BuggBlog

Why straight media writers drive me nuts

Here's a media trope that never dies: Gay people have sex, straight people have relationships. It's the type of thing that generally gets tossed out in situations like the "coming out" of a television character. Over at Entertainment Weekly, Marc Bernardin writes about the new Battlestar Galactica web episode that reveals (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) that Felix Gaeta is gay:

Gaeta is gay? Huh. I'm not entirely sure it was necessary to drop that bit of information. Aside from Apollo, Starbuck, and Baltar, everyone on that show feels kind of asexual—each character is defined, by and large, by the crisis on the horizon and how they deal with it—and revealing Felix's homosexuality doesn't seem to add anything to the story at hand.

Maybe Bernardin though he was watching the '70s original instead of the one where the romantic tension between Adama and Roslin has played a key role, or aggressive sexuality of Six, or the relationship between Sharon and Helo, or any other number of ways in which characters are shown having sexual attractions and relationships. But, of course, all those are hetero so they count.

Gaeta comes out and suddenly it's "Why are you wasting my time with men kissing? Get to Cylons with the glowing red eyes already!"

Plus, Gaeta's orientation has been fairly certain for a long time. This particular web episode was a nice way of adding another layer to a secondary character -- you know, like a tv show is supposed to do.

This one time, at band camp...

More change: Gays have been invited to march in the inaugural parade, the inaugural committee announces. Here comes the Lesbian and Gay Band Association, in perfect step:

For First Time, Presidential Inaugural Committee Invites LGBT Group to Perform in 56^th Inaugural Parade

Talent From Across America To March In Parade From Capitol To White House  
  
WASHINGTON - Today, in keeping with its commitment to hold inaugural events that celebrate our common values and reflects the diversity and history of our great nation, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden's Inaugural Committee officially extended an offer to the Lesbian and Gay Band Association to march in the 56^th Inaugural Parade.  Members of that group will join representatives from across the country and our Armed Forces in the historic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue following President-elect Obama's swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol.

This marks the first time that an openly LGBT group has been invited to participate in an Inaugural Parade.

Prop 8 Passed, Now What? Marriage Equality in DC

I'll be moderating a forum tomorrow night for D.C. for Marriage, talking about how the D.C. gay and lesbian community can best pursue marriage equality. From forum organizer Michael Crawford:

After the passage of Prop 8 in California, more than 5,000 DC LGBT residents and allies marched to demand an end to marriage discrimination. But, how do we win marriage equality in the District?

Prop 8 Passed, Now What: A Community Discussion on Marriage in DC

Thursday, December 11th 7-9pm at the HRC Equality Center 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW

This community forum will bring together the diversity of the LGBT community and our allies to discuss how we move forward together to win full equality for LGBT people in the District of Columbia.

The passage of Prop 8 showed clearly that achieving equal rights for all is not a spectator sport and that all who believe in fairness and justice must take a stand.

The forum will be moderated by Sean Bugg, co-publisher of Metro Weekly.

Sponsored by DC for Marriage, a project of The DC Center.

Co-sponsors: Bilerico, GLAA, Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, Human Rights Campaign, Log Cabin Republicans - DC and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

RSVP on Facebook

For more information, contact Michael Crawford at michael@dcformarriage.org.

Please join us. I'm eager to know what our local community thinks about what to do next with the momentum that's been building since Nov. 4.

"Bob from accounting just called, says he's gay. Big surprise."

Since I've spent the past 15 years or so as some version of a professional homosexual, the idea of calling in gay is rather redundant for me. I'm all for people giving it a shot if they want, but I think dreams of a big gay version of The Day the World Stood Still -- original version, of course -- are way overstated. I imagine a lot of people have way too much work to do and way to many Christmas presents to buy and way too little job security these days to be messing around with their livelihoods.