{"id":10865,"date":"2010-08-16T01:13:46","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T08:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=10865"},"modified":"2010-08-16T01:13:46","modified_gmt":"2010-08-16T08:13:46","slug":"in-defense-of-lisping-nelly-screamers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=10865","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Lisping, Nelly Screamers"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Crossposted on “Alas<\/a>” and on “TADA<\/a>.” “Alas” is, if not “safe” space — no such thing, alas — intended to be relatively pro-queer space.)<\/p>\n

Stephen Fry was recently listed number three in The Independent’s “Pink List”<\/a> of 100 admired lesbian and gay celebrities. The Independent also included a “Rogues Gallery” of non-approved queers, in which they listed minor British celebrity Louie Spence. Who is Louie Spence, you ask?<\/p>\n

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Anyhow, on his blog<\/a>, Fry printed this letter from his friend Kim Harris:<\/p>\n

Very nice to see you ranking high on The Independent\u2019s Pink List. Quite right too. They made one vast and vastly suggestive mistake, though. They instituted a Rogues Gallery and frogmarched Louie Spence into it. Do you know who I mean? He\u2019s a big old lisping, nelly screamer at Pineapple Dance Studios (Sky something) whom Joe Sixpack has clasped to his bosom because he\u2019s sweet and funny and fabulous. Brightens the day, cheers the hour. There\u2019s another reason the public loves him, but we\u2019ll get to that in a mo. The compilers of the List, however, hate him because \u2013 well, can\u2019t you guess? What\u2019s the least imaginative, least penetrating thing you could possibly say about an unreconstructed flamer? That\u2019s right \u2013 he \u201cperpetuates the stereotype.\u201d Christ on a marmalade cross but that pisses me right off.<\/p>\n

Occupying the top spot was the rugby player, Gareth Thomas, who came out (finally) last year. Well done for that, boyo, I suppose. Can\u2019t have been easy. It usually isn\u2019t for most people, even on the Liberal Riviera where we\u2019re all supposed to be basking today. Now, you can see where I\u2019m going with this, can\u2019t you? Gareth is a \u201creal man\u201d. He was married to a real woman. Louie is not and was not. If only we could all disport ourselves like Gareth the straights won\u2019t hate us whereas if we all carry on like Louie\u2026.ach, how quickly these cowardly, self-oppressed, social-climbing McCarthyites forget where they come from. If I remember rightly, the whole Gay Lib thing wasn\u2019t engineered by \u201creal\u201d men at all. It wasn\u2019t sponsored by marines or scaffolders or rugby players. It was ignited by\u2026ah, yes: drag queens.<\/p>\n

So, instead of getting a hate on at poor Louie, instead of frantically trying to patrol their butch and instead of gussying up their drool for Gareth into blather about bravery, these creeps should remember the Rainbow. They should remember Diversity. They should remember Tolerance. They should remember that in evincing a distaste for effeminacy they\u2019re simply making an exhibition of their own misogyny.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fry added:<\/p>\n

By singling out Louie Spence for lofty disapproval, by sneering at his “mincing” they are turning their back on, dissociating themselves from, insulting and demeaning a fine man and whole way of being. An authentic, strong, charming and loveable person, every bit as \u201ccourageous\u201d as the others on the list, certainly more courageous than me, Louie deserves respect and support, not insult and derision. Do they want people like him not to count, do they see him as being guilty of a choice<\/em> in his manner and his demeanour, just as homophobes everywhere accuse all gay people of choosing their sexuality and preferences? How dare they of all people dismiss a gay man in a few contemptuous, bigoted phrases because he doesn\u2019t fit the \u201ctype\u201d that they think a gay man should exemplify?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hear, hear.<\/p>\n

(Emily, Sex Nerd, also has some comments<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Crossposted on “Alas” and on “TADA.” “Alas” is, if not “safe” space — no such thing, alas — intended to be relatively pro-queer space.) Stephen Fry was recently listed number three in The Independent’s “Pink List” of 100 admired lesbian … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,49,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crossposted-on-tada","category-lesbian-gay-bi-trans-and-queer-issues","category-men-and-masculinity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}