Gay people have responded in their thousands to a conspiracy theorist who says she knows no happy gay people
Gemma O’Doherty, 52, is based in Ireland. Formerly a journalist with the Irish Independent, she parted ways with the newspaper in 2014 and has since become known for her activism and support of conspiracy theories.
In recent months, she has questioned lockdown measures and the use of vaccines against Covid-19. Her views have seen her banned from most social media platforms, including Twitter and YouTube for hate speech.
A Twitter account called @aciquestion has recently started posting some of her more outlandish videos, to highlight her views. Last week, it posted a video clip in which she talked about gay people. In it, she lamented, “I don’t see anyone or know anyone who is gay who is happy. I just don’t. It’s a miserable lifestyle. It’s a promiscuous lifestyle. It’s a dark lifestyle.”
Gemma O’Doherty doesn’t know any happy gay people. pic.twitter.com/SXSMbNMT5g
— aciquestion (@aciquestion) May 25, 2021
The tweet began to go viral, particularly after it was shared by Scottish actor David Paisley, who quite rightly asked, “I wonder if Gemma has considered that there’s a reason why happy gay people don’t want to know her…”
Gay people – many from the Ireland and UK – began to post photos of their happy lives.
Here you go Gemma. pic.twitter.com/sCC5GHtPzb
— Richie Barlow #Woke #FBPE 🏴🏳️🌈🇪🇺 (@The_DogWalker) May 27, 2021
My promiscuous, unhappy wife and I celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary today. Here’s to many more dark days ahead! pic.twitter.com/elU0PaoSwh
— Kirsty McShannon (@kirstymcshannon) May 28, 2021
The couple on the inside, together for 11 years and very happy indeed thank you very much! And on the outside these fabulous gentlemen have been together for 60 wonderful years ! I suggest Gemma you crawl back under the rock from whence you came! pic.twitter.com/xt3BTAXMLM
— Carl Sanderson (@carlsanderson5) May 27, 2021
You silly bint. Here’s my fiancé and I looking miserable as sin after a long, tiring, waste of 3 and a half years 😴😴😴😪🥱💤 pic.twitter.com/49aP6P10Y0
— Chelsey 🤍 (@chelseyfr4y) May 28, 2021
Among those to comment were the actress and singer Heather Peace and Michelle Hardwick (star of UK TV soap Emmerdale).
Here’s my happy little family.
☺️ pic.twitter.com/hx4Gg2NhqG— Heather Peace 💙 (@heatherpeace) May 28, 2021
Yup, this picture just radiates misery 😊🏳️🌈 https://t.co/Eoo8m6mg45 pic.twitter.com/bIrj5dMZ1N
— Michelle Hardwick (@ChelleHardwick) May 28, 2021
We are 35 yrs together and still happy, I think you are mixing with the wrong people. DM if you need a night out to cheer yourself up . pic.twitter.com/EVPzI17IxV
— Simon Reeves (@simonmcr67) May 28, 2021
Another two happy gays in Somerset!
🌈🌈🌈 pic.twitter.com/YXz2jPPSUJ
— Suki Sandhu OBE (@MrSukiSandhu) May 27, 2021
Very very happy thanks for asking – together for 14 years , married for 8 next month. pic.twitter.com/iKl2Nqyg9Y
— Lauren Pett (@Laurenpett20) May 28, 2021
Together for 13 years and now with our adopted son … couldn’t be happy … no darkness no promiscuous behaviour just a loving family … maybe recheck your facts pic.twitter.com/koiKYFlcqf
— Casper Ricky G W (@MonopolyMan81) May 27, 2021
Related: Mike Pence tweets about plans to celebrate his Irish roots, Ireland responds “Maybe another time”
Some parents of gay people also added their opinion.
I have a gay son who is very happy because the people around him accept him for who he is. Maybe the gay people in your life aren’t happy because they have ignorant people like you judging them. Just a thought….
— Sandra Keefe (@sandra_keefe) May 27, 2021
My daughter is very happy with her fiancée. My sister has been very happy with her partner for 35 years. They’ve been married for 4 now!! You are talking crap!! You know no one gay!! 😤😤😤😤
— SandraHillGroup (@SandraHillGroup) May 28, 2021
And the happy photos just kept coming.
So, so terribly unhappily married for 15 years. Even the dog is miserable! pic.twitter.com/gbLtWVbgtI
— Hassan Mamdani (@HassanMamdani) May 29, 2021
Massively unhappy since 1997 🙂 pic.twitter.com/FIDVqgqQbR
— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) May 28, 2021
Oh..here’s the husband…Mr Grumpy bear…(he’s fixing a leak in the water pipe which is why he’s 😠) ..but…you know…no one is happy all the time…nout to do with being gay…look at the bin being cheerful 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/1sz5NPwaki
— Rainbow Source 🏳️🌈💙 (@RainbowShowFm) May 27, 2021
Thank you for highlighting our plight. As our pics shows we’re soooooo unhappy. 12 years together and we’re miserable. It is such a dark life… full of love, humour, affection, caring, companionship, learning, sharing, listening, fun, gratitude, trust and growth #GayIsGood pic.twitter.com/4tRyzrdkty
— Odhrán Allen #BlackLivesMatter (@odhranallen) May 28, 2021
Here’s a picture of me and my husband getting married in ‘08 at SF City Hall. We’ve been together for 42 miserable years. So unhappy you can see it in our faces. pic.twitter.com/Ma7vXPvhMJ
— roy tompkins (@roytom) May 28, 2021
Happy AND gay who’d have thought? pic.twitter.com/VxVB0HRIjl
— M🐶TTY (@thatmattyh) May 27, 2021
Me and my wife feeling especially dark and promiscuous on our wedding anniversary last year! 🥳🤪 pic.twitter.com/R7kyPfDVsU
— Lucy Trew (@lucytrew) May 28, 2021
Check the original tweet for many more photos of desperately unhappy and miserable gay folk.
Related: Ireland’s first openly gay strongman attends his first Pride in Belfast
RickHeathen
Speaking for my miserable self, I just want to say that after over a decade of being bullied for my gayness in school, my experience at the church of my youth who taught me to hate myself, and feeling every moment of the systemic rejection heaped upon me for years, do not EVER blame me for being miserable. The problem was never me, it’s the way I’ve been treated for simply existing.
barryaksarben
You are so right. How many of us ONLY FIND happiness once we are free of our homophobic, hometowns. churches, schools and families When we are free to be who we truly are is when we find happiness. Me and my quite large circle of friends are all very happy productive citizens who do not need to demonize others to feel worthy of life. This woman must be a truly unhappy person if her happiness depends on harming others
Chrisk
Yes. Anyone that’s around this crazy QAnon wackjob sure would be miserable.
It’s like with the ex gays. Now I would agree that yes they are miserable. However, c*nts like this are willfully blind to the actual cause of the pain ie them.
Fahd
She may be one of the right-wing commentators here on Queerty.
mailliw110
Miss Terri perhaps?
wiggie
She’s just jealous because she’s not getting laid
barryaksarben
After years of seeing people like her since before Anita Bryant and you have to come to that conclusion – that they are so miserable in their own lives that only by attacking others can they feel anything. Hate is at least a feeling for them and better then empty like their lives are
Liquid Silver
It’s horrible seeing all those dark, unhappy couples. I wish them well with their clearly cheerful lives.
Gemma seems like an unhappy bint, though.
roddy
She must be a very lonely person with no friends.
TomG
That seems to be the case and I bet she doesn’t really know any gay people or maybe never even met one.
GayEGO
Gemma O’Doherty must be a homophobic. My lifetime partner of 57 years, married 15 years in Massachusetts, lived a wonderful life and happiness was part of our life as well as love. I met my partner in 1962 in Boston when I was in the Navy and we worked, paid our taxes and bills, owned 3 homes, and retired, living the American dream. We also know many other happy gay couples and singles, so Gemma should be educated about gays.
TomG
My partner & I have been together 33 years come September, and we’re quite happy. I have feeling that this woman really doesn’t know or maybe has never even met a gay person or couple.
marshal phillips
What happy person or couple — gay or straight — would want to know grumpy Gemma?
loren_1955
Have to kind of agree for a number of reasons. Many gays are unhappy because of a miserable life given to them by people like herself. It takes coming out and being independent of the hatred and bigotry to realize the wonderful and fulfilling life we have. Speaking of unhappiness. At least here in the U.S. 50% of marriages are ending in divorce. Some states are even at 80%, i.e, those holy of holy states in the south east. On top of that 50% of all married people will have an adulterous affair in their lifetime. Of those still married a fair portion would divorce if they could. I would suggest that the straight world is really a sad world. Fortunately us gays are doing something about it by rejecting the hetero normative relationship model and finding our own way.
AxelDC
The only thing wrong with gay people is the homophobia we suffer from people like O’Doherty.
barryaksarben
I lost my husband a few year ago after many many very happy years. I would have loved decades more with him. We were so very happy together that our neighbors would comment on how jealous they were of us which made me feel sad that they must be unhappy. Try to spread light not dark which you would think these so called religious people would know but seem blind to
Kangol2
I’m so sorry to hear this. May he rest in peace and always in your heart.
Gz8p
Send you love and virtual hugs
Essie
Maybe she has only ever met closet gays or gay people who hate themselves because of the way they are treated. I’m sure if she tried she could find at least one or two happy gay couples. However, as someone pointed out, what gay person would want to know this horrible woman?
barryaksarben
I have 5 siblings 4 of whom are on at least their 2nd marriage and one on number 5. The one still married had her husband cheat on her and they got into therapy and saved their marriage but I feel is not what it was. They are all straight and I the gay one is the only true success at marriage and if my husband hadnt died we would still be together and very happy. I do not date or hook up as I had the best and dont need to pair off just to pair off. What I wont do is try to denigrate other people to make myself look better
Kangol2
She’s projecting, and like some homophobes, cannot imagine that same-sex couples can be happy, in part because she is so deeply unhappy and has been told all her life that homosexuality is wrong, etc. I’ve known a few homophobes like this, and what is apparent is that they are eaten alive by their fear, resentment, and rage towards LGBTQ people, especially happy ones. But they also are wrecked by single LGBTQ people who are happy, sexually active, etc. It’s their sickness, not ours, but unfortunately they often have the power to harm and oppress us.
SFMike
That’s funny because I don’t see anyone or know anyone who is straight who is happy. I just don’t. It’s a miserable lifestyle. Especially my straight female friends and co-workers. They are always looking for a shoulder to cry on and talk about divorce and being unfulfilled in most every way.
Centrism
Monogamous marriage is not a ‘straight lifestyle’. Many gays are monogamous. And most gay men spend their lives pining over the men straight women date and marry. Some gays even develop gender dysphoria because of it. The straight girls aren’t doing badly at all.
Hdtex
@Centrism:
B@LLSHIT! That’s a LIE.
trojanboy
She is into conspiracy theories. Nuf said.
Gz8p
27 years with hubby tomorrow – obviously miserable and unhappy!?!
I posted a Twitter retort to this silly cow
She’s the miserable one with the post-menopausal dust blowing out her minge
Centrism
There was a time when I would have disagreed with her. These days? I’m not so sure.
twomen4u
I wish there was a way I could transport her into my home. I would show her two men that have been together for nearly 20 years and married soon to be four years. My current husband knew my first husband of 15 years so I have been with a man for nearly 35 years and have never been happier. Of course, we have our disagreements as you are dealing with a 100% genuine certified Yankee and a 5th generation FL Cracker but our laughter and enjoying each other outshine any problem that might come up.
nm4047
did she reference all the str& happy people and couples she knows. Lets start with the Umpa Lumpa & the hooker he’s happily married to.
FlufferNutter3000
Also, Gemma really loves to stress the word “Lifestyle”, like we’re talking about Cycling enthusiasts or The Amish. It’s called “living your life”, rather than a lifestyle because at the end of the day Gay folks and Straight folks are essentially the same and want the same things and we’re all just trying live decent fulfilling lives. Inherent qualities that you cannot change are not the basis of some kind of subversive lifestyle. I’m glad that people like Gemma are becoming fewer and fewer as time wares on. We’ve wasted enough time over the centuries feeling like outcasts when Gay people have always been an important part of societies.
Centrism
Referring to being gay as an ‘inherent quality’ is a controversial thing to say in the LGBT community these days. We’re all supposed to non-binary pansexuals, remember?
Hdtex
@Centrism
Is it painful? Is stupidity physically painful? I sure hope so.
winemaker
Just another pathetic idiot with their panties struck up their ass. And to the gay couples living your truth, congratulations. This kvetcher doesn’t the sweat off your nuts much less pity.
woodroad34
The funny thing is, I don’t know that many happy straight people. The married guys at work are always bitching about their wives and kids and the girls are bitching about their boy friends or ex-husbands. Who’s really happy all the time anyways? To answer that you need a greater worldview than this failed reporter.
mateo
Why should anyone even care about this drab twat’s ideas and opinions? She’s obviously unhappy–most adherents to conspiration theories tend to have miserable lives themselves, since they’re paranoid about everything. She looks like she hasn’t been exposed to sunlight in at least a decade, and her soul is as dry as her skin–which is saying a lot.
JJinAus
What sort of self-loathing gay people would be friends with her? 21 years here. I’m pretty sure we’re happier than a lot of straight people we know – and we know a lot, because most of the world is straight. This includes our lovely straight neighbours. Nice people, but 7 weddings between them!