Of the five legs shown thus far, four have been in Muslim countries and homosexuality is illegal in every country we’d visited or passed through. Since we are guests in these countries, we chose to not embrace or kiss for practical and respectful reasons.”
“We were literally relying on the kindness of strangers and cab drivers and challenging their beliefs would not have been strategically smart nor neighborly. To be completely fair, perhaps many of the great people we met along the way wouldn’t have had any issues with our relationship. But unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to get to know them better personally.”
— Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, aka The Fabulous Beekman Boys, took to their Facebook to explain why they’re not as affectionate as other couples on The Amazing Race, via Gay Star News.
BJ McFrisky
I’m sure the fact that they would have been imprisoned or killed had some effect on their behavior as well.
Luci
They had me until they mentioned “respect” and “neighborly”. Why does the persecution of LGBT people deserve ANY of those things?
viveutvivas
I agree Luci. “respectful”?!?! Are they freakin’ serious?
EdWoody
@Luci: @viveutvivas: Fine, you go and stand on a street corner in Fallujah and make out with your boyfriend, and see how much they respect you then. There’s nothing wrong with having a bit of common sense and doing what’s prudent to survive.
Cam
”
we chose to not embrace or kiss for practical and respectful reasons.”
________________
What a bullshit comment. It was for strategic reasons. That I could buy. But saying that you were being “Respectful” of their bigotry is digusting.
I don’t notice conservative Islamic Clerics letting their wives go around without the covering when they visit the U.S. out of respect for THIS country’s laws.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
Are they so desperate for media attention that they’re willing to go to countries that routinely imprison, and kill people who are just like them?
miagoodguy
smart of them
petensfo
It’s a media-release comment; they’re obviously playing a PR game.
What I would like to know is if CBS demanded a hold-harmless agreement since they were knowingly dropping these guys in a potentially unsafe place… and more than likely, if other reality shows can be a measure, they were hoping for some kind of provocation for having done so.
Cam
Frankly I wish these shows would stop gettin incestuous.
Did this couple REALLY deserve to go on the race? Or does the fact that they have another season of their own show coming up and needed publicity have anything to do with the fact that the show wanted them on.
Cam
Frankly I wish these shows would stop gettin ince-stuous.
Did this couple REALLY deserve to go on the race? Or does the fact that they have another season of their own show coming up and needed publicity have anything to do with the fact that the show wanted them on.
Cam
Wow, so it looks like not only does Queerty flag the word “Rac-ist” but also “Ince-stous”.
Not sure what the reasoning behind that is. I’m assuming this was a purchased screening program.
2eo
@Cam: It isn’t anything in their back end, I did some maintenance [okay, I have a friend whom I worked with a while ago who now works on the comment system and I was given the source], the filters are set manually, and there is no mandate or express list of words or derivatives.
All of the Queerty word blocks were set manually by the administrators of the comments.
You know how it is in IT, I have friends all over and we help each other out.
viveutvivas
Edwoody, yes, but they should not go around saying that they respect a culture of persecution of gays. That is my point.
viveutvivas
Well, 2eo, I’m sorry to have to say this, but the Queerty filters are ridiculous, as the examples mentioned by Cam, and some other pretty innocuous examples have come across myself, show. This is a gay site, and one needs to be able to mention subjects beyond Disney. The PG virtue police is out of place here.
Spike
So in other words, rather then fucking on the balcony of the cabin on a cruise ship, they chose to stay under the radar.
Gays using their brains, how refreshing!
2eo
@viveutvivas: Should clarify, I do not work on the system and my friend works on the back end of the system, Queerty are a subscriber and their settings are set by themselves not my friend, his company or I.
RomanHans
First, fuck you, Spike.
Second, I agree the word “respectful” doesn’t belong here. They had to go to this country to take part in this race, therefore they refrained from public affection for practical reasons: they didn’t want to be arrested. Nobody should “respect” such homophobic laws.
As for being “neighborly,” I almost agree. America is homophobic, but half of America is doing everything they can to change that situation. Even in Islamic countries there’s probably a percentage who favor equal rights for gays. It doesn’t make sense to involve some random stranger in your drama when he could be on your side.
iBLOW
Sounds like they know how to “play the game” and are smart
mlbumiller
“…for practical and respectful reasons”
Daman right they are smart for respecting the law of the country they happen to be in. Just because in most of the countries in the MidEast follow Muslim religeous law that you do not agree with does not mean that your disrepect the law.
Seems like most of you have forgotten that 23 State’s sodomy laws were not repeal until after 1989. 13 of which took a Supreme Court struck down in 2003.
TrekBear
This is a lot better than the gay couple who had sex on their balcony in full view of the port in Dominica earlier this year!
Demos
“practical and respectful reasons”
Practical reasons first, then Respectful reasons. It clearly shows their priorities.
balehead
They still acted shamefully about their orientation…..no heroes here!!
balehead
Obviously the producers didn’t want them too!!!! Had they been arrested they would have brought attention to the persecution of gays in the middle east to millions of viewers. Not watching this show anymore!!
tatararabuga
Muslim countries vary.
Most of these countries are in Asia and Africa. These places are almost in the equivalent to US 1950s/60s when it comes to sexuality in general, and people are still in the ‘But is it natural?’ phase. But I doubt whether these guys had been in physical dangour in every country. The extent of violence is directly related to the phase of awekening (and polarization) the country’s population is going through. In some places people will be confused (you can hold hands and wear bright pink shirts and yet no one will notice), in some places they won’t care unless there’s PDA, in the polarized places they will get extremely awkward. Aren’t people also in danger in Uganda and Russia?
I want to thank these guys for being nice.
I’m from a Muslim-majority country and if they came over here we’d be nice to them as well.
tatararabuga
@Mr. Enemabag Jones:
The ‘routinely’ thing happens only in places like Soudi Arabia and Iran.
My country has laws to criminalize gay sex (a relic of British era) but no one has ever been charged of anything. I’m pretty sure most people don’t even know about the law. Of course once people start realizing there are gay people in the country, we will see homophobia. But things will hopefully get better after they get worse, as in USA.
Would be nice if people didn’t use generalizations.