It's a popular question found often in the comments at the three main gay news blogs that I read and likely any site that is mainly gay news oriented, and though it's basically the same question, it's often worded in one of two different ways. The commenter often will ask, "What is this doing on where-ever-it-is.com?" or they'll ask, "How is this gay news?"
Sometimes it's sort of understandable, especially when it's some sort of celebrity fluff bullshit. But that's usually at only one of the sites, and they tend toward just throwing anything out there. It's like a typical local news show where anything is considered news because it fills space and shows up in your reader and keeps you coming back. So while I understand the question and also don't really care about the celebrity fluff bullshit I also want to yell into the computer that gay boys tend to give a shit, and so this particular news outlet should be expected to sometimes include some things that aren't entirely gay specific.
But then there's that other time. The story was basically a link magazine site and a photo spread done for that magazine. The spread included top soccer players from various national teams wearing nothing but underwear based on their country's flag. This was all before the World Cup began and was leading up to the tournament and was in a magazine that has absolutely nothing to do with sports.
I usually don't comment on this site as I seldom have anything to add, but this time I had to. The person asked about the photo spread, "How is this gay news?" And while I wanted to point out the half naked hot dudes angle, I knew that this wasn't the right answer this time.
The photographer that had taken the pictures is a fairly well known person, but more than that, her pictures and images are popular to an unknowable number of people. She's one of those photographers that, no matter who you are, you've seen and are very familiar with any number of her pictures, and you may not even know her name.
She's also a lesbian, so that alone makes it gay news, which is the answer I went with. I even tried to be a bit snarky about it without being an asshole.
Of the other two sites that provide me with news about gay news I only make a point of reading the comments at one. This site has news but adds commentary along with the news. And no matter what the story is, there really always is a gay angle. They don't add the celebrity fluff bullshit and don't need to. They cover stories that have bearing on the community, and they add commentary that is actually well thought out, whether or not you agree with their opinion.
Here more than ever I have to wonder why commenters ask these questions as you often have to wonder if they really read the article. If you've read the article you should generally be able to keep up, but sometimes you need the back story, and too often people just don't. It's like they only read the headlines and have to fire off a comment.
And in the end it's just all about how the gays seem to be more judgmental of each other than straight people. We constantly have to worry about our own feelings based on all the outside noise that treats us like shit, but we then internalize it and feed on it. So we then turn around and give it back out. None of us are ever quite good enough, don't represent well or whatever.
I hate the question when I see it. It's so unnecessary, but I'm never surprised when I read it. I always want to yell at the person. I want to ask them how they have time to bother asking. I want to figure why it's so important to them that they only get news that is specifically and entirely gay when they visit these sites.
I want my gay to stay gay. I understand the need and desire to have a separation between gay and not gay, and this could easily be a whole other post, because at the same time I know that I'm normal and just like anyone and want to be treated as such. At the same time I get how I'm different.
Have I mentioned that I'm the only gay I know that loves Motorhead? Have I mentioned that I can check out girls without being a douche? Have I . . . ?
Maybe I'm currently at fault, doing the thing I'm bitching about. That's a conundrum I suppose.
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