Anti-Gay Slurs: The Latest in Hilarity

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 2:26am

The New York Times

December 17, 2006

Anti-Gay Slurs: The Latest in Hilarity

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

THE predilections of Sebastian Venable, the gothic ghost who haunts Tennessee Williams’s “Suddenly Last Summer,” were so unspeakable that they essentially went unspoken in the text of the play. Dark hints about his taste for young men bloom all through the lyrical foliage of Williams’s dialogue, but the actual subject of homosexuality is never explicitly mentioned.

Nobody would have called the doomed poet a gay man, although that’s what all the tortuous innuendo essentially amounts to. The play, which was teamed with a curtain-raiser actually called “Something Unspoken” when it had its premiere in 1958, was written in an era when the word “gay” had not come into common parlance, and the word “homosexual” had a clinical and disreputable ring. (The “something” in “Something Unspoken” was lesbianism, by the way.)

The coyness about the subject in “Suddenly Last Summer,” written by a playwright who was famously uncoy about matters of sex and sexuality, firmly dates the play. Today neutral terms describing homosexuality are commonplace, having long since joined the vocabulary list deemed fit and proper to be spoken in front of the footlights. But as “The Little Dog Laughed,” “Regrets Only” and “Borat” have lately shown, old-school mockery, refitted for a new, post-politically-correct era, is making a comeback.

In “The Little Dog Laughed,” Douglas Carter Beane’s Hollywood satire at the Cort Theater, the central character, a ruthless female agent played with verve by Julie White, uses the following terms, among others, to refer to her client, a closeted gay movie actor: “that pansy,” “Mary” and “Miss Nancy,” “little fairy Tinkerbell” and “little fruit.” Coining her own variation on derogation, she calls another character “St. Francis of the Sissies.”

At the performance I recently attended, virtually every one of those lines got a laugh. As they were meant to. For the character’s noxious vocabulary isn’t meant to mark her as a bigot. The epithets, generally employed in acerbic monologues addressed to the audience, are meant to establish her as a funny gal, if maybe a little soulless. It seems for most people they do.

Read on...
Anti-Gay Slurs: The Latest in Hilarity

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 8:09am

Please, are we supposed to be surprised b the audience's reaction? Look at the Broadway demographic these days.

We're just the latest in groups that it's socially acceptable to insult. In another time, it was blacks. In another, it was the Irish. Or the Japanese. Or the Germans. It all depends on who the "enemy of the state" du jour happens to be.

[Horton]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 8:17am

I think comparing the discrimination of blacks to the discrimination of gays is a little extreme.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 8:20am

Why? It's discirmination, period. Whether one is gay or black or Jewish or left-handed, discirination is discrimination, period. If you cant see that, then you're missing the point.

[Horton]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 8:29am

lets review black slavery:
1. Killed
2. Enslaved
3. Denied Rights
4. Spit at
5. Lasted for hundreds of years
6. etc.

[Sister George]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 8:33am

Surely getting people to compare their relative suffering as a result of prejudice is just a tatic to divide and conquer.

Judging people based on the colour of their skin is just plain wrong.

Judging consenting adults on who they decide to love is just plain wrong.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 8:41am

I think that all of the stuff Horton mentioned happened to gay people except for the slavery.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 10:32am

Oh, but we have to be terribly PC about it and remember that when it comes to the p*ssing contest of discrimination, nothing trumps that one.

Sorry, I wont play that game. If folks who have been discriminated against (by whatever stripe) cant see discrimination when it's tossed at others for the intrinsic wrong that it is, then clearly they didnt learn the lesson properly. Deal with it, Horton.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 10:45am

Horton, you're completely off-base here.

Gay discrimination is just as terrible as black discrimination. Discrimination for who you are is discrimination.

Gays have been killed. Matthew Shepard, Harvey Milk, the list goes on.
Gays are constantly berated, spit on, etc.
They are denied rights even today! What rights are blacks denied right now?
We haven't been enslaved. But we've been locked away in concentration camps and murdered.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 10:45am

Horton, you're completely off-base here.

Gay discrimination is just as terrible as black discrimination. Discrimination for who you are is discrimination.

Gays have been killed. Matthew Shepard, Harvey Milk, the list goes on.
Gays are constantly berated, spit on, etc.
They are denied rights even today! What rights are blacks denied right now?
We haven't been enslaved. But we've been locked away in concentration camps and murdered.

[OrdinaryJukebox]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:01am

Mel Gibson, an idiot who goes on an anti-Jewish rant...forced to apologize, and rightfully so, not matter how forced it was.

Michael Richards, a crazy has been goes on an anti-Black rant...forced to apologize, make television and radio appearances to do so, has to make donations to the charities of choice by the people he insulted...

Isiah Washington, homophobic actor on "Grey's Anatomy," insults gay co-star, calling him a faggot, which leads to this actor coming out, if he was ready to or not...nothing...no public apologize, no television or radio spots demanding he apologize, no risk at his job, he just gets away with it...

Yep, you're right, the gays aren't insult, spit on, killed, denied rights...okay, gays have never been "slaves" in the sense that African Americans were MANY, MANY years ago. However, we're not free to do what we like (i.e. adopt, get married), so to me, that's slavery enough. Which, by the by, all this is happening TODAY.

-Vincent

[allofmylife]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:12am

"lets review black slavery:
1. Killed
2. Enslaved
3. Denied Rights
4. Spit at
5. Lasted for hundreds of years
6. etc. "

Killed - plenty. Matthew Shepphard ring a bell?
Enslaved - do you know how little they pay interns and assistants?
Denied rights - that's the title of the gamebook
Spit at - seen that happen with worse than spit
Lasted for hundreds of years? - Try thousands.

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:25am

Let's put aside the silly issue of whether blacks or gays have suffered more. That's totally ridiculous. The treatment of both throughout history has been generally horrible. No one needs to win for getting worse treatment.

After the article last week about changing attire and attitudes among the now family-geared theatre district, an article that, like this one, told me absolutely nothing I didn't know already, I've got to wonder about Charles Isherwood. He just seems kind of really boring.

Criticizing The Little Dog Laughed for its bitchy, self-deprecating humor, a stereotypical staple humor style for gay plays as far back as The Boys in the Band just seems totally stupid. Isherwood neglects the fact that the play isn't doing very well finally. Is that because of this humor? The fact is that gay and gay-friendly audiences are recommending this place to their friends and keeping it open.

Also, the whole point of the Borat gay pride sequence was that he was excited because everyone was so friendly and open at the parade, and he didn't find that anywhere else in America. I actually think it was kind of cute compared with the much more horrible and offensive things that occurred in the rest of the movie.

I don't understand how this contributes anything to the current discussion of negative words toward minorities in our culture. Updated On: 12/17/06 at 11:25 AM

[jimnysf]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:27am

I think comparing the discrimination of blacks to the discrimination of gays is a little extreme.

You seem like an uneducated fool when you make those kind of statements. I'm sure you are not a fool, so please do some research on the subject before you make any more foolish statements.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:31am

Er... seeing as how marriage isn't really a right, gay people haven't technically had any rights which were impeded. Not like there are any "Literacy Laws" out for them or anything.

As for the play, I don't think it's a big deal. There are people who use those words whether we like it or not, and being PC and avoiding things just because it may hurt someone's feelings doesn't help anybody, IMO.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:35am

There are people who use those words whether we like it or not, and being PC and avoiding things just because it may hurt someone's feelings doesn't help anybody, IMO.

More ignorance! People use the "N" word all the time and other hated words so I guess it's OK, at least according to you.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:37am

If you're trying to portray reality in your art, yes, it is okay. It's like the n-word being used in Huck Finn.

I should also note that Will and Grace pretty much did the same thing.

Updated On: 12/17/06 at 11:37 AM

[jimnysf]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:41am

If you're trying to portray reality in your art, yes, it is okay.

So I guess blackface minstrel shows are OK with you, too? They were reality once upon a time.

[Calvin]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:44am

Tell ya what, SporkGoddess and horton.

Go down to somewhere in East Texas wearing a T-shirt with a rainbow flag on it or some other indication of gayness (which some of us are not able to hide by clothing, before you ask). Then we'll continue this discussion.

[Horton]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:53am

I am a gay male, so before you tell me that I dont know what it is like, I know much more than lots of you!

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 11:56am

jimnysf: Minstrel shows, while horrenously offensive, did have some good music, and with Stephen Foster's help eventually brought more respect and even sympathy to black people.

Anyway, the issue at hand here is the language, not the portrayal of gay people.

[Calvin]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 12:08pm

Well, perhaps in your omnipotent wisdom you might have forgotten about the torture and hell some kids have and are going through from their classmates, their families etc., much of it because of these same words we're talking about. Certainly, it's not something of a societal impact as slavery. No one is saying that. But the individual hell for some people can be just as great. So kindly don't belittle their experiences.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 12:16pm

What you are pointing out is a non-issue. This is not about the treatment of gay people in real life, but about the usage of certain derogatory language against homosexuals in a play. I do not condone discrimination, but I think that to ignore it in art and act like no one ever ever says those things is silly. I don't see anyone complaining about John Wilkes Booth calling Lincoln an "n-word-lover" in Assassins, for instance, or the stream of racial slurs at the baseball game in Ragtime.

And as I've pointed out, there are plenty of TV shows that use that language and I've never seen articles written about them.

[Calvin]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 12:18pm

But nobody laughs when Booth says that, do they?

Look. I liked "Little Dog Laughed." But some of you are missing the point here.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/17/06 at 12:22pm

Well, people like to laugh at offensive things. That's why Borat's so popular. I don't think it says anything about the state of our society, but more about human nature as a whole.

Karen from Will and Grace used a lot of that language and people laughed; is that okay we know that Karen isn't really against homosexuals? In Scrubs the main character is getting called feminine and addressed by female names on a daily basis, but is it okay because he's straight? I'm just seeing a huge double standard here.