Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

by Wayne Besen

(Weekly Column)

It was business as usual when Tonight Show host Jay Leno asked his guest, Ryan Phillippe, to give his "gayest look" because he once played a gay character on the soap opera "One Life to Live." The mortified reaction of Phillippe, however, combined with the outrage of gay rights groups, hopefully represents the end of a shameful era where it was acceptable to portray homosexuals as punch lines instead of people. While Leno apologized, the industry has a sorry record of thoughtlessly exploiting gays for cheap laughs.

Gay advocates have traditionally given comedians and sitcom writers wide latitude because for decades their material offered rare visibility. At one time, it was a relief when comedians made cracks about the "love that dare not speak its name," even if it came with the cruel cost of homosexuals being made the constant butt of tasteless jokes. While their words stung, they were certainly preferable to railing preachers who declared gays sinful or the conservative politicians who attacked basic legal rights.

With little information about homosexuality - comedy offered a way to raise the topic among peers. Gay people could use the occasion of a joke to see how friends reacted and get a better idea who might be accepting - or who also might be gay.

Additionally, comedy served as a useful icebreaker in educating people about this controversial topic. For example, when I attended The University of Florida in the early 1990's, I would often speak to social science classes about my sexual orientation. Most of the students, at that time, had no openly gay friends. To break the palpable tension, I regularly told a joke about how I came out to my girlfriend.

I recounted to the students that since I was unable to utter the word "gay", I took three tangerines off of a tree. One represented me, the other my girlfriend and the third a guy I was interested in at school. I then guardedly told my girlfriend, "if I were to go on a date, who would I go out with. After that, with hesitation, I slid the citrus that represented me, next to the produce that represented my male crush. The self-deprecating punch line was, "that was certainly one way to tell my girlfriend that I was a fruit."

The joke was always a hit and many of the students opened their minds after they laughed. Humor was a way to find common ground so we could discuss the real issues of crass stereotypes and rampant discrimination.

Nonetheless, I would never dream of telling that antiquated joke today as the world has dramatically changed. In contemporary America, the majority of people know someone who is gay or lesbian. Visibility is no longer a major issue and there are positive role models for today's gay youth. There are also a plethora of state and federal laws that now protect homosexuals from discrimination, while the next generation is favorably disposed to full marriage rights.

Indeed, in 2008 there is nothing shocking or bizarre about the existence of gay people in everyday life. We are bankers, sanitary workers, doctors, parents, flight attendants and talk show hosts. Unfortunately, many comedians still act as if it were 1978 and immaturely treat homosexuality like an exotic novelty.

If one watches network sitcoms, gags involving gays are disturbingly ubiquitous. The wisecracks are astounding in their sheer number and outright brazenness. After all, could you imagine if Leno had learned that an actor's first role was a Jew and he urged him to "look Jewish"?

Unfortunately, there is a double standard when it comes to homosexuals in America. All too often, it is acceptable to disguise humiliation as humor, with the audience laughing at us, not with us. One wonders if many of today's writers could complete a sitcom script without lacing it with homophobic laugh lines.

Deciding when a joke is funny or anti-gay fodder is a delicate task. It does not help the gay and lesbian movement to be seen as killjoys, but, at the same time, much damage is done when we are comically killed for the joy of others. Society should be concerned whether the cumulative effect of demeaning jokes has a negative impact on gay teenagers, who are more likely to commit suicide.

So, where is the appropriate place to draw the line?

If gay individuals or groups do something that is actually amusing or absurd, it is perfectly acceptable that they be laughed at and lampooned. However, simply being gay - or insinuating that someone is homosexual - should not be considered inherently funny. The punch line should never be: "Ha, ha, ha, you're gay." If the comedy writers can't come up with more creative jokes, they should seriously consider new jobs.

Jay Leno's interview with Ryan Phillippe was quite perfunctory and the comedian had no apparent malice. He had simply trotted out a tired industry formula that had been repeated thousands of times. But, the old routine did not elicit a routine response, signifying that gay people are finally standing up to the stand-up comics.

16 Comments:

コーヒー焙煎
 カフェポッド
 コーヒーギフト
 コーヒーポッド
 大人のおもちゃ
 オナホール
 TENGA
バイブ
 コスプレ
 大人のおもちゃ
 アダルトグッズ
 大人のおもちゃ
 ドレス　販売
 先物
 バーチャルFX
ウォーターサーバー
 クレジットカード　審査
 エアコン工事
 おとなのおもちゃ
 エアコン取付
 エッセンシャルオイル
 精油
 医学翻訳
 ゴミ箱
 洗面化粧台
 ウォシュレット
 結婚式　二次会
 中山競馬場
 エネマグラ
 まつげカール
 まつげエクステ　スクール
 まつげパーマ　講習
 夫　浮気
 妻浮気
 ストーカー　調査
 写真だけの結婚式
 大人のおもちゃ
 アダルトグッズ
 エステ　表参道
 英会話　学習
 税理士　東京
 電報
 結婚式
 まつげエクステ
 カップリングパーティー
 素行調査
 興信所
 興信所
 高収入アルバイト
 高収入アルバイト
 競馬予想
 電話占い
 カップリングパーティー
 結婚式ウェルカムボード
 株式情報
 モバイルSEO
携帯SEO
posted by thanh99, at 12:21 PM

格安航空券
 スターフライヤー
 腕時計
 腕時計買取
 ロレックス買取
 腕時計修理メンテナンス
 高級腕時計
 ホームページ制作
 まつげエクステ
 まつげパーマ
 植えまつげ
 シガー（葉巻）通販
 ロレックス(ROLEX)カタログ
 パテックフィリップ(PATEK PHILIPPE)カタログ
 カルティエの時計
 IWCカタログ
 ゼニス(ZENITH)カタログ
 パネライ(PANERAI)カタログ
 ロジェ・デュブイ(ROGER DUBUIS)カタログ
 ランゲ＆ゾーネ(A.LANGE＆SOHNE)カタログ
 ブレゲ（Breguet）カタログ
 フランク・ミュラー(FRANCK MULLER)カタログ
 タグ・ホイヤー(TAG Heuer)カタログ
 ブライトリング(BREITLING)カタログ
 ウブロ(HUBLOT)カタログ
 オメガ(OMEGA)カタログ
 オーデマ・ピゲ(AUDEMARS PIGUET)カタログ
 ヴァシュロン・コンスタンタン(VACHERON CONSTANTIN)カタログ
 ピエール・クンツ(PIERRE KUNZ)カタログ
posted by Anonymous, at 4:43 AM

サイディング
 空画像
 勘定科目
posted by Anonymous, at 10:04 PM

Welcome to our company which sells all kinds of eve isk , very cheap eve online isk , and the more cheap eve isk . If you have to buy isk , please come to our company, we can give you the best gold and best service to buy eve online isk .
posted by Anonymous, at 9:20 PM

Welcome to our company which sells all kinds of cabal online alz, very cheap cabal alz, and the more cheap cabal gold. If you have to buy cabal alz, please come to our company, we can give you the best cabal money and best service.
posted by Anonymous, at 9:30 PM

According to the agreement of the game, I should get the Scions Of Fate gold to go into the world of the game and SOF gold is sold by some companies. The Scions Of Fate money is not free and it will take some money to own the cheap SOF gold. To my lucky, my friends buy sof gold for me.
posted by cool, at 7:52 PM

I get a lot of rohan crone and the rohan gold is very important for anyone who wants to play the net game. Most of the rohan online croneis the access to the net game. If you have the rohan online gold, you can make good use of the rohan moneyto enjoy yourself in the game.
posted by cool, at 7:57 PM

I am so happy to get some Perfect World Gold and the Perfect World Silver is given by my close friend who tells me that the Perfect World money is the basis to enter into the game.

Therefore, I should Buy Perfect World Gold with the spare money.
I gain some pw Gold from other players.
Then I share the cheap Perfect World Gold with my friends.
posted by xhsjsss, at 7:42 PM

It is the silkroad gold which make me very happy these days,
my brother says sro gold is his favorite games gold he likes,
he usually buy some silkroad online gold to start his game
most of the time he will win the silk road gold back and give me some cheap silkroad gold to play the game.
posted by xhsjsss, at 8:04 PM

Yesterday, my boyfriend gave me a lot of Asda Story gold and I buy Asda Story Gold as the gift to return him. The Asda Story money is attractive and I have plenty of the cheap Asda Story gold.
posted by jislsnhd, at 4:06 AM

I always heard something from my neighbor that he sometimes goes to the internet bar to play the game which will use him some Atlantica online Gold，he usually can win a lot of Atlantica Gold，then he let his friends all have some cheap Atlantica online Gold，his friends thank him very much for introducing them the Atlantica online money，they usually buy Atlantica online Gold together.
posted by jislsnhd, at 4:10 AM

A片,A片,成人網站,成人影片,色情,情色網,情色,AV,AV女優,成人影城,成人,色情A片,日本AV,免費成人影片,成人影片,SEX,免費A片,A片下載,免費A片下載,做愛,情色A片,色情影片,H漫,A漫,18成人

 a片,色情影片,情色電影,a片,色情,情色網,情色,av,av女優,成人影城,成人,色情a片,日本av,免費成人影片,成人影片,情色a片,sex,免費a片,a片下載,免費a片下載,成人網站,做愛,自拍

 情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣,情趣,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣,情趣,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣,情趣,情趣用品

 A片,A片,A片下載,做愛,成人電影,.18成人,日本A片,情色小說,情色電影,成人影城,自拍,情色論壇,成人論壇,情色貼圖,情色,免費A片,成人,成人網站,成人圖片,AV女優,成人光碟,色情,色情影片,免費A片下載,SEX,AV,色情網站,本土自拍,性愛,成人影片,情色文學,成人文章,成人圖片區,成人貼圖

 情色,AV女優,UT聊天室,聊天室,A片,視訊聊天室

 一夜情聊天室,一夜情,情色聊天室,情色,美女交友,交友,AIO交友愛情館,AIO,成人交友,愛情公寓,做愛影片,做愛,性愛,微風成人區,微風成人,嘟嘟成人網,成人影片,成人,成人貼圖,18成人,成人圖片區,成人圖片,成人影城,成人小說,成人文章,成人網站,成人論壇,情色貼圖,色情貼圖,色情A片,A片,色情小說,情色小說,情色文學,寄情築園小遊戲, 情色A片,色情影片,AV女優,AV,A漫,免費A片,A片下載
posted by will, at 2:59 AM

To buy cabal online alz , it is not the aim of the cable. It is the game which brings a lot of happiness to me. We buy the cabal alz together. The beautiful story, we can not be forgotten buy cabal alz . You will not regret to have cabal gold . So I will continue to have cabal money , it is a beautiful fairy tale, it looks like my life.
posted by game gold, at 2:39 AM

福岡デリヘル福岡　デリヘル福岡デリヘルNET福岡風俗情報は風俗総合サイトです。
デリヘル福岡デリヘル福岡福岡・博多でデリヘル・デリバリーヘルス・風俗を探すなら福岡デリヘルNET福岡風俗情報をクリック
福岡風俗福岡　風俗どんどん起こし下さい。
風俗福岡風俗福岡
posted by takkku, at 10:19 PM

Vietnam lies on the eastern seaboard of the Indochinese peninsula. It borders Chine in the north. Laos and Cambodia in the west, and looks out on the East Sea (ロールケーキ) in the east and south.
posted by leekien8x, at 10:10 PM