Monday, August 29, 2011

CHALLENGER: Elders' Beauty ...From Elders' Strength



My goal with this presumably final part of my "CHALLENGER" poetry series is to address the issue of ageism, while at the same time, tie in all parts of the series together.

You can try to deny it all you want, but the reality is that when gay media, especially gay male media, wants to give us a hero, they mostly shove either fashion labels or heterosexual females like Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga down our throats as to being what and whom we gays should worship. However, when they finally decide to present us with some kind of gay male as a hero, gay media lately presents us with a younger, white male with model good looks.

Such as Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter for the movie "Milk". While it is a sign of progress to win an Oscar award for a screenplay about a figure in the Gay Rights Movement, what I find troubling is how because of what I see of gay media now, Dustin Lance Black was treated as the more historic figure. Meanwhile, I'm sure many young gay males still, even after seeing the movie, don't know of the accomplishments of the man the film "Milk" is about, Harvey Milk.

Dustin Lance Black's notoriety overshadowing that of Harvey Milk's is not his fault, but of the modern gay media. A modern gay media that has overlooked females, young gays of color (male and female), and most importantly, our gay forefathers and  lesbian mothers who have said, done, or accomplished something of great significance for the LGBT community's progression long before Dustin Lance Black and other young white males gay media tries to label as "our best".

And speaking of our gay forefathers, it is not because of Dustin Lance Black that we can now get married in some U.S. states. It's not because of Ronnie Kroell that gays can throw some caution to the wind and publicly hold hands and kiss like I did while living in the Bronx, and with my playmate from my last blog post on a bright sunny day on a sidewalk in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn with ghetto trash neighbors with nothing but time on their hands looking on.

These are normal acts that members of the LGBT community can do publicly today because of Harvey Milk, Larry Kramer, the heroes of the Stonewall Riots who would no longer tolerate the police harassing them, and countless others. But sadly, because of modern gay media, many don't know much about the heroes of the Stonewall Riots and those countless others (many who are female and people of color). We only know the names Harvey Milk and Larry Kramer, and not many more.

How often do White (or to avoid charges of racism, light-complexioned non-White) males grace the cover of magazines like The Advocate, Instinct, or Out? In a country as color-diversified as America, ALL TOO OFTEN!

And how often do straight women instead of actual lesbians grace their covers? Again, ALL TOO OFTEN!

Instead, these underrated, if not completely overlooked heroes of the LGBT community are clumped into special issues' lists that makes people of color and females feel as if we are not seem as the important figures in the LGBT community that we are. Therefore, why bother with their magazine. If these magazine ever wonder why their sales suffer. This may very well be a BIG contribution as to why. 

The bottom line of the CHALLENGER series is to point out how gay media heads need to focus more on presenting people who have and continue to tell the truth of what we need to hear to better our community. This is done by being smart enough to be blind to age, color, and gender. That as opposed to what most media heads sadly show themselves to do now. Which is gay male media heads being ass-wipes thinking more with their dicks and assholes, and lesbian media heads being twits thinking more with their twats. And until this changes, and the community stops following, their bad leads we will as a whole continue to be our own worst enemy.

So on that note, I finally close the CHALLENGER series, ...or have I?

2 comments:

  1. Bless you for this one, LeNair! I've often questioned why gay men turn to straight women as role models for our community. They are just using us for our $$$$. Bringing up our historical "forefathers" is necessary and I wish the media would start to look to out own gender for gay male role models. George Takei, Greg Luganis for example. Even staright MEN like Howard Stern who on his radio show advocates for the gay community very frequently, instead of the shallow, image-pretentious talentless Gagas and Madonnas.- Ben Marksman.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i completely agree with you

    ReplyDelete

I HIGHLY respect those willing to stand behind their comments with a name. So if you use "Anonymous" on a viewpoint that challenges mine, IT WILL BE DELETED. For your cowardice to not show yourself makes your viewpoint and you irrelevant.

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