Man oh man, little did we know what we would be getting ourselves into when we first stumbled upon this story. But, letās not get ahead of ourselvesā¦weāll take you through it nice and slow.
It all started when we came across an article headlined, āGay Actress Offers Washington Her Supportā. Naturally we were intrigued and started reading said story, which opens:
Disgraced Greyās Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has received support from an unlikely source as he battles his homophobia demons ā lesbian actress Tammy Lynn Michaels.
We had to stop for a second and think, āWho?ā until we remembered that we know TLM more for her role as Melissa Etheridgeās lady lover than for her roles on The L-Word and Popular.
Back on track, we read on to discover that the ladies are apparently friends with Mr. Washington and that TLMās astonished by the recent outcry over Washingtonās well-publicized faggot-flinging. In response to the brou-ha-ha, TLM did what any concerned friend would do: she released a statement on her blog.
In an entry dated January 22, TLM mused:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
he
never called
me or honey
a dyke
or
a faggotā¦.
he
came with his cowboy hat
some boots
and a smile that could power Timeās Square
on new years eve
i barely recognized him last week
faggot he said
faggotthe man i have known
is not that man
ā¦
he is not a bad man
he is flawed
arenāt we all
what that must be like
to have oneās flaws
amplified for all to see
and shame
i forgive his words,
because truth be told
i do not believe
the word
faggot
lives in his heart
It does, however, live in his mouth. Or, it did.
While weāre glad to know TLM has faith in her hateful friend, we couldnāt help but wonder why she writes in poetic form. In addition to being an actress, a lesbian, a rockerās wife and a mother, it seems Tammyās a psychic, because a few days ago she penned this explanation:
iāve been writing like this since 1987
since i split my gay self off
from my catholic self
off from my abused self
off from my clown self
off from my depressed selfsplit
was i
andjagged became my writing
so my haiku
while it might seem
ā¦.unoriginal ā¦..itās all i got
all i ever had
Hmm, we donāt want to be picky, but youāre actually not using haiku. If you were writing in haiku, youād have three lines of five, seven and five syllables. So, youāre actually just writing in verse. As for it being unoriginalā¦well, yes, youāre right: Rosie OāDonnell does that, too. Donāt worry, though, we think youāre way better. Or, at least, more coherent.
Although, we imagine Tammy Lynn Michaels doesnāt care what we think. What gives us this impression? Well, she wrote this a mere two days ago:
you gotta be kidding me. of all things to blog about, that silly little ditty i wrote about mr wattage makes news. i guess there arenāt many things going on in the newsā¦. not much to write about. war, starvation, genocide, government criminalsā¦. nope. not a damn thing to write about, i guess. thank goodness for me and my blog.
Thank goodness, indeed. Youāve certainly made our lives easier. And more fulfilling.
queertext
fuck off, queerty. if you read her blog at all, you’d see that she’s not being pretentious, she’s not looking for her writings to be exploited (notice that she never identifies herself or her wife by full name), and that she’s an intelligent, strong woman whom you SHOULD LEAVE ALONE.
by the way, nothing about you is really queer. gay, sure. but your mysogyny and transphobia, in addition to general smarmy better-than-thouness, really disqualifies you as queer. so shut up.
M
Wow, Queertext is really fired up about this. I would make some sort of politically incorrect joke, but I really am afraid. You guys at Queerty should probably just shut this site down. Thanks for entertaining me while it lasted.
worctop
I just think the whole thing is moronic. He should really have kept his mouth shut, or just admitted what he said and apologized, DONE DEAL. I’m sure if the “N” word had been used towards him this wouldn’t have been treated so lightly.
And Queertext, you need to RELAX honey, Tammy Lynn is an actress, SHE put herself out there w/ those comments, it’s FREE PUBLICITY for her, now we all know who she is, which quite honestly I didn’t before.
Also, as someone who likes poetry and prose, indeed that was NOT haiku, just as a “fly in your Chardonnay” is NOT ironic, it’s unfortunate. (Another pet peeve of mine!)
Ash
Queerty has never come off as transphobic to me, in fact I find it to be rather trans-inclusive. And TLM siding with Washington over an offensive slur is just stupid. Her “poetry” is even stupider.
jon
leave it to fuckin queerty and every other self-righteous homo to get fired up over a blog. this is TLM for christ’s sake. this is not elton john publicly backing eminem with blatant homophobic lyrics. she’s simply a friend saying she thought that guy was her friend and wow, she doesn’t think he’s hateful so she’s going to have faith in him.
who exactly wrote this article? probably some self-absorbed man who’s afraid of women and trannies and needs to fire himself up everytime someone says something that can even remotely be twisted into some sort of hate speech. yep. tammy’s an closeted homophobe. you all got her right. i wish some day i can be as smart as all of you.
washington is a dumb pathetic little actor. who fuckin cares? why don’t you join a real fight and help the residents of NJ and MA fight the marriage rights that are currently in the process of being stripped away.
johnosahon
wtf? lol
so much anger over this? LOL, the writer of this article is simply expressing his/her self,wtf? that’s queert for you
and to the writer wtf? this is no news, i am gay and i still support washington, since he apologied, what’s the news here?
Hunter Hoop
What is it with lesbians being all on the homophobe side? Yeah he never called you a faggot, because well that wouldn’t make sense.
I love you Queerty, and your “general smarmy better-than-thouness” (really, you should use that in self descriptions, it sounds so very hip and witty)
I What is it with lesbians being all on the homophobe side? Yeah he never called you a faggot, because well that wouldn’t make sense.
I love you Queerty, and your “general smarmy better-than-thouness” (really, you should use that in self descriptions, it sounds so very hip and witty)
I <3 Queerty
expedito
Okay, I’m conflicted on this.
Tammy Lynn Michaels is probably a very nice person, and it’s good to stick up for your friends – and maybe it’s try that Washington isn’t as homophobic as it may appear. After all, using the derrogatory term faggot is pretty widespread. Lots of times it’s used as an insult without really referring to sexual preference. The widespread use of the term is really often more of a comment on society’s underlying homophobia than it is on the sexuality of the insulted victim. (If everyone who was called ever called faggot was actually gay, things would be a lot different!)
On the other hand, it’s a lot easier for a woman (lesbian or straight) to fogive someone for calling someone else a faggot than it is for a gay man. I’m sure lesbians have their own issues, but I never recall in my grammar or high school days seeing girls physically, verbally and psychologically assaulted for being gay. Unfortunately, most gay men carry those scars with them. I wouldn’t feel able to forgive Mel Gibson for anti-semitic remarks – as a non-Jew, it’s not my place to forgive because I can’t really feel the sting.
Anyway, this whole incident has been good in that it’s really brought some very serious issues to light and been a learning experience for all of us. I don’t know whether it’s time to move on yet, but I’m certainly willing to cut everyone a little more slack.
Imthegirl
Oh Tammy Tammy Tammy, how transparent you are! She writes a blog for all the world to see them complains Oh Poor Me, people keep reading my “cyber conversations with myself” and shredding them.
Dear Ms
I Wanna Be
More
Popular
Nobody really gives a poop about your judgment call on Mr Gay-bashing Washington
speaking of poop,surely you have better things to do with your time, like changing a couple of poopy diapers, now that your a mom?
wannabeme
imthegirl
no, you’re not the girl. you are a loser (like me) who is sitting in cyberspace, posting shit about strangers. so here you are girl girl girl girl girl….
hope i don’t stutter when i say
no one gives a rat’s ass about you and your words either. so i hope you get some relief from your loneliness and bitterness by bashing some chick who likes to write about life.
and last i heard… there’s something called “babies don’t poop 24 hours a day”. but since you’re so
full of shit
i bet you wouldn’t know that.
love you.
Imthegirl
Yes Tammy, I am quite full of it.
love u too
enjoyinglife
Without forgiveness, stupidy becomes a breading ground for hatred. I commend and support TLM’s courageous decision.
spiffy
So is it just TLM and Rosie that like to blog in poetry form, not all lesbians? I haven’t read a lot of blogs written by lesbians, so I wouldn’t know.
heidikc
so here’s what i think. tlm (or actually i think she changed it to etheridge) has a blog. she said what she thinks. she knows that some people read it, but not too many. i really think that she doesn’t care either way. she doesn’t advertise. she doesn’t use her full name or melissa’s. it’s not like she’s blogging at tammylynnmichaels.com. give her a break.
plus…that shit about the haiku was a response to some article about her psuedo-haiku rosie-esque form.
elianna
Oh please, just because TLM doesn’t put her last name on her blog doesn’t mean she is anonymous! From what I remember she let it be known on her girlfriends website Exactly who she was and where her blog could be found.
She used to get scrappy online with some of Melissa’s fans. Most unbecoming. (You don’t see Elton John’s boyfriend, or Ellen’s girlfriend taking on their fans on the web.!) Her ‘acceptance’ blog was just ridiculous. No one should be defending antigay slurs, especially the girlfriend of a Gay icon. As for her “poetry’, gag me.
Paul Raposo
The absurdity of defending Mr. Washington aside, I think it’s pretty cool that she’s an out lesbian. I adore her character on “Popular”.
littleme
hmm. i just read the blog. did you guys? she didn’t defend the dude. seems to me that she was more saying “the media misconstrues things; like my friends A&B”.
so now the whole world is in an uproar because….oh… the media misconstrued what she was saying.
she didn’t defend the dude. she said he was flawed, human, and she forgives him.
english, folks. high school couldn’t have been that long ago or we wouldn’t all be sitting here chatting anonymously on a blog. š
Mahoney317
Am I the only one here who sees the irony in the fact that the response to TLM’s blog only proves the point of her subject matter?
If you’re looking to up your irony intake, try this on for size:
Count the number of people critiquing her style of verse on this site alone. Subtract the number of same whose own posts have perfect punctuation and grammar.
“a” minus “b” equals “Look ma, no critic!”
Last I heard, forgiveness was a thing to which one was supposed to aspire. She was simply pointing out the human side of someone who she considers a friend. Tell me any one of you hasn’t defended someone you care about even as you disagree with them, simply because that’s what friends do for one another. We would do well to remember that we only know the parts of the situation that we’ve been shown. If anyone’s doing the right thing here, it would be TLM for remaining a friend and making an attempt to enlighten rather than indict. If I should ever be caught saying something so callous as what Mr. Washington said, I hope my friends will behave the way TLM has. Those of you who judge either of these individuals are only weakening your own arguments by displaying the same type of generalization that was offending you in the first place.
Being offended by what I hear gives me proof that freedom of speech is still working. Myself, I’m willing to accept that small price for the right to use that freedom to my advantage.
logo04
Tammy lynn can eat dog shit, I don’t like her shes self centered, and cares nothing about giving let alone HAITI as she brags about stuffing her fat ulgy fuckedoff face. You are about as shallow as every other hollywood star fucker.! YES THATS WHAT YOU ARE A STAR FUCKER! Hopefully Melissa wont be so desperate to have to stay with you because she fears being alone. your nothing but a free loader girl!I know people like you can smell comming around the corner. Your disgusting! You don’t deserve what you have!
logo04
@worctop: HAHAHA! I LIKE THAT one..Touche’!