• PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    No, it’s meant to go after people who are actively hurting gay people while hiding that they’re gay. It’s meant to diffuse their power.

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      21
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      If you see someone on the street saying “Fuck you gay boy” to someone, is your first reaction “Good job. You take that power back”?

      Or is it “What the fuck? Did I walk through a wormhole and end up in Arkansas again?”

      When “diffus(ing) their power” is indistinguishable from bigotry: it is bigotry. It is great that you don’t mind. The people who put up with that shit just hear another voice spewing the same hate.

      • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        21
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I disagree, that’s not what they’re doing. A better analogy would be a cop arresting a drag queen for being a drag queen when the cop was a drag queen at the same club the night before. The arrested drag queen would say, “Hey, weren’t you at the club last night as a drag queen?” Then everyone around this arrest would look into if that cop is actually a drag queen so he wouldn’t arrest anyone anymore for being a drag queen. There is a huge difference.

        • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          17
          ·
          1 year ago

          Then maybe wait for evidence and witnesses before accusing an asshole of being gay because… he is an asshole and it would be funny?

          • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            While I agree that it’s important to have a basis for making a claim, I don’t think it was put forth here because Johnson “is an asshole and it would be funny”. It was put forth because there’s an observable history of the loudest conservative homophobes eventually being outed as self-hating homosexuals. The focus here is on the secretly part, not the gay part.

            • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              9
              ·
              1 year ago

              Again, what basis is there for him being gay other than “he is an asshole and conservative assholes are often secretly gay”? Which is “he is gay because he is an asshole”

              And if the issue is just that he has secrets? Say he has secrets. But that wouldn’t be as “insulting” as calling him gay. So no, the focus is not on “secretly”

              Also, as mentioned: Plenty of gay folk are still afraid to “come out” because of bigots like johnson. So is this also an insult to them for having “secrets” or whatever nonsense you are using because you can’t stop calling people “gay” as an insult?

              • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Again, what basis is there for him being gay other than “he is an asshole and conservative assholes are often secretly gay”? Which is “he is gay because he is an asshole”

                The statement was made not because he’s being an asshole in general. It was because he’s being an asshole specifically targeting gays having equal rights. He could simply be a heterosexual asshole, but it’s not implausible that he has homosexual arousal and he expresses that with vocal homophobia (which would likely be due to his religion saying those impulses are sinful). There have even been studies on the phenomenon, such as here, which states:

                Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.

                So it’s quite reasonable to take the research data that affirms the phenomenon and apply it individuals we see being very outwardly homophobic and presume that those individuals may be secretly gay.

                Also, as mentioned: Plenty of gay folk are still afraid to “come out” because of bigots like johnson.

                Absolutely. That’s why I will always vote against candidates who espouse such bigoted rhetoric.

                But that wouldn’t be as “insulting” as calling him gay. So no, the focus is not on “secretly”

                So is this also an insult to them for having “secrets” or whatever nonsense you are using because you can’t stop calling people “gay” as an insult?

                Johnson, and other conservatives, would perceive “secretly gay” as an insult, but advocates for equal rights should not, because there’s nothing shameful about one’s place on the spectrum (assuming all parties are consenting adults). I did not perceive the comment to be insulting Johnson with an accusation, but rather asserting a potential context for his homophobic rhetoric and legislative agenda, and thus a reason to vote him out.