feature
Doherty gets himself arrested, does he apologise to all heterosexual men?
“ ”
on every blonde from Texas; nor does some footballer’s extra-marital affair reflect on every man who’s ever kicked a football. Celebrities are not like real people. They often lead strange, insulated lives, and behave in ways few of us could. I have about as much in common with George Michael or Boy George as I do
with Diana Ross or Mariah Carey. So why should it matter to me
what they get up to in their spare time? The demand for positive role models is a hangover from a time when there were
no gay characters on soap operas, no out gay actors, no openly gay soldiers or MPs. It’s a demand that springs from
the desire to feel that you’re not the only one; and, in some ways, it’s perfectly understandable. Growing up gay can still be extremely isolating. Naturally, we cling to whatever role models we can find. The problem comes when
we start demanding that our role models represent us not as we are, but as we would like to be seen. Gay celebrities aren’t only expected to stay out of mischief and out of prison. They’re also expected to look, walk and even talk a certain way. Coronation Street’s Antony Cotton works tirelessly for gay charities but this doesn’t stop people complaining that the character he plays on Britain’s favouite soap is ‘the wrong kind of gay’. When I ask him to comment, his
response is pithy and very much in the spirit of Pride: “It’s worth noting that in the early hours of 28 June 1969, it wasn’t the straight-acting, straight-looking butch queens that were forced into rioting at the Stonewall Inn. On the contrary, Mary, it was the drag, the camp, the femme and the trans. [And the lesbians.]These are the people that our community has to thank for their freedom and liberty. They fought back on all our behalves. They were the soldiers. They
were the frontline. And how do we thank them?
By casting them as, like you say, ‘the
wrong kind of gay’. Well fuck that!” The truth is, there is no right or wrong kind of gay. Gay people are just as diverse, just as flamboyant, just as dull and just as prone to fuck up as anyone. So if George Michael wants to beat himself up about his recent misdemeanors, that’s up to him. But please, not on my account.
When Pete
feature 2011 • 41
Pride london
Text: Paul Burston
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