Rupert Everett may have hosted Australia’s gay pride last year, but that doesn’t mean he revels in the lavender madness.
The always outspoken actor told SX News that he’s not down with the way pride parties have become bevies of drugs, sex and other apolitical behavior.
I think all these pride marches have lost their center slightly/ If you encountered them in the beginning of the 1980s when the gay community was really in crisis with its back against the wall, they were very highly charged events about survival and trying to define ourselves and keep our heads up.
Now, because of all the fighting that those people did, there is a generation of mindless drug addicts – party-grazing cows who move from one side of the planet to the other, getting high and fucking each other. I’m not saying whether that’s good or bad, but it’s not political anymore.
Maybe the thing we have to protest most is our behavior within ourselves – maybe it’s interior not exterior. It’s up to us to see where our image to the outside world now is – because that is what’s potentially dangerous.
Wait, we don’t want the world thinking we’re all vapid tarts with straws up our noses? We’ve been going about this thing all wrong!
Jason
Can we just throw Rupert into the Bitter Old Queen bin already.
He makes me want to enroll in Exodus
Charley
I live in Palm Springs and I get his point. White Party is the big event here. Gay Pride parade is non political, drag queens with huge feather costumes.
I attended an event in SF last weekend that was supposed to feature Kathy Griffin as mistress of ceremonies, I bought expensive tickets just to see her. She was a no show, and instead they featured Lady Bunny and Chi Chi Larue. I thought they were grotesque. I came away from the show feeling very sad for the gay movement.
Jack Jett
Jason
That is a classic line.
“He makes me want to enroll in Exodus”
Consider it stolen.
REBELComx
Why are we still paying attention to this loudmouth, bitter, attention whore?
hisurfer
What’s wrong with this man? As I recall, there were plenty of mindless drug addicts who just wanted to fuck in the 90’s, 80’s, 70’s and I’m sure on back through 1776.
I’m not sure what he’s saying. That we should all be scared and angry like we were in 1989?
ousslander
Uh, Charley, you were at the PORN awards. What did you expect Shakespeare?
I don’t think the parades have to be the proletariat rising up against the man. They could be fun. Unfortunately most are an embarrassment but the drugs are good.
emb
I think Dame Rupert is right — much as I utterly ADORE the slim little hairless things gyrating in soap bubbles wearing nothing but their seven-year-old nephew’s Transformers briefs, the Pride marches seem to have devolved into little more than beer-sponsored displays of self-indulgence, with the occasional elected official riding in an open convertible (though I must admit that the Cook County Sheriff’s float at last year’s Chicago Pride was a delightful little display). The news media inevitably end up showing a 30 second clip of some scandalous behavior or other that just feeds rightwing nutjob theocon efforts to stereotype us. If I walk through a gay ghetto any other day of the year, I see the world the theocons don’t want anyone to know about; once a year, we throw a wild party masquerading as a meaningful event for our merry little subculture, and that’s what the nation gets a peek at. I don’t think I’d condemn the fleshy party thing, but it’d be nice to see the gay community focus with the same enthusiasm, numbers, and energy on politics and civil rights the rest of the year. Tracking state legislature shenanigans and circulating petitions, attending consciousness- and fund-raising events, and generally making a fuss may not be as heady a testosterone trip as dancing naked in the street, but it’s at least as important.
dvlaries
Rupert’s right, but what he complains about is generational and has nothing to do with being gay or not. When Rupert was young he did as he pleased no matter what wiser heads tried to tell him and should know that’s not going to change because he’s been supplanted by a fresher generation of gay men. If there’s any decade when you ought to be able to live your life fearlessly -even a little recklessly- it’s your 20s. I’ll be 54 in six weeks and when younger gay men ASK me what I think, I tell them, while also acknowledging their right to the impetuosity that accompanies youth. It’s the means of avoiding a reputation as a Bitter Old Queen.
hells kitchen guy
People were doing more drugs in the early ’80s, and the march is as political now. He’s like any other bitter, aging person who has had to adjust to the fact that he’s made a living off his looks and he’s losing them. In other words, the past always looks golden in retrospect. The early ’80s sucked.
Maverick69
He just misses the old days when he was in his 20’s and felt there was a cause. Whatever that means to him.
Things are at a simmer right now in the gay community with the rise of HIV infections and this new battle to keep people off Tina. It starts with the small things like an STD that can be cured with a shot at the Dr. office. The numbers don’t lie and they’ve been telling a story for the past few years.
What he is saying here is, Let’s look at our emotional I.Q. and how we treat each other. The picture is not so pretty after all.
dons888
Sad and bitter old has been.
Fritz
Charley, so one show in SF that Kathy didn’t show for makes you sad for the “gay movement”? Perspective much?
We are a group of people who identify with each other because the larger population has long considered us sexual deviants. Humans fuck, and often inappropriately. Always happened, always will. They even fucked during the AIDS crisis, before anyone knew exactly how it was spread. Rupert surely remembers those times!
I see Rupert doing a lot of complaining, but no action on his part. You are a celebrity, honey, use your power for good instead of becoming a reactionary git.
Charley
Ousslander, yes it was the porn awards. LOL Just sayin……..We need to get political and come out of the show biz mind set of diva has beens like Cher and Liza.
Allen
He’s just pissed off since he is not relevant to the GLBT community anymore.
Charley
His point is that it is potentially dangerous, in that we are sending the wrong message to gay youth in Gay Pride Parades. Here is a quote from a classmate of Lawrence King, the 15 year old gay kid that was shot at school.
“He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails — the whole thing. That was freaking the guys out.” That doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination as to a motive. The problem is that the adults in charge didn’t pay attention — until someone dies.
Wolfie
Poor Rupie what happened.
EMB you wrote.
“be nice to see the gay community focus with the same enthusiasm, numbers, and energy on politics and civil rights the rest of the year. Tracking state legislature shenanigans and circulating petitions, attending consciousness- and fund-raising events, and generally making a fuss may not be as heady a testosterone trip as dancing naked in the street, but it’s at least as important.”
Funny we were able to do both in the 70’s, 80′ and 90’s But that was then and now we are too busy judging out own kind.
if ya don;t like it. Don;t do but don;t call your fellow queer out on it. Its boorish, prudish, and rather condesending. Rupert should know better as well as all the judgemental queens out there.
Christian
Why is that when someone encourages us as a community to take a hard look at our behavior, they are a “bitter old queen”?
As someone who was actively involved with campus GLBTQA orgs in undergrad and grad school, this has been, increasingly, one of my biggest issues with PRIDE festivals. You can’t seem to pay any of the half-naked, pretty young things (in or out of college) gyrating at PRIDE to show up to anything that promotes awarness of and involvement in gay political issues – unless someone dies AND it gets major media attention, but they’re all ready to shake their asses for the world to see.
Am I bitter because the work of so many to make these events possible (and the history that makes these events necessary) gets less attention than some “party-grazing cow” who, ironically, becomes the image of gay pride for both young gay men and women trying to find their place in this world as well as all of the people who are actively working against us?
No, just angry.
Freedom of expression and the right to own your sexuality and orientation isn’t the same as parading your sex life in the streets and looking for your next lay. PRIDE hasn’t evolved over the years with the mantra “We’re here and we’re queer!”, it’s devolved into a farce where the behavior folks engage in mocks both the history and reason for marching each year.
But, hey, I’m just some mid-30’s bitter old queen who can’t appreciate a good party, right? So much better, I suppose, to be like Nero and watch our civil rights burn while I shamelessly shake my ass – because reading some of these posts, one would think that’s all there is to being gay.
The deaths of Matthew Shepard and Lawrence King remind us that the more things change, the more things remain the same. And while we should all strive to live OUT LOUD, it’s high time we put some pride back into PRIDE. Like Aretha sings, “…it’s a deeper love”.
Wolfie
Its funny. The Gay and Lesbian Community of the late 60’s and 70’s fought FOR the right to be opemn and be able to dance and gyrate included with also being able to have rights. I really think some of you kids need to re-read your Gay and Lesbian history. NOW you want people to step back into the darkness and not be themselves and not celebrate and enjoy being gay. Really get a grip people. We can fight and still have fun and pride. Its not an either or situation. You can be proud on the inside and proud on the outside and still have fun. And be whoever you want.
Bitch Republic
Rupert does seem rather crazed about a number of topics, but I think he’s spot on here. Is that all gay pride is about, drugs and sex? I would hope not, but it seems to be.
Jojo
Clearly everyones age is coloring their reaction to what R said. I am 34 years old, yes not a spring chicken, but buy no means old (well, maybe by someone who is 22)…buts lets be serious, the Pride parades at this point are no longer political. They dont have to be. There are no more avenues for “our” voice today. As for drugs, sex and dancing, its happen then, now and will happen again in the future. Age has nothing to do with it, anyway..have you been on Craiglist or Manhunt lately. Thats a better reflection of whats really going on.
hisurfer
Wolfie beat me to it: it’s not either/or, and this is the flaw in his logic. You can be politically active and still shake your ass all night long. You can be conscious and still be a slut. You can fight for change during the week and still be a stoned party-grazing cow come the weekend.
Tired old queens should get off their asses and lead by example instead of preaching and bitching and finger pointing.
Jojo
HISURFER…your a moron. ‘nough said.
chandler in lasvegas
It is time to join NGLTF, it is time to join Stonewall, It’s time to rethink Victory fund, it is time to wonder if HRC remembers what the H stands for. It is time to go back to universal Gay Power in the streets. It is time for Netizens to support grassroots candidates across the nation DIRECTLY!
abelincoln
Rupert sure does generate a lot of attention here.
unimpressed
I’ll never forget my first gay pride parade in 1980 and how proud I felt with the crowd’s thunderous applause when PFLAG came marching by. By the end of the that decade, after watching all my closest friends die off from drug abuse and AIDS, young hairless twinks gyrating on hay wagons did nothing to help me feel proud about being openly gay.
There’s nothing wrong with throwing a party and cutting loose now and then but don’t don’t expect for me to be supportive and proud of your destructive behavior.
And don’t expect me to be off put by your obvious comments encouraging age discrimination either. As a hairy masculine man in his mid 50’s, I’m in the best shape and health than I’ve ever been in my entire life, not to mention getting more sex then ever before.
Celebrate your youth but not it’s abuse. When and if you make it to your middle age and beyond, those discriminatory “bitter old queen” remarks are going to come back and bite you in your sagging olde arse, if you’re lucky to survive that long.
You should be thankful that Rupert or anyone at all is paying enough attention to the state of gay affairs to make any comments whatsoever. The GLBT community is always going to have to struggle hard for equality as long as organized religion zealots exist. Relaxing your guard for even a moment just to snort a line or shake your bum is all it could take for all your rights to be stripped away.
hisurfer
Jojo – you should learn some basic grammar and how to spell before you call other people morons.
joey
Interesting…how a whole class of individuals, i.e., gays, can be somehow “tainted” in the eyes of the public by the actions of a small percentage of individuals who have the financial resources to “travel around the world, do drugs, and have sex.”
Last time I checked, the latter is also a perfect description of that privileged hetero right of passage, spring break (or any other bacchanalian party free for all that straight college kids participate in). Amazing how all heterosexuals in this case are not painted with the same broad brush strokes as gays, i.e., out of control circuit partiers somehow define everyone who is gay, whereas drunken, high, rutting straight spring break students don’t define heteros.
Too bad Rupert couldn’t address this double standard in his comments.
Charley
I have been to Sydney Gay Pride March. It was like the girls gone wild video, Folsom Street, or Southern Decadence. Topless “Dykes on Bikes”, bear ass showing leather chaps, bumps and grinds. Not that there is anything wrong with that in party towns like Cancun, Palm Springs, Provincetown or New Orleans, but on the streets of a metropolitan city where a majority of citizens are offended. Those majority vote for conservative lawmakers, that make laws against us. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
emb
Joey– While the analogy should be accurate, I don’t think it is. Hets are the overwhelming majority, enjoy privileges and rights and opportunities simply by being born, in the mainstream cultural and authority view, “normal.” Homosexuals, on the other hand, have only recognized themselves as a legitimate subculture of humanity in the past sixty years or so, and have only been treated as anything other than pariahs and criminals for 40 years or so. Seems a long time, but not so much in terms of 3000 years or so of a global civilization based on repugnantly intoleran judeo-christian-islamic principles. And even for all those 40 years, the mainstream US culture has only just in the last decade or so become accustomed to our presence to the point of some degree of “tolerance” (hate that word).
So yeah, it’s not fair or equitable or reasonable, but more scruitiny is lavished on our more flamboyant carryings-on than on het college kids having Whip-Cream-Your-Boobs contests in Ft Lauderdale. Their antics fall more into boys-will-be-boys (and girls-will-enable-boys-to-be-boys) head shaking. But two twinks dance in shiny jockstraps in the middle of a street in Philly and we’re painted with a very broad brush as “those people who dance in the street with no clothes on, but want to get married and adopt babies.”
It ain’t fair, it ain’t right, and yet it’s what it is.
We absolutely should be able to do all those things. And we absolutely should do them, and more. But we also should recognize the realities of our situation and not necessarily react by “toning down” Pride festivals, but maybe by being equally visible in other contexts.
Christian
Joey – you’re right, it IS a double standard, that’s a huge part of the problem facing gays, people of color, women and many other disenfranchised groups. As a double minority – black and gay – I’ve learned (from my family and community) that the only way out is to rise above, aspire to a higher standard.
As a man of color I will always be held accountable for the negative stereotypes and opinions of other Blacks, even though I know who I am and do not limit myself to the ignorant perceptions of others.
Unfortunately, this ignorance creates the burden of working within the gay and Black communities to help foster a better sense of social responsibility and I think that’s what Rupert is speaking about.
Is it fair, hell no! It isn’t fair to be discriminated against just for being yourself or the actions of (and myths/lies about) others, but as a child I had to learn what racism is and how to deal with it, and as young adult I learned the same lessons about homophobia. Until these types of hate are no longer a problem, we all need to understand what they are, how to protect ourselves from it, and how NOT to add fuel to the fire.
I don’t have a problem with how folks conduct themselves – in private or public – and, certainly, I had my fun when I was younger, but as a matter of survival I have always been aware of how my public behavior determines how people see me and treat me; and in the age of profiling (esp. for gays in the workplace), rampant hate crimes, legalized discrimination, and religious fundamentalism, it’s completely naive to think that our persecutors aren’t going to use someone’s lack of social responsibility to inhibit the civil rights of the entire community.
Sadly, the old street adage is still true – ‘check yourself, before you wreck yourself’.
And hating on the person/people trying to teach these lessons doesn’t negate or invalidate them.
steve
well joey, there is a double standard, like it or not
just like every black man for years was painted with the broad stroke of a criminal & every muslim a terrorist
ignorant society *is* the majority & over that we have no control
they (the majority) have a preconceived notion of what gay is… often reinforced through mass media
so, for the small percentage that is reinforcing those notions of “gay,” there are thousands of us leading a “normal” (hate the word “normal,” but used for a lack of a better one) out-life so we can make an impression of the gay community that defies & goes beyond stereotypical gay archetypes
anyway, another mid 30’s guy here who doesn’t have a problem with his comments… i’m afraid age does make you think a bit… if that makes me a “bitter old queen” too, then i’m fine with that
there’s room for everyone in the community & partying is good… but i think there needs to be *more* than just buying & reinforcing the stereotypes that have already been molded for you… young people have to see there is something else
steve
ps – good posts christian
joey
Good comments, y’all, but I still maintain that people who have a public “persona” in the gay community like Rupert really owe a duty to the rest of the community to point out this double standard and put it right up in the faces of the press, the public, etc.
I am amazed at how rarely this seems to get raised in the public forum of ideas by public figures with a great deal of “weight” to throw around in terms of publicity.
This attitude of “well, that’s just the way it is; we just have to be even more careful/self-aware…etc.” is far too reminiscent of the woman/minority who states “I have to be twice as good as a white male to prove that I am worthy of this job/position/acceptance into a top academic program.”
No one should HAVE to be “twice as good” as anyone else in a privileged category to prove that they can succeed and meet expectations…there is no ethical or legal argument to support this…and the more these notions are challenged publicly by people who are in a position to be able to do so (like politicians, actors, etc.) the better off we will all be.
Christian
Well, I agree with you that no one SHOULD have to be “twice as good”, but when the people making the decisions about who’s going to get a job/contract/admission/loan/etc. have a discriminatory mindset (and it isn’t always just white heterosexuals who make these decisions), then that’s what we have to contend with. It’s one of the primary reasons why we support – financially and politically – businesess, leaders, and institutions that reflect our values, and, often, ourselves (for better and for worse).
As to the social responsibility of high-profile and/or celebrity gays, I think it would be AMAZING if more GLBTQ folks in the public eye would step up and speak out. But, you know, it would have a much more significant impact for non-GLBTQ folks, our supposed Allies, who are in the public eye, to speak up about how heteros need to change negative attitudes about homos. We don’t need preaching to the choir, we need folks that homophobes respect and respond to, informing them that their hate isn’t okay.
Beyond that, I think that we need to stop looking to celebrities to come out and give us a ‘face’ in the public eye. Each of us IS the face of gay America and gay . As we become comfortable with ourselves, individually, then we’ll start to see the gay community better reflected in the mainstream. And that takes us back to ‘pride’, because that’s what we need more of to achieve that level of comfort.
And I ain’t too proud of some of the things I’ve been seeing at PRIDE festivals.
hisurfer
I think a lot of these stereotypes are our own, that they are ones that we have about each other rather than ones that straight folk have about us.
The straight folks I work with have absolutely no concept of what a circuit party is, or bath house, or International Male Leather, Lazy Bear Weekend, Fire Island Pines, etc. They’re surprised when I tell them that ice is a major problem in the community. When they hear the word ‘gay’ they don’t think of bears in chaps, gyrating twinks, or dykes on bikes. As one of my friends always says, “they have *no* idea.”
For better or worse, they think of the retired gentlemen at the beach who cruise them while they jog by, the effeminate hosts on cable-access and locally produced shows, or the witty gay best friends they see on tv. That, or they think of the couple dozen men and women in our building who are out & don’t really conform to any of the stereotypes.
It’s not straight people who are calling gays a “generation of mindless drug addicts.” It’s a gay man.
Christian
oh, and thanks Steve 🙂
hells kitchen guy
the NYC Gay Pride March goes on for 5 hours. there are political groups, corporate groups, professional groups, religious groups, educational groups, service groups, and, yes, there are hot boys on floats. why does this bother some people so much?
And as for people in Sydney being offended by the Mardi Gras parade, boy is THAT off base. Straight people in Sydney LOVE that parade. And when I’m at Gay Pride in NYC, the tourists LOVE those sexy floats.
the only ones who hate it, it seems, are the oh-so-above-it-all “political” fags who like to post on blogs like this.
Charley
Joey
There is the fight for sexual liberation, and then there is the fight for social justice. We must not confuse the two.
The fight for sexual liberation should not really concern gay people, even though our movement is based on sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is not the same as the right to sex on the streets. That is what “sex panic” was all about, headed by the influential writer, Edmund White.
The new fight is about our rights, the right to be married and get the same federal and state rights as other citizens. Even Huckabee can’t disagree with this, in that we love our partners.
As Christian so ELOQUENTLY pointed out, ‘And I ain’t too proud of some of the things I’ve been seeing at PRIDE festivals.’
alex
To me, Everett is coming off as a major hypocrite. Apparently he’s okay with associating himself with a circuit-party-type event as a Grand Marshall in 2007; yet when he’s not involved the following year, everyone in attendance suddenly become “a generation of mindless drug addicts – party-grazing cows”.
If he really felt that way, he shouldn’t have agreed to be Grand Marshall in Sydney. I’m sure his supporters might say something like, “but he didn’t really know what the events were all about”. I doubt that was the case. However, even if he was clueless about what really happens at these events, that is no excuse. As a public figure, he should know that attaching his name to an event is a major decision.
As is, he is nothing but a hypocrite.
Charley
Hell’s Kitchen,
I knew your area in the 50’s when it was filled with big cocked Porto Ricans. I was told by friends and relatives not to go into that area, but I did anyway. Had great sexual encounters at the Port Authority Bus Station and cheap hotels in Hells Kitchen. It was great.
Don’t know how you come by your handle, but I suspect you moved in when real estate was low, took advantage of the situation, and now it is the new Chelsea. Fuck off.
Random
I suppose it really all depends on where you live. I’ve lived in Montreal all my life and there are no drugs, or sex, or apolitical behavior at our pride parades. It’s hetero friendly to the point where you’ll see M/F couples with their children waving at the queers in the parade. Hard to not be proud at such show of acceptance.
Charley
Random,
Canada is wonderful. USA is a violent nation based on a John Wayne mentality, and I am for Obama. I get real nervous when he goes out into the crowd, as I lived through the Kennedy’s ect. assasinations.
hells kitchen guy
Hey, Charley, you’re right! I bought my apartment at a reasonable price and it’s now worth a fortune. Wow, I guess that makes me hateful?!? You think because you fucked a couple of Puerto Ricans while picking cockroaches off your ass you’ve got some kind of privilege over other people? YOU fuck off, you dimwit.
angie Cox
Christian it was a pleasure to read your comments.
Ron
Pity poor Rupert. He really is a typical gay man who
breezed through the first half of life soley on his good looks working as a whore, and an actor (same thing really). Now the looks are gone and there’s a new generation of whores that have have replaced him. Rupert is left bitter and jealous of the new talent…so sad.
qjersey
This thread is a glaring example of how adolescent the gay community can be. People fought for sexual liberation…breaking the old rules and this has somehow translated into NO rules. Anyone, like Rupert, who points out any problems with the community, is immediately attacked. What concerns me most is how the AIDS epidemic has made this all so clear. We might “take care of our own” once they have contracted HIV, but we can’t come to any consensus on how to come together to PREVENT gay men from getting HIV, because that pesky “sexual liberation” red herring gets in the way. I’m all for sexual liberation, but there are limits (rules). Seems that too many guys in our community want to live as though sex has no consequences which sadly in the days of bareback porn and the glorification of risk has become unprotected sex without consequences. This is ironically a very privileged position; we wouldn’t be arguing about “having the sex the way you choose to” if HIV benefits, e.g., ADAP, housing, weren’t available (though many people with HIV fall through the cracks). If HIV was still killing people in high numbers or if our government cut HIV benefits, barebacking wouldn’t be so glamorous now would it? What we need is a discussion of “values” in our community and we can start with one MAJOR one: behavior that hurts others in our community is WRONG and this includes the glamorization of drug use and barebacking. PERIOD.
Now flame me.
Shirokuma66
I agree with Rupert. However, being gay means different things to different people. For me, and I suppose Rupert, it doesn’t mean leading a self-destructive drug-fed life. White parties and Mardi Gras (Sydney) are now just big parties. The demise of political Gay Pride marches is like the unpopularity of The Advocate. Maybe it’s just changing times, but personally, I’d like to see us fight for complete civil rights, which we do not have at present.
Jojo
Sorry Hisurfer. I have a job that matters and dont have time to proof read (at least on this site). Yes, I should have re-read the message before I hit send, but regardless, your still a moron. Now, why dont you go back to folding clothes or walking your dog. Let me guess, it would be safe to call you a subprime borrower.
Folks, get a life.
Cheers.
todd
I go to Pride to laugh at all the trashy queens getting wasted and acting like 20 year olds. They sure look rough in the daylight!
hells kitchen guy
“I go to Pride to laugh at all the trashy queens getting wasted and acting like 20 year olds. They sure look rough in the daylight!”
Hmmm, I go to support the community, cheer on the various groups and see the eye candy. There’s more than a little bit of self-hatred in your comment.
J
Amen, Rupert.
RICK
Rupert’s 100% correct & Sydney Mardi Gras is a good example of why gay men are continuing their slide into one of the most despised classes on the face of the earth: it’s been quite a come-down from our status in Ancient Greece, in a relatively short space of time.
Alleged “queers” who deny ongoing disease, murder of our youth, meth addiction, hateful erosion of our rights and general misery need to take stock of their own agenda. It’s not good enuf to celebrate “partying” while flaming and clawing at our brothers like Rupert and Larry Kramer who are experienced and intelligent enough to see the truth, and courageous enuf to tell it like it is.
The Bitter Old Queen attack is indicative of self-hatred, character defamation and community destruction; and it’s usually embellished with picky and irrelevant analogies and arguments which underscore just why lesbians have made so many strides upward while we men wallow in our own pus & smugly serve it up to our youth as a productive lifestyle choice.
Where’s the party?
hisurfer
Sydney Mardi Gras is pretty amazing. And as has been pointed out enough times: it incorporates politics, art, theater, community involvement, spirituality, as well as big dances. The parade has plenty of hot marching boys. It also has some pretty in-your face as radical as they come political segments. If all you see is the party then I’d suggest the problem lies with yourself. I don’t know how you could miss the other 80-90% of what goes on in Sydney that month.
I stand by Bitter Queen, but that is because I think we are doing all right as a community. I used to march with Queer Nation, and I remember getting some flak early on because we weren’t HIV focused. In 1989 HIV was THE issue. Now we’re fighting on multiple fronts – in the army, for marriage, for health, for visibility, for safety, for housing rights, and on and on. I wouldn’t trade today for those golden days when everyone was dying. If all you see is the gutter, then take your nose out of the gutter and look around.
Nikko
QJERSEY and RICK said it perfectly.Pointe finale.
Eric
Hmmm… seems like Rupert’s statement has stirred up a firestorm of outraged comments and crass personal attacks on this site. Has he touched a nerve? Or is criticism of the gay “community” now not permitted?
Nikko: QJERSEY and RICK did say it perfectly. Also Christian (#17)
Mezaien
I have never heard of this commoner (peasant). Why I got the feeling he think himself as white(just asking).