Remember Those 25 Years Oprah Spent Highlighting Gay Issues?
Today’s Oprah was described as the talk show queen’s “gayest show ever”, and it probably was: Revisiting two and a half decades worth of programming, Oprah’s producers picked up clips of Olympic gold medalist diver Greg Louganis coming out as gay and HIV-positive back in 1995 and that time she welcomed India’s openly gay prince, Manvendra Singh Gohil. Both men re-joined Oprah on today’s program for the clip reel.
I still remember her “tribute” to Brokeback Mountain. At the time, this was THE most controversial and talked about movie in the world. So what does “gay champion” Oprah Winfrey do? She devotes a measley half-hour to the stars of the film. And who, you may ask, filled the other half of that show? Why none other than that closeted, homo-reparative-therapy- preacher-lovin’ friend of the gays MR. TYLER PERRY! Damn, Oprah. Couldn’t you just read a few chapters from James Baldwin instead? I mean, I think I heard somewhere that you do have a book club.
No wonder I love it so much when Kathy Griffin rips her to shreds.
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True dat. No more can be said.
I understand bipartisanship but you are not a president. You have your own show. But you are part of a socially conservative ethnic crowd who still care about what their slave owners said.
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Oprah is a blessing. The amount of people she’s helped to change is remarkable.
She’s helped me in so many ways. I still remember Hurricane Katrina and how her Angel Network just helped so many people out. I still remember hre just breaking down when Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics and then a Minnesota Timberwolv giving her a check for a million dollars and it was a total surprise.
She was standing on her stage and a stage manager gave her the envelope and not a single person IMO can come away from watching her break down and not see how much she cares about people.
Right now scared women in the middle east, are watching her and gaining confidence.
Smug headlines won’t ever change how brillant her career truly is or the good she’s done. Some sad blogger can never spit on her legacy.
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The reality is that the words Oprah says does more to change attitudes than all the sniping, bitching and snotty remarks of do-nothings in our own community. Hell, she manages to do more to advance gay acceptance by accident than HRC does on purpose.
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I am truly confused about the premise of “Queerty”.
I have not seen anything positive about anyone who has ever advocated for LGBT issue that has not received some type of harsh criticism. Enough is enough!!!
When I first stubble into this blog, I found it to be quite intriguing to come across so many clips highlighting storylines concerning LGBT, now it appears that all this sites wants to do is to find some lame excuses to perpetuate venomous tactic of self loathing and masquerade it as “The Gay Agenda”.
Time over and again, I see post that contains the contents of gender bias, racism, xenophobia and down right ignorance and hatred. So I am asking for any fellow folks out there, to assist in providing some sort of recommendation of a site that does a better job of providing a positive approach towards those who advocate for LGBT and less commentary on the petty nitpickings that seems to occupy much of the content of this post?!!
… And I thought that Fox News was closed minded!!! Sheessh!!
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I’m not quite sure who supportive she has been with the guys, but these two segments are great.
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Thank you for pointing this out. Almost every story involving a gay advocate tries to find some technicality or side angle to “disprove” said support. If they don’t fit a so-far impossible standard, then they are basically torn to shreds as if they’re against us. Openly gay figures are usually torn to shreds and mocked for characteristics. The only people that avoid judgment are the ones that completely ignore gays. And I ask where any progress is going to come from that.
This Oprah show was unbelievably supportive. She’s been there from the beginning and probably done more for gay visibility than any other media figure. And then people claim she’s a fraud because she didn’t give a full hour to Brokeback and because she’s friends with Tyler Perry? Good luck to all of us for finding allies and advocates when we’re this terrible to those who only want to help us.
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I think I was in the audience for the 1988 episode they showed a clip from (the one with all the people with the bad, poofy hair and big sweaters).
The topic was “Religion Made Me Straight”, and although my friend and I knew the topic ahead of time (we were friends with someone at Harpo Studios), most of the audience wasn’t told the topic until the show was about to be taped. I think they were hoping for some big celebrity…or maybe ANYTHING other than a gay show…because most of the audience groaned loudly when the producer made the announcement.
At one point during the episode the camera cut to me in the audience and there I am, looking very serious and nodding my head. In hindsight, I think they should have put “A Gay” at the bottom of the screen, because it was so obvious that’s why they put the camera on me. Good times.
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To answer the headline…I think I would remember since my boyfriend has been giving me the daily Oprah recap for years now.