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this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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Could we not use "he is secretly gay" as an insult or as a witch hunt? Like, I don't see why that even needs to be elaborated on in the 2020s.
We can comment on hateful bigots and hypocrites without dragging down one of the demographics who are particularly under threat from said bigots.
My 2 cents that no one asked for… mentioning, or hypothesizing that he’s “secretly gay,” is meant to further articulate the degree of absurdity around his views. I do not believe it’s meant as a which hunt or an insult.
Its not 4D chess, it's reactionism. Its subconsciously trying to find a reason for peoples douchosity, failing, and falling back on pointing out something that might get the other side to react just as emotionally.
It is still using "gay" as an insult and is a direct insult to all the people who are STILL "in the closet" because they are afraid of what people like mike johnson will do them if they pursue their own happiness.
This is right up there with "I am not insulting gay people, I am insulting motor cyclists" in terms of tone deafness that is largely indistinguishable from bigotry.
There are so many other ways to shit on this asshole. Let's pick one that doesn't attack our LGBTQ+ friends?
If you see someone on the street saying "Fuck you gay boy" to someone, is your first reaction "Good job. You take that power back"?
Or is it "What the fuck? Did I walk through a wormhole and end up in Arkansas again?"
When "diffus(ing) their power" is indistinguishable from bigotry: it is bigotry. It is great that you don't mind. The people who put up with that shit just hear another voice spewing the same hate.
Then maybe wait for evidence and witnesses before accusing an asshole of being gay because... he is an asshole and it would be funny?
While I agree that it's important to have a basis for making a claim, I don't think it was put forth here because Johnson "is an asshole and it would be funny". It was put forth because there's an observable history of the loudest conservative homophobes eventually being outed as self-hating homosexuals. The focus here is on the secretly part, not the gay part.
Again, what basis is there for him being gay other than "he is an asshole and conservative assholes are often secretly gay"? Which is "he is gay because he is an asshole"
And if the issue is just that he has secrets? Say he has secrets. But that wouldn't be as "insulting" as calling him gay. So no, the focus is not on "secretly"
Also, as mentioned: Plenty of gay folk are still afraid to "come out" because of bigots like johnson. So is this also an insult to them for having "secrets" or whatever nonsense you are using because you can't stop calling people "gay" as an insult?
Commenting on an observed phenomenon isn't calling him gay to be insulting.
https://youtu.be/simV1ZXFsxI?si=aPymVlw5xjSQAmrw
Gay closeted Republicans railing against gay rights is a fucking trope at this point. If it was a movie, we'd shit on the writers for being lazy.
The statement was made not because he's being an asshole in general. It was because he's being an asshole specifically targeting gays having equal rights. He could simply be a heterosexual asshole, but it's not implausible that he has homosexual arousal and he expresses that with vocal homophobia (which would likely be due to his religion saying those impulses are sinful). There have even been studies on the phenomenon, such as here, which states:
So it's quite reasonable to take the research data that affirms the phenomenon and apply it individuals we see being very outwardly homophobic and presume that those individuals may be secretly gay.
Absolutely. That's why I will always vote against candidates who espouse such bigoted rhetoric.
Johnson, and other conservatives, would perceive "secretly gay" as an insult, but advocates for equal rights should not, because there's nothing shameful about one's place on the spectrum (assuming all parties are consenting adults). I did not perceive the comment to be insulting Johnson with an accusation, but rather asserting a potential context for his homophobic rhetoric and legislative agenda, and thus a reason to vote him out.
Its not entirely uncommon for homophobes to later come out as bi. They mistakenly assume their experience is universal and that sexuality is a choice for everyone as it is for them. Their hatred is deep reactionary denial of their own nature.
It's not bad if he's gay. It's bad if his policies are disingenuous. If he's gay, then there's an extra reason he shouldn't support anti-gay legislation.
It's hard to have snappy one-liners without also boiling down problems to their simplest and most generalized form. Often removing any and all context and reasoning.
Which is generally why the GOP and their attack dogs tend to use it the most. Unfortubately this often leads the people they attack to respond in kind. Hard to have a reasoned argument with someone who spits in your face as their comeback.
Except every rabidly homophobic male I ever met irl really did come out after they were involuntarily outed. Tbf I live in a deeply conflicted, fundamentalist religious area.
Really, every single one? Wow. Must be something in the water (insert gay frogs joke).
Been a minute but years ago I watched a REALLY good youtube on this phenomenon. Part of it is very much sample bias. One bigot being revealed as "closet gay" becomes all bigots.
But the reality is that: Sexuality is a spectrum. It is pretty rare for someone to be all gay or all straight or whatever. Its why there are like two men alive who wouldn't let Ryan Reynolds stick it in them but Jon Hamm is a lot more YMMV.
And it kind of gets summed up by the hilarious SVU meme of the suspect (?) saying "I am not gay. Sometimes I have sex with women and sometimes I have sex with men" and Ice T saying "That makes you gay" as a one liner.
If you've grown up and had it forced into your skull that gay is evil and to think unsexy thoughts and so forth, you just say "Shit, I am gay". Rather than, the reality, of "I am mostly heterosexual but I am a bit bicurous" or "I generally prefer other women but I am not opposed to dating a guy" and so forth.
Yeah, every single one.
Dude my buddy in college used to sport-fuck "straight" redneck boys, and I can confirm that this shit you describe literally never happens.
He did adopt a 14 year old black boy when he was first married to his wife. I can't find any information about the kid now or find any family pictures of them together. Sounds pretty sketchy to me.
I actually looked it up yesterday
So the son has been an adult for a while and allegedly has his own family, and asked not to be put in the spotlight. Which makes it confusing when he occasionally brings up his black son by name to speak to race issues, but he generally goes around saying he has 4 children instead of 5. He does generally seem to actually take a reasonable principled stance on black race issues (specifically), but I have no idea what to make of all that
He's a weird dude all over. I wasn't sure what to make from him, but it seemed like maybe has actual principles (not good ones, but genuinely held). Learning more about him hasn't really improved my opinion of him...
Because liberal concern trolls don't give 2 fucks about being hypocrites. They kept talking about how Trumps wife was a pornstar a couple years ago too, because she's a former model that posed topless once or twice. Meanwhile they idealize and elevate actual pornstars and would scream if anyone insulted based on their profession.
No, he cheated on his wife with a porn star, who then told lots of people about it.