As I approached the man he darted into the street, swerving around taxis while screaming “faggots,” then scampered back onto the sidewalk, then into the street again, trying to get away from us.
When he came back on the sidewalk I called him a ‘bigot’ over and over, pointing to him for people to see, and David continued condemning him as a ‘homophobe.’
He was cornered, and I got in his face and asked him why he was running away like a pathetic coward, and who he was calling a “faggot.” Clearly stunned, he stammered a bit, and then mumbled, ‘Um, I, um… I meant me… I was calling myself a faggot.’
Yeah, right. We followed him, hounding him, basically chasing him out of the neighborhood as his fast gait turned into a jog in the middle of the street. Hopefully we ruined his day.”
Huffington Post editor Michelangelo Signorile, recounting a recent incident in which he and his partner were called “disgusting” by man who saw them share a goodbye kiss in the New York gayborhood of Chelsea.
BritAus
As Yazz and the Plastic Population said “Stand Up For Your Love Rights !!!!!!”
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@BritAus: I see your 80s cheesy pop reference and I raise you AHA’s “take on me”
Cam
Um……You gotta fight, for your right….to paaarrrrttaaay?
Seriously though, when bigotry becomes expensive or uncomfortable for these idiots you will see less and less of this. Good for Signorelli.
Little-Kiwi
rock ON, Siggy.
it’s true, though, that if you throw it right back at the bigots and get in their face they freaK OUT. in a good way, for us.
they don’t expect gay people to fight back and stand up for themselves. when we do, it terrifies them.
cheers to more of us standing up and striking fear into the hearts of those bigots.
Pete
Somebody screaming profanities on the streets of NYC? Never happens!
So quick was Signorelli to score a blow against homophobia that mental illness probably didn’t even occur to him.
ChiChi Man
@Pete: After living in NY for decades, I think Signorelli can tell the difference between a mentally ill person and a bigot. The guy muttered the slur at them as he was passing by and then ran when they shouted at him. Sounds like a bigoted coward to me.
Gigi Gee
@Pete – Signorile deals with the mentally ill every day on his show. I think he knows the difference between people who need psychological help and people who need to be called out for their bigotry.
Btw, how’d you find your way from here from World Nut Daily?
Steve Rider
Queers bash back!
hephaestion
When I lived in Atlanta 2 huge college football players yelled “Faggot!!” at me on Piedmont Avenue and I snapped. I went ballistic on them and started chasing them like I was gonna kill them if I caught them. Those boys ran like they were terrified of me, for several blocks. Each one was much larger than me but I found that sometimes if you go berserk it scares the hell out of even the largest homophobe. They out-ran me eventually but I did phone their college to tell them about the incident.
rcs831
I’ve noticed that bigots sometimes seem to forget that while I may be gay, I’m a man, a big, strong man and I can defend myself and kick some ass if I have to.
Wilberforce
This was a rare opportunity, and the bigot was a fool. Usually, they enter the community in force and go after a lone person. Living in Chelsea, Mike S is probably a gym queen, so he and his partner could easily face down this guy.
Sukhrajah
It’s great that he lived to walk away from that situation. Would we have had the same resolution had that bigot been armed? I am all for us standing up for our rights, but Mr.Signorile is worth more to me alive than as a martyr. There are other, more effective ways of getting that message across, and to a larger audience. Case in point, a few months ago, in a class at my university, another student called me an AIDS sponge, and a pillow biting bit*h. The professor did not hear him, and the univ.police did nothing. Did I want to scream at him? Could he have had a gun? Yes, on both. Since then, my activist self has come in dressed in pink, and even had my local PFLAG chapter come to class. I even had other members in class repeate the phrases used, during the PFLAG session. Did I stop one bigot? I’d like to think that I did, but I know that I turned at least 20 bystanders into allies, and along the way used intelligence instead of muscle. I do thank Mr. Signorile for doing this, but next time, please don’t risk your life.