A tweet featuring an image of a black and white US flag with a thin rainbow stripe running across the middle went viral over the weekend. It was reminiscent of the flag created to celebrate law enforcement which features a thin blue line across the center.
The person (@TennesseeTwunk) who posted it said, “Made this flag in support of the masculine gays like me who are ostracized by the community… We’re into MEN not sissies! #thinrainbowline”
How about we take this to the next level?
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We have pixelated the image of the account holder as we’re unsure if it shows the person behind the account or not.
Posted on Friday, by yesterday evening the image has gained 3.2K likes and hundreds of comments.
Justice Horn
Many of those who commented were unimpressed.
Justice Horn, Chair of the Kansas City LGBTQ Commission, reshared the tweet with a message criticizing it.
“When I was younger, I quit choir because playing football and being masculine presenting helped me survive high school. I have two state rings, but walked away from something I enjoyed. As adults, we shouldn’t continue to uphold homophobia within our own community as gay men,” he said.
In a follow-up tweet, Horn added, “Our community can uphold homophobia that harms our very own community and those coming up in it. I have two state rings, wrestled in college, and play rugby, but none of that makes me more than a man than anyone else—It takes a real man to live unapologetically.”
Others suggested the poster try harder to find a community of like-minded guys. Or find a counselor to talk to.
I think it’s too late for him to find a community. He’s not allowed in any gay communities and hasn’t realized that the straight conservatives will never accept him for being anti-gay. His life is basically over at this point. There’s no real purpose for him anymore.
— Ponyboy (@p0nyboyyy) April 14, 2024
You don’t get to preach empowerment and in the same breath put down other people within your “community”.
— J (@viewordaa) April 14, 2024
Go be divisive somewhere else . pic.twitter.com/jhPXUD9uKK
I love posts like this cuz it’s an easy guide to who to block
— DiscoPup 🏳️🌈 (hey/you) (@richdupler) April 12, 2024
But being masc or fem doesn’t make someone any better or lesser than any other gay man out there. Masculine gays aren’t ostracized by the gay community. Unless they think that makes them more of a “man” than those that aren’t masculine.
— Bryan A. Daniel (@bdaniel) April 13, 2024
A few people welcomed the message.
Thank you TennesseeTwunk. Great to know there are other real gay “men” out there. The LGB has been hijacked by “alphabet soup”. pic.twitter.com/BrGwxYCc1O
— GW (@GW61048508) April 13, 2024
I agree and i want to join too!#thinrainbowline https://t.co/xoFAMOrCNu
— STEVEN 🫐 (@ImBoredUnKnown) April 13, 2024
Some were unsure whether the poster (@tennesseetwunk) was joking.
yeah like i hope youre joking but incase you aren't, laters.
— Jack D 🏳️🌈 (@JackDunc1) April 12, 2024
Please tell me this is a joke because this is cringe as fuck
— Matt and Brad (@HancckPrkPwrCpl) April 12, 2024
Queerty reached out to @TennesseeTwunk to ask them what he’d meant by the post and what he thought of the reaction. A few hours later, he deleted the post and appeared to delete his account.
An account with the same name on TikTok, which has 26k followers, has also turned private.
Blue Lives Matter
The original “thin blue line” flag emerged in tandem with the “Blue Lives Matter” movement, which evolved as a rebuttal to the Black Lives Matter movement. In recent years, the flag has gained traction with extremists and critics of racial justice. Several people were observed waving it at the January 6 insurrection. This led to some police chiefs banning officers from wearing similar “thin blue lines” pins or other associated merchandise while on duty.
UPDATE 04.17.24
The account holder replied to Queerty to say of their original tweet about the flag, “This is a joke. It’s obviously exploded out of proportion and people are very reactionary but if you look at my account you can tell it’s meant to be satire.
He added that he temporarily deleted his account “Because I was getting too much interaction from far right accounts and didn’t want that.”
Related:
This backwards California city just voted to ban Pride flags
The city has been dubbed “Angrytown, USA”.
monty clift
Good for him. Of course, it’s the they/them T creeps that are whining in response.
DrJones
Your anti trans ness isn’t a good look, and that’s not who was criticizing him
abfab
Monty is so far gone that no amount of counseling will correct his damaged life and anti-social troll behaviors and outlook.
dbmcvey
I knew you would be the first one to post on this.
You being soooo macho and all.
abfab
Monty really thinks he looks like his tragic idol. Let him have it.
monty clift
Whine more. Lol. Let the small violins play.
dbmcvey
monty telling people to whine more? That’s irony.
monty clift
Get a hobby.
CatholicXXX
He got cancelled and deleted his account. lol
abfab
You’re next, church lady.
bachy
Some gay men are uncomfortable with the current feminization of the movement. It’s not as if gay masculinity has been simply deemphasized – it feels as though the tonal direction has swung all the way into hyper-feminization. All this swanning and sashaying in gowns, wigs and makeup, the wholesale appropriation of womanhood and femininity, can feel retrograde – as if we should be desperately trying to appeal to heterosexual men.
The so-called “Rainbow-line flag” may not be the best strategy, but the critique of the current direction is not without some legitimacy.
abfab
It’s nothing new bachy. You people are hyper-focused on it and that’s your problem.
bachy
“You people”? m’kay.
GlobeTrotter
@bachy: I agree. I don’t think people are objecting to fem guys, at least I certainly do not, but rather to the EXCESSIVE over-feminization so prevalent today in gay culture. I’ve talked to newly out gay men who told me they felt they had to ratchet up the feminization because of what they saw on TV or because that’s what was expected of them in the gay scene. So they learned to dangle their wrists, started acting “sassy”, etc., even though that was far from their personality. I used to see this at gay bars all the time – the fake, performative hyper-feminization with the overly bitchy attitude. It was such a turn off that I stopped going to gay bars altogether. Turns out that was the best decision I’ve ever made, and I’m meeting even more guys and hook-ups at non-gay than I did at gay bars/clubs.
S.anderson
I think it’s been a long-term issue with whether the face of LGBTQ is fierce and feminine, and the scolding directed at “straight acting” folk who are essentially just pointing out that this face doesn’t embrace diversity.
It used to be the homophobe’s most cutting weapon to accuse LGB of being confused about their sex; that it was about mental illness. LGB folk marched and protested to prove that was nonsense. The trans movement has reversed that by proposing that LGB folk are disproven relics, and that trans, fluid and pangender are where it’s at.
The latest blow is this country song where beloved and trusted artists establish that all cowboys most certainly do have a lady inside wanting to burst free, and cowgirls have a deep voiced man inside them… yadda yadda yadda… and that explains how two of the same sex could be interested in each other. Presumably an internal woman identity is attracted to the masculine men, and an internal man identity is attracted to the feminine women. I don’t think it’s progress.
dbmcvey
The “feminization” of the movement isn’t “current.” It’s been there from the beginning.
dbmcvey
The Rainbos-line flag seems to be based on the thin blue line flag which is inherently racist.
abfab
Yes…you people, bachy. I’m so happy it’s not you writing these articles. You and your generalizations and blanket statements. It’s tired………..ie:
”Some gay men are uncomfortable with the current feminization of the movement” So what is it, bachy?Some, or a few, or many, or a couple of millions or just you?
bachy
M’kay.
monty clift
Ts have to blur the lines between the sexes because how else will they deflect criticism. Fortunately, this strategy of theirs is no longer working. The harder they push, the more people they keep peaking.
abfab
You will never peak.
dbmcvey
M’kay is such a nelly thing to type.
monty clift
What a lazy attempt at being homophobic. How sad. Your hand must be tired.
Mr.Gavin Elster
Yup, Bachy, a lot of gay men feel the way you do, but are afraid to speak-out, lest they be shouted down and falsely lumped in with the “toxic masculinity” crowd. I’m a regular, down-to-earth, reasonably masculine man, attracted to the same, and somehow this weird, shadow court of opinion is trying to constantly shame me for my thoughts, AND feelings. There are lots of things in the greater gay community now, made a form of cultural “law” without an “election” or me, and many like me casting a ballot.
bachy
peak is a noun meaning the ‘height’ or ‘top of something’. e.g. The mountain peak became surrounded by clouds as we ascended higher.
pique is a verb meaning ‘arouse or stimulate’, as in pique your interest, or ‘make someone angry or annoyed’.
abfab
Or when you are just about to come and you don’t and then you don’t again and then you do.
Fahd
So little tolerance for the mistakes of youth. Imagine making an impulsive post and people getting worked up and then a blog “reached out” to you, lol. He’s probably going through some things. Leave him alone for now.
wikidBSTN
I think we all need to remember that we are in this together. We are sexual minorities, subject to being mistreated by members of the majority who for some unfathomable reason, see difference as a threat.
So, let’s not attack one another. There are plenty of people out there who want to cause us problems already. We don’t need to add to it.
That being said, the flag maker has a bit of a point. If you are just a naturally masculine kind of guy who happens to be gay, you get tagged with “acting” straight. But the flag maker went too far in calling those who are not like him, “sissies”.
Let’s give it all a rest and just accept that there is a lot of genuine differences amongst us. Just let it be. Be kind to one another. Save the dissing and drama for television.
Froman
Most gay men are masculine and they prefer someone like themselves to partner with not quasi females.
abfab
Just say it………”I really have no idea what I am talking about and in my lifetime I’ve not met many Gay couples”.
dbmcvey
Most gay men are masculine? Do you have some data to back that up.
Also, you seem to have real issues with women as well.
Froman
Okay; if you disagree with me, please explain why you believe most gay men are not masculine, and why it’s apparently some big slight to suggest otherwise?
abfab
Checkmate.
monty clift
When the genderclods are dictating to you about gay male sexuality, you know you’re on the right track.
abfab
A failure. Once again.
dbmcvey
I think masculine and feminine are arbitrary labels. The healthiest people don’t worry where they fall on that scale.
abfab
We are not dealing with the healthiest of people. This is where one comes to learn about gay men with significant hang ups. Eye-opening.
monty clift
This just in: @bdolt and his sidekick don’t understand gay men. Quelle surprise. Maybe stick to your maga sites.
SoPluckyWhat
I’m old enough to notice that there is someone for everyone. For instance, I don’t like Brussel Sprouts. So, I don’t look for Brussel Sprouts. I also don’t judge people who do like Brussel Sprouts.
Hope that helps you grow up.
abfab
Or stale old white white toast like Monty.
monty clift
@asbestos is staring in the mirror again.
abfab
One thing is for sure………..you looking in your mirror looks nothing like your idol. your intellect tells us all we need to know what you look like and it’s’ not pretty. Asbestos..please child.
Eternal.Cowboy
Fronman –
Critical thought 101: Burden of Proof is the responsibility of the person making the claim. You made the claim, dbmacvey didn’t. So you own burden of proof. Super easy, unless you just made it up.
abfab
Hello Baron Wise/Froman…got tired of being a corn hole so soon, we see. Monty loves you, don’t worry.
monty clift
@Eternal.Cowboy, why does a gay man need to prove anything to bridge dwellers?
Eternal.Cowboy
@mont-heyyyyy –
Wow, you really aren’t very good at trolling. That was just awkward.
S.anderson
After a few hours of outright ostracization and pearls-wearing scolds showing the world how awful we can be, he deletes his account. Go figure.
cranzde
Dan and McAbs should get with a vayjayjay already. Like my ex-gay therapist always recommended. The New Conservatives, gang!
monty clift
Abclod is as unmasculine as it gets. Cutting it off isn’t going to make he/she any less desirable than it already is.
abfab
And there it is.
dbmcvey
crass thinks vayjayjay is an insult. Interesting.
abfab
cranberrytranz is back…with nothing to add.
ThatGuy22
Hyper-masculine gay muscle bros are a dime a dozen these days. This all gets a big eye roll from me. I think the twunk doth protest too much.
Openminded
I can see yet another LGBTQ+ title added to the alphabet to identify these masc only gay men. I suppose it’s one’s right to be attracted to masc men only, but there is no need to offend non-masc men in the process.
abfab
In the 80s thru the 90s, the back pages of the Village Voice and the Washington Blade, etc. was filled wtih people serching for STRAIGHT. One can only hope they found what they were looking for.
S.anderson
Masc men are not intruding into fem space to make it more masc. Masc men are simply saying “hey fellas, masc for masc here, thank you. And then the outraged keening and wailing rises over the hills, and comes the thunder of stamping fem feet as they come running to tear that masc man apart for his heresy. Hope that clears things up.
monty clift
Ironically, a lot of the volatile, aggressive, and entitled behaviour comes from fems, particularly the drag breed.
Bosch
There is no outrage at people who say “masc for masc”. There’s just an eye roll, because the men who say this are way more feminine than they think they are.
S.anderson
@Bosch: You seem to have missed those millions of essays on this and other hip LGBTQ tabloid news sites. Articles about all the mean old masc men putting “masc 4 masc” or “no fems” on their profiles. How fems feel it’s unfair and wrong for there to be a public presence of fellas who aren’t interested in their fey charms. These articles, of course then descend into name calling and mockery of the masc men’s manhood, and declarations that it’s “homophobia” when someone won’t open-mindedly partake of the queen’s cake. Ugh.
monty clift
@Bosch, “They’re feminine, but they just don’t know it” or “they’re secretly feminine and/or ashamed of it” is a bizarre assertion, one that is trotted out often by fems. Labelling everything that isn’t feminine as feminine isn’t going to make it feminine.
abfab
Sanderson, you set your own traps in life esp when advertising yourself as MASC and then requiring the guy who shows up at your door to be MASC…..and niether of you live up to that standard..On the other hand!!!! It can often turn out to be very f ing HOT and everyone is happy!!
abfab
Monty is a fem.
monty clift
Interesting, you think “fem” is an insult. Showing your backend, as usual.
abfab
Failure.
monty clift
That is something about you we can all agree on, abs.
Bosch
@s.anderson
Yeah ok in online tabloids, I believe that. People on the internet are very good at being outraged. But I’m talking about the real world.
Bosch
@monty
“one that is trotted out often by fems” lol you’re trying suggest I’m fem, aren’t you?
monty clift
@Bosch, No, but I’ve never heard a masculine guy say something like that.
abfab
monty clift making more stuff up a she goes along………………..
”Ironically, a lot of the volatile, aggressive, and entitled behaviour comes from fems, particularly the drag breed.”
Bosch
“No, but I’ve never heard a masculine guy say something like that.”
You’ve never heard a masculine guy call another guy fem? Literally what this article is about.
Guys who advertise how masc they are, are the same as guys who advertise how alpha they are.
Bosch
Also, why are we pretending that sleeping with masculine men makes you masculine? Your only indication of how masculine Tennessee TWUNK (so masc) is, is that he calls himself masc. Go on Grindr. Have a look at what kind of men call themselves masc.
Louis
The flag is unnecessary.
The use of the word “sissies” is unnecessary.
I have, however, seen and heard plenty of negative comments and insults, by gays against gays, who (through no fault of their own) are only attracted to men they consider masculine (which is of course subjective).
To me, that is what the reasonable and valid driving factor of the Tweet was; but then the person just went beyond reasonable and into insulting.
JJinAus
I have no idea who these people are. Coming of age in the 70s means that I am imprinted as to what men I like. Regular guys. Not muscles, fem, screeching, leather and all those sub-cultures. Just regular guys. I suppose “straight-acting” as they used to call it. That’s my thing. I am entitled, so is everyone to their preference.
abfab
Yes, but don’t lose out! Judging a ”book” by its ”cover” could impede important and karmic connections one could make. I’m sure you know that, but these kids and some adults have major hang-ups. It does depend on where you are in your life and timing. Interesting thread.
mastik8
He’s allowed his free expression the same way the rest of the community is. He’s also free to be attacked for it the same way the rest of the community is.
abfab
FREEDOM! Thank you!
still_onthemark
If this guy is serious (maybe not?), he needs to realize there’s a difference between who you date/have s#x with, and who you hang out with. Probably most gay men have some “femme” non-s#xual friends and acquaintances who we have fun hanging out with. This guy seems to want to avoid them completely, even as casual friends, which is unrealistic in real life.
S.anderson
@still: It’s clear that Tennesee_Twunk only says he’s being ostracized for not looking/acting/playing the way that his current peers approve of. It’s like people are blind to this and just want to focus on the supposed slight of him calling those poor, precious toxic peers “sissies” and draw all their conclusions about Twunk based on anything but what people are doing to him. And all he wants is to call others like himself together for fellowship. Oh, and let’s do mock his flag design. I mean, really. You can’t deny that he’s being ostracized after you’ve joined in and called the mobs online to come and join in.
Chrisk
Honestly I think this is a generational argument. The older you get the less it means for most. Young guys just have some pretty effed up views about others and they’ll separate themselves accordingly. It’s like High School all the way to your 40s. I speak from personal experience unfortunately.
Then there are the older guys today who should know better. Usually they’re messed up in all kinds of other ways like Gay Trump supporters.
Eternal.Cowboy
Who knew that masculinity was about being so delicate?
abfab
Word.
S.anderson
They are? You hardly ever hear from the masc unless they’re in the middle of a mob of fems, screaming as they’re being torn apart.
Eternal.Cowboy
@S.anderson-
Oh I see your point. It’s isn’t that they are delicate, they are just terrified of fem guys.
Don’t worry cupcake, I’ll protect you from those rough and rugged fem guys. Don’t worry your pretty head one bit, you are safe now.
Bosch
Mathc for mathc!
S.anderson
@Eternal: You see the point, but you pretend not to because you’re afraid of masc men and can’t pass any opportunity to try and strike out at them. So sad. Don’t worry though, you’ll get plenty of high-fives from the other terrified fems.
Bosch
“You hardly ever hear from the masc”
Yes S.anderson, you hardly hear from a masc, because real masculine guys don’t need to call themselves “masc”.
Eternal.Cowboy
@s.anderson –
Afraid of masculinity? Ha… who’s afraid of the person curled up and sobbing in the comment section because the “fems” are being mean to him? Now, pick up that purse that just fell out of your mouth and let’s get you to the a safe space. I am sure there is a Chick-fil-a close by.
abfab
Talk about MASC. Can we tawk!!!
Trump is mostly sitting motionless as jurors answer the largely yes or no questions on the jury questionnaire. Occasionally he fidgets.
Charlie in Charge
These mighty masculine male men sure do get uncomfortable, don’t they? I’d agree that representation of queer folks has gotten more feminine and trans inclusive – so what? The early 2000s and the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog mold for queer representation is over.
What’s the ideal ratio they want for femme folks?
And that flag is obnoxious.