Greg The Kathy G show on Bravo is heavily scripted. More so than The Hills I would say. I can assure you the awkwardness in that episode was in there on purpose.
Gary B.
She is so awesome! And for as funny and irreverent as she is, she actually speaks quite eloquently about the subject. She gets right to the heart of the matter and sidesteps a lot of the bullshit. Go Kathy!
The Milkman
Liking or disliking Kathy Griffin is a matter of personal choice and therefore irrelevant. What’s important is that she is a vocal supporter of our community and our equali civil and human rights, is often on widely-viewed television programs, and isn’t afraid to talk about the issue in a frank, direct way. She’s not an expert in the judiciary, or a professional activist… but she talks about these issues in a way that ordinary viewers can identify with and easily understand. I think she’s a valuable asset to our multi-faceted approach to advocacy, and I for one appreciate her continued work on our behalf even if she stands to gain publicity while doing so.
Gary B.
@Swimmer – Chicago: “Excuse me! Is this the best we can do as our spokesperson for equality? Sure, she is a strong supporter of gay rights – but wouldn’t Ellen be better? Ricky Martin? At least they are gay…”
What difference does it make that she’s not gay? First off, she isn’t the “official” spokesperson for gay rights, she’s just a prominent voice. There’s nothing stopping Ellen or Ricky Martin or anyone from putting their voice out there too.
Ever see video of civil rights marches in the 60’s with white people marching alongside black people? Do you think that didn’t make a difference? I think that was VERY important. That made a lot of white people think about things. It was no longer just some group that they weren’t a part of making demands, but some of their group fighting for them too. It really starts to blur the lines.
Yes, of course we need LGBT people speaking out, but anyone speaking out is going to make a difference. Even Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Glenn Beck recently came out(pun intended) in support of gay marriage. Should they shut up too? Most of their fans/audience are conservative Republican Christians, and they’re the ones most likely to oppose gay marriage. At some point people realize they might be on the wrong side of this issue and start to feel like an asshole for opposing something that even some of the people they look up to are for. It all helps.
Kathy is awesome. Yeah, the women is controversial and edgy and probably isn’t the ideal spokesperson for anything, but she sure knows how to get attention and to get people to listen to her.
DR
What’s sad is that the shows all run straight to this hack or GaGa. And “their gays” back it up. I really have little interest in a third-rate comedienne or this generations “Madonna” talking about GLBT rights. Or any other political issue.
Ellen is well-spoken, knowledgeable, and is seen in millions of homes daily, and she’s non-threatening and doesn’t have to be bribed to talk about GLBT issues. Let’s encourage the media to run to her instead of starlets who use “their gays” for money and fame-whoring.
Mike L.
@Sceth: Some time later King informed the viewing audience that she made a mistake and meant to say the ruling was on the RIGHT side of history.
Geoff M
By all means, let’s trash Kathy. After all, we have SO many straight allies who are actually willing to speak on our behalf. It just makes PERFECT SENSE to tear down those few that are consistently out there championing our cause for equal rights. (I swear…some of our fellow queers are dumb-as-f@#$)
DR
@Geoff M:
No, instead we ignore the publicly-popular GLBT folk for media whores. Really smart.
Chuck
Kathy rules!
Leen
@Greg: You do realize that the akwardness between her and Christopher Meloni on the D-List was a put-on, right? Meloni was in on it the whole time, it was intentional. I think it’s hilarious when people think it was real. Chris Meloni is a great comedic actor, most people don’t know that because of SVU, but watch him on “Scrubs” or in “Wet Hot American Summer” and it’s obvious.
[img]http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070718/smallroles/meloni_l.jpg[/img]
GaryG
And another reason why interviewers are quick to ask Kathy, it shows a heterosexual person supporting homosexual rights. As eloquent and beloved as Ellen may be, it’s really not a story that she would support GLBT rights. Say what else you want about Kathy Griffin, her heart is in the right place.
Jeffree
Let’s not forget Cyndi Lauper has been a supporter of the GLB community for, well, longer than I’ve been alive.
Kathy may misspeak and may not be perfect, but I believe her heart is in the wrong place.
Ellen & Portia, Cynthia Nixon & Wanda Sykes are out there being our “faces” to the world. Can’t forget them either.
Jeffree
Dang, I meant KG’s heart is in the right place. Typing is not my best asset!
Swimmer - Chicago
It’s lovely that Kathy supports us – however – the only people that are going to get us our rights are the lgbt community. Our straight allies (Obama) can sure give us a good chat – but when it comes down to it – its up to everyday LGBT people to make the case for equality.
aaron montana
I love Kathy, I think its great that she speaks out on LGBT issues. However, she goes to far that can be offensive to some (mostly to consertive that oppose equality) and that’s where it may hurt. I’m always happy to see strights fighting for our rights. And as for gays that speak out for us what about Rachel Maddow?
Greg
@Leen: I am very familiar with Chris Meloni’s entire body of work. He is an outstanding actor…someone with talent.
Call me naive, but I will believe he wasn’t severely annoyed with KG when I hear him say it.
She’s just too much of a cockroach for me to stomach sometimes.
Geoff M
@DR: So your solution is to tear down/boycott anyone who isn’t gay? See the last part of my previous comment. It applies to you.
Pip
I love Kathy. She’s hilarious, and an effective speaker—effectiveness being more important on a cable news show than “knowledge of the issues” or political savvy.
That said, I find it appauling how Barney Frank is quick to throw such a great advocate to the wolves. I don’t see how calling Scott Brown’s daughters prostitutes is worse than calling gays deviants, and so forth.
And for those of you not in MA, that joke originated with the fact that Brown himself declared that his daughters were “available” during his Senate victory speech. Some people just can’t take a joke.
slobone
Good Lord — WHO keeps saying “we need a single national leader to represent our interests in public”? That’s the worst idea I’ve heard all day, and I’ve heard some pretty bad ideas today…
Is the idea supposed to be that all right-thinking gays always think alike on all issues? That’s never been true, and thank God for that. We have just as many opinions as any other group.
truthteller
Those of you who don’t like Kathy speaking up for your rights, don’t worry, she has my full support to speak for mine.
So next time she adds her voice to the fight for gays being treated equal under the law, just shrug it off, and know you will refuse those rights when they do come.
DR
@Geoff M:
This is why we don’t know anything about our own bloody history as a movement.
Griffin’s a hack who likes to take advantage of “her gays” when it suits her. When she joins Dan Choi on the fence getting her sorry butt arrested instead of turning a DADT rally into fodder for her stupid tv show, I’ll respect her a bit more.
Geoff M
@DR: I can agree with most of that.
However you’re overlooking the benefit of voter identification.
A member of the glbt community (however well respected and popular) would only be preaching to the choir if they were filling the role Kathy Griffin has with the talk show circuit.
In an ‘us against them’ mentality you have to somehow reach the morons/bigots/undecideds who would vote our rights down.
Of course Griffin is not the ideal candidate with pure motives…but who is? I’ll take as many straight advocates who are willing to go on major networks and champion our cause any day without tearing them down.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
KG has never wavered in her support of the Gays, and now that she actually has moved up from the D list she hasn’t backed away like others have done………….
@Jeffree: J….glad you righted your wrong :p where u been? miss CBF!
horus
her sense of humor is perfect. we love her in our house.
Jeffree
I’ve heard Kathy about 6 times live “in concert” performing comedy. The tickets arent cheap, but she puts on a long show, rarely repeats herself, and has always included intelligent yet funny arguments for gay coupledom & same-sex marriage.
She sure as hay doesn’t always use the politically correct words, but that woman cares about us. She & Cyndi Lauper will always be idols to me.
Dave
Oh jeez ANYTHING that has Kathy Griffin in it should be avoided. She doesn’t actually care about GLBT people, our equality, or our rights but just wants to further her career by pretending to care.