Gumption Girl Pictures‘ Mian Carvin surveyed the queer community of Olympia, WA, for her short “This is What Queer Looks Like.” It’s message is pretty simple—heck, it’s right there in the title—but even capital-G Gays like us sometimes need a reminder that LGBTs come in a variety of colors, styles, colors, ages and identities.
Wys
this is what a queer reply looks like 😀
MEJ
@Wys:
8^)
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
this is what a queer bitchy reply looks like: ewww!!
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
this is what queer remorseful looks like: sorry, my (very) little joke. your’e all quite lovely.
RedAssault
does she know any people who aren’t irritating weirdo hipsters?
David
The film is OK but a lot of the gay men, lesbians, and even trans people were highly stereotypical. What’s the point of just saying “This is what queer looks like”?
RedAssault
@David: Kinda what I thought. The whole time watching it I was waiting for someone who didn’t make me say “yeah, no shit” after they said “This is what queer looks like.” It’s almost like she set out to make a video that says “lesbians all have short hair and at least 35% body fat and gay men are all prissy and lispy with little dogs and lip piercings.”
Drew
LMAO I agree with RedAssault! It’s not like when I see most of these people aside from the bisexual and a few of the gay men, not including the radical faerie it wouldn’t be painfully obvious that these people are gay, lesbian, trans, LGBT, or ‘queer’. I did notice that many of the people actually said their sexuality which is good instead of just using the blanket term queer.
Ginasf
Oh yeah, incredible ‘diversity’… no (self-ID’d) trans women, no black people. Just the “good” non-problematic queer people looking and behaving the way they’re supposed to.
PopSnap
Am I the only one who doesn’t like the word “queer”? I dunno… I’ve never used it in polite conversation before. It sounds juvenile and stupid, and conjures up images of crossdressers and thong-clad men, something that is certainly not representative of the LGBT community as a whole.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
newsflash: a video of obviously gay people seeming, well, obviously gay, shocker!
yes, in that sense the video fails if that’s it’s main purpose.
in other news: most gay people are the stereo types. most of you posting here will be OBVIOUSLY gay too. except for RedAssault and myself — we are a special unit of homosexualists.
don’t be jealous…suck it up, bitches.
Huh ...
@RedAssault: Read your comment, thought you were probably being unfair and judgmental.
Then I saw the video.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: *special ELITE unit of homosexualists.
Christopher Banks
I thought it was more interesting as an educational vehicle for “this is what trans/genderqueer looks like”. There’s still so much discrimination that goes on, including within our own communities, toward people who don’t identify with the gender they were born with, or don’t identify with either.
I liked the “radical fairy” guy too and the “flamboyance” guy – again, prejudice against our more “flaming” brethren is rife, and a video on that would be interesting too. “I’m camp, so get the f**k over it” etc.
JayKay
This is what obnoxious hipsters look like.
Not exactly a handsome bunch either.
Homosexualists
What’s wrong with you judgmental people. Everyone’s their own individual.
the other Greg
I’m thinking of moving to Olympia, WA to be a pot dealer! Looks like a gold mine (except for that “clean & sober” guy, yeah right).
Weird how the credits take up 1/3 of the film (this is what credits look like).
Dan
I agree popsnap I don’t like queer either since it doesn’t actually tell you what someone’s sexual orientation is, or what their gender is. It could mean the person is LGBT and it also makes the person sound as though they’re completely confused and closeted about their actual sexuality or gender that they can’t just say, that they’re lesbian, gay, bisexual, or a transman or transwoman, or they could say I’m a man or woman but I like to mess with gender or I think I’m bi-gender.
Mike
Agreed GinaSF, there was only one bisexual and the rest were cookie cutter lesbians, flaming queens, highly obvious Transman who don’t pass as male at all, and they were pretty much all white rich hipsters. I’ve heard that there are a lot of Asians in the Pacific Northwest but you wouldn’t know it from this video.
Rick
ITT This is what a pointless and stupid documentary that doesn’t show actual diversity among LGBT people or the BLGT community at all looks like! Plus the term queer is so 90s and completely dated. I stopped using it or caring about the term queer decades ago when I met people who are completely heterosexual and not trans who used the term queer.
Clockwork
That was a HELL of a LOT BETTER than “It Gets Better” videos
and for you racial bean counters out there, go make you own video and be
sure to include a Black Swedish Pansexual
Curtis
Ahhhh stop.
Huh ...
My favorite part of this is the “To our diversity” tag at the end.
Yeah, it’s the same three people (the same white hipster lesbian, the same white hipster effeminate gay man, the same white hipster trans man) over and over again. Some diversity.
Best part is, the person who made this is clearly so self-absorbed that she can’t see how ironic it is that *this* is what she “diversity” looks like to her.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@Huh …:
oh, hush now daddy-o, your’e just too square to know what’s a-hipinin “n” happenin’ like these hep cats do.
if they were identikit abercrombie & fitch homobots you’d be worshiping at their GQ approved penny loafers.
Huh ...
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: Yeah. Abercrombie & Fitch. You sure got my number, Prince.
*~*
Just for everyone bitching about the lack of diversity, this video shows members of the Olympia, WA queer community. That city is 85% white.
Also, someone above complained that there aren’t any african americans in this video. There is one.
Huh ...
@*~*: The issue isn’t the demographics of Olympia. It’s that the creator of the video very pointedly claims it represents “diversity” among queers; to make such a claim when presenting such a homogeneous group is to beg for people’s criticism (or, as you so thoughtlessly call it, for “everyone bitching.”)
PopSnap
@*~*: I didn’t feel represented at all, actually. I honestly couldn’t identify less than the people depicted.
What’s going to be next in the series? A video entitled “This is what Black Looks Like” with 90% of the African Americans therein depicted as rap-loving, slang-slinging, pants-saggin’ gangstas?
PopSnap
*less with, not less than
Huh ...
@*~*: Also, I should add that the lack of diversity is hardly limited to race. The vast majority of these people seem to belong to the same hipster scene, and I would wager good money that they all belong to the same economic stratum.
AdamA
Where are the non-white queers, y’all? As for those who don’t like ‘queer,’ to each his own. It’s merely meant to be a less normative, assimilationist term, and it certainly isn’t about cutting people out of the community–though it’s capable of doing so, as this vid displays.
gurrrlplease
How could you forgot to put Q in LGBTQ in a post about being queer???
PopSnap
Oh, and one more thing… “radical fairy”? Are you kidding me? That literally made me laugh out loud. How old was that guy, like, forty? and he seriously calls himself a “fairy”? okayy then. Someone escaped from the funny farm.
heybro
@PopSnap:
Not about age: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_fairy
Tom
What a ridiculous minstrel show. These people have no respect for themselves and they’ll get none from the world. Gay kids don’t need to be told that they are “queer” either by bullies or hipster activist types. A gay kid can be the most conventional, popular kid on the block. He might choose to live life as a perennial outsider, but that is an individual choice, not a product of sexual orientation. Let’s stop giving attention to these “queer” clowns.
Tom H
my god! why does everybody have to be so judgemental? I thoroughly enjoyed this video 🙁
christopher di crapito
@Tom H: Because that’s what we do best.
Jamie
This was AWESOME. The comments show that this is exactly what Queerty needs to put up.
Oh, ok.
This is what queer looked like in the 90s in movies when people were still using queer.
Little-Kiwi
to anyone complaining, i await your own video where you show your own example of what Gay or Queer is or looks like.
after all, there’s no use in complaining anonymously from the Online Closet that that these people “aren’t representing you” if you have no intention of standing up to be counted and representing yourselves.
truth.
wanna change thing, or show Other Examples of Gay? make a video. all i’m seeing are miserable comments from people who are still refusing to be just as Visible.
Little-Kiwi
how was has “not being obviously gay” helped you boys? it’s not like it’s helped you be Out. COngrats, you’re still living with a foot in the closet. way to be!
make your own video where you show what YOUR KIND of Gay looks like.
ten bucks says you can’t. it’s too much work. much easier to anonymously post about what other people are doing, eh?
Oh, and no doubt you guys are also Obviously Gay. Nobody’s mentioned it in your life? That’s because *you* haven’t. They can tell you’re gay. They can also tell that you’re insecure about it.
PopSnap
@Little-Kiwi: Showcasing a bunch of stereotypical gays and saying “look! This is what being [insert gay slur here] looks like!” is helping nobody. There’s nothing wrong with people being flamerish, but there is a problem when we display a stereotypical image to the media and the world at-large.
Just FYI, I am openly gay. However, there’s MORE to me than just being gay. My sexual orientation is nothing more than another facet of my life, just another part of my overall person, and that’s how I would like it to be treated. It shouldn’t define me. I shouldn’t be denied basic rights because of it.
All videos like this do is tell the straight community that we are all the same, that it’s okay to stereotype us because they’re right. And that’s completely wrong on every level.
Little-Kiwi
Re-read what I wrote, “PopSnap”.
make your own video where you show what you feel needs to be seen. What’s stopping you?
And your kneejerk assumption about “stereotypes” is actually incorrect. Can you intelligently articulate how, specifically, those perceived stereotypes are inherently negative and harmful?
Some people exhibit specific things that are deemed or perceived to be “stereotypical”. That doesn’t mean they’re bad.
You don’t get millions of Canadians walking around saying “I’m Candian, but i don’t say “eh” and i don’t always watch hockey!”
why? simple – because there’s no ingrained, yet baseless, prejudice against Canucks Who Say Eh & Love Hockey.
one should also not be “denied basic rights” or be open to public mockery or belittling simply because they embody something that someone else feels is “Stereotypical”
These people who you are angry at for being “stereotypical” are not the reason anti-gay bigotry exists, nor are they less deserving of respect and Equality simply because you think they’re stereotypes.
know what else is a stereotype? the insecure gay men who comes onto gay websites and complains about “stereotypical gays” from a place of complete anonymity.
But again, post your own video. Get your buds together. Get your family together. Make a video where you represent yourselves.
What’s stopping you from making a video on youtube where you show the kind of gay man that you are? I’m genuinely curious.
food for thought: http://youtu.be/M1ju0oHvGSo
Little-Kiwi
Until you boys make your own video where you show yourselves and your friends as “different kinds of gays” then you’re all as collectively useful as tits on a fish.
truly. you wont’ make a video, you make excuses not to make them, and then you sit here anonymously complaining that the people who *are* making videos are “too stereotypical.”
If you’re so “not stereotypical” then what’s stopping you from making videos of your own and showing and BEING the example that you claim to want more people to see?
what’s the use in being “not a stereotype” if you dont’ have the balls to go out there and prove it and live a strong empowered example?
Little-Kiwi
why don’t ANY of you have your own videos where you show what Gay Looks Like, yourselves?
RedAssault
Um… Little-Kiwi,
There are plenty of gay men making videos showing that they’re just regular guys. There’s nothing wrong with “seeming” gay at all. Most of us just object to the video that claims to represent diversity when all it does is show a bunch of hippies who all look the same and all look like they need a bath. Has the video been called “this is what hipster people in the LGBTQAH community in Oregon look like,” we’ all just say “you go, girls.”
For some out and proud gay guys who don’t all look the same and are quite diverse in their “type,” check out Youtube channels of..
areyousurprised
gaycomicgeek
jasunmarkdotcom
davywaey
nickmorettixxx
all different, all gay and none with a foot in the closet as you say.
Little-Kiwi
i have my own youtube page, dude. what i’m asking is where YOURS are. the guys coming on here to anonymously comment about how they don’t like what they’re seeing in this video.
oh, and pointing out “daveywavey” as “not stereotypical” is a laugh-and-a-half.
if yuo don’t object to those links, why object to this one? and you did, indeed, ignore my question.
where is YOUR video?
URL, please?
Little-Kiwi
i repeat: all the guys complaining on here, where is YOUR video? where is the video YOU and YOUR FRIENDS have made that gives a face to the community in a way that you feel needs to be seen?
stop saying “that’s not me!” and show us who you are.
what’s stopping you?
Little-Kiwi
simple, here’s what you can do: since, indeed, Queer *does* look like what’s in the video, you can make a sequel.
you can call it “What Queer/Gay ALSO Looks Like” – and you can film yourself and your friends. so, when shall we expect to see it? i can’t think of any reason why you, or any other the commenters on this thread, won’t contribute to it or take part and show themselves.
right?
Little-Kiwi
btw, i never said other gays don’t have youtube pages. i have my own youtube page. click it and you’ll see it.
the guys with A Foot in the Closet are the guys who came on here, complained about the video, and then fled like busted babies when asked where their own video is.
so where are your videos, boys?
Sam
Little Kiwi, your coercion will not work, give it up already dude. Not everyone has to have a blog, site, or u-tube vids whatever. No one has to give into your demands. Always the same crap, different day, “…show your self, show me your site and videos or you’re not out, put up a pic, or you’re not masculine and hate effeminates…” Give it a rest. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, we got it…you’re here, you’re queer, good for you haha thankfully not everyone is exactly like you, and you’re nothing but a troll.
Little-Kiwi
define “troll”
there are guys that come on here, every day, to say the same miserable insecure hateful nonsense from a place of complete Online Closet Anonymity.
there are more than a few guys who use multiple handles – numerous fake-profile-Names that they use to engage in conversations with…well…themselves.
So, I’m not sure what “coercion” you’re talking about, nor what you define as a troll.
People here took issue with the video. None of the guys who took issue with the video has provided the URL to their own youtube video, or webpage, where they show the examples they’d prefer be seen.
I come on, you can click my name and see my own page and see the example I’m living every single day.
I understand that this is what angers you about me – I live with a freedom that you don’t yet have. That’s not my fault.
So, as long as you cowardly little wimps are going to come here every single day and complain from a place of pathetic anonymity, my gay ass will be here to be an actual Visible Example of Authenticity. I’m sorry that your inauthentic life of cowardice doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
You can complain all you like – but as long as you do it from a place of anonymity you’re only proving me right.
Dan
I have friends who are radical faeries but they’re a lot older than the guy in the video and they actually are ex hippies from the 60s and have been going to RF gatherings for decades since they started, unlike that poseur wannabe radical faerie in the video.
Mike Merinack
Actually Kiwi I’m out and have been for a very long time. I just don’t have a blog and I don’t make youtube videos. Nobody says that just because you’re out as a GLBT person that you simply have to have a youtube video, have made a pointless “it gets better” video and shout that mantra from the rooftops, or have a blog or else you’re closeted.
Little-Kiwi
Too bad that’s not what I’ve been saying, “MIke Merinack”
What I’m saying is rather clear – if you have a “problem” with this video then make your own video where you show the example that feel isn’t being represented.
What use do you think you boys are coming on here make anonymous complaints? Make your own video where you show what you feel isnt’ being shown.
As we have it, it’s a room full of complaining boys, none of whom have the balls to do just that.
how typical.
Brad Bradleywack
Yeah, I’m also out and I’m not a fem and I am not closeted and I dont have to prove it to some liberal queen troll who has a stupid youtube page.
I also am really really tough and butch and nobody knows that I’m gay and if I was in a youtube video everybody would be shocked that I’m gay but I don’t need to make one because videos are stupid.
Andrew
Kiwi, I post over at Towleroad and we’re sick and tired of your spam and BS over there so now I guess you’ve moved here to queerty. Folks, kiwi is a troll and his whole “blah blah blah I’m out and you’re not unless you make videos, post a pic of yourself, or blog” BS doesn’t hold any merit at all and it’s just spam. Congratulations this site has a new troll and it’s you.
David Duderson
I feel the same way. I am also out and really non-stereotypical and I don’t need to prove it by making a video of my own. I’m allowed to come on here and just say how I hated this video without providing any alternative videos or examples of how to represent gay people better because this is a free country and part of that freedom is the freedom to complain while not doing anything.
*see?*
Kevin
Kiwi nobody cares about your boring blog and stupid videos.
no balls
ok, i’ve got it – anonymous people who can’t put a face and name to their statements, nor show examples of how to Best Represent The Gay Community Themselves, have a problem with a guy that can, and will resort to utilizing multiple fake-names in order to pretend that it’s a collective thing.
again, how typical.
I’ve never said, once, “if you don’t post videos then you’re not Out”
not once. i will, however, to point out how obvious your own cowardice is…ugh, i don’t even know which name to refer to you by considering you’ve just used a few. LOL! you come on, you complain, you provide no examples of how you, personally, are doing things better.
i call your bluff. that you can’t prove me wrong is your problem, not mine 😀
Matthias
Yeah Kiwi, we hate you. And we don’t need to prove ourselves with videos. We’re totally not all the same one miserable dude posting with different names. And to prove it we’re going to not prove it.
😉
Stephen
Wait…if we don’t care about Stupid Kiwi’s stupid videos then why do we care enough about this stupid video to keep commenting on it and complaining about it?
Someone help me – I can’t figure out which videos to care about and which ones to not care about.
Little-Kiwi
They see me trollin’ they hatin’.
Little Kiwi
I’m queerty’s new troll! Watch my youtube videos go to my blog!
holy fk
thanks for sharing the love, folks… ugh!
Mrs.Bitch
@Little-Kiwi: Hon we don’t have to make a video and I saw your You-Tube page -1. You really don’t have the face for making videos.
LittIe,Kiwi
of course you don’t “have” to make a video. it’s much easier for wimps to complain anonymously about other people’s videos on a website.
which proves me right – you don’t have a problem with the video. if you did, you’d make your own to show what you feel should be seen.
but you don’t. and won’t. not because you dislike the video, you dislike that they’re able to be Out in a way that you can’t be.
complaining about youtube videos on a gay snark blog from a place of anonymity will not make your families more accepting of you for being gay.
wise up or continue to waste your life.