Anti Gay Antics From Celebrities Draw fines, Criticism: A Sign of Progress?

There have recently been an alarming string of anti- gay antics from celebrities in any field from pro sports to music to prime time television. Now, no one is expecting celebrities to be perfect. They have no responsibility to raise our children for us, nor  to be some sort of role model to the public. However, the undeniable truth is that with fame, comes almost automatic influence. Therefore, while one does not have a responsibility to be perfect, one does have the responsibility to act responsibly in public or face the consequences, and spewing hateful rhetoric at an already targeted segment of the population is most certainly not acting in a responsible manner.

So, since I have failed to high light these incidents individually, let’s have one, long explanation of some most disturbing and shocking recent anti gay antics from the entertainment world.

First, we have Kobe Bryant.

He was fined $100,000 for calling a referee a “fucking faggot.” Bryant has since apologized, but many don’t feel like it was good enough.

Next, we have Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger Mcdowell, who made crude sexual gestures with a baseball bat at three fans at a game against the San Francisco Giants after allegedly saying to three male fans who were together at the game, “Are you guys a homo couple or a threesome?”

Then, when a father at the game with his wife and nine year old twin daughters attempted to intervene, McDowell replied, “”How much are your teeth worth?” as he walked over with a baseball bat. He has since apologized as well, but, once again, no one knows if it is sincere or merely damage control.

Of course, more recently, we have the likes of Cee Lo Green

tweeting homophobic rants, of which there can be no doubt of the truth, because the tweets are saved in screen shots, despite the fact that green deleted them from his twitter feed and has since semi apologized.

original homophobia on twitter, courtesy of Colleen star examiner.com:

screen shot credit to Colleen Star Examiner.com

And the apology that was hardly an apology:

And, of course, last, but certainly not least, was Tracy Morgan’s homophobic rant at a Nashville comedy show.

Tracy, however, is a bit different from the others. His apology was not just a half “if you were offended” type apology. He has since met with homeless gay and transgender youth, called his own words “indefensible”, and seems genuinely sorry.

I could carry on and on with example after example of this stuff coming out of the camp of celebrities, but I think you get the idea. I am still saddened that they could say and do such outrageously callous, insensitive, and inexcusable things, especially in the current climate, when we, the LGBT community are still very much victims of truly institutionalized homophobia, and our youth are still committing suicide at alarming rates. However, I am ecstatic that they are being called to task, and that the LGBT community and straight allies alike are letting them know that this is unacceptable, and, if you don’t at least act like you are sorry, they will suffer the consequences. So, yes, there is definite progress.