Ricky Martin has come out of the closet, not GAFF so much as....

Jesus. wrote:

EileenK98 wrote:

I firmly believe that your sexual orientation is the business of two people: you, and your partner or potential partner. Not the government, not the media, and not Joe Blow off the street. Who cares?

Sexual orientation is just as much a part of your identity as anything else. Whose business it is shouldn't be up for discussion. Who should know shouldn't be selected or restricted. While that doesn't mean you should tell the world, it just doesn't necessarily mean it should be something you need to be conscious of as to who knows and who doesn't. IMO.

I think what Leeny means is that it's kind of silly to announce it like you're announcing you're running for the Presidency.

"Part of your identity," whatever. There are a fair number of thing that are part of my identity that I don't go out of my way to tell people about (if only because I have the hats to show instead of tell ). It's one thing if it's somehow relevant to whatever is going on, but Ricky Martin in general stopped being relevant a decade ago.

. . .Basically what you said.

There are three types of people here. Those who hear someone's gay and go RAEG, those like Dicky who was lyrical about how brave and special that person is, and the 90% of the total population who doesn't give a fuck.

Fairlight wrote:

Jesus. wrote:

Fairlight wrote:

I don't understand why people still make such a big deal about all the "coming out" stuff. Being gay isn't supposed to be a big deal any more, that's kind of the point of progress.

Because discrimination and prejudice isn't even close to eliminated or over. There is way more progress to be made.

Maybe there is, but the longer people continue to make a big thing out of being gay and out of telling people that you are gay, the longer it'll take for that prejudice to be eliminated, right?
Surely if you want people to accept something as normal, you have to treat it as being normal.

If anyone ever complains, "you never said you were gay."
Wouldn't a good response be, "I never said I wasn't either, it's not my fault if you just assumed." [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But see, the problem with that is that Ricky Martin was advised to not come out of the closet because of how being gay would affect his career. And really, his coming out could only be a big thing BECAUSE it establishes his sexuality. Though I'm sure anyone with half a functioning neuron knew that the man was gay, the fact that he could never come out and say it proves that being gay is still a big deal and it can alter the face of your life and career. As for treating gay as normal, for most, the primary unnoticeable assumption made when you (not you, you, general you) look at or meet a person is that they're hetero until any evidence is proven elsewise. And for some, especially a celebrity in the public eye that has been fawned over, loved, hated, and had their lives dug into, that can be stifling. And once they come out, once you see them again, theres always this tiny little fleeting thought of recognition "Oh, hes gay."

To sum up, seeing as I tend to ramble and not make a coherent point, is that it's hard to universally treat it as normal when too many people still don't see it that way, especially when you're in the public eye and your sexual identity is important to you though you can't show it. So in that aspect, it becomes a big deal because any indication to an alternate lifestyle can be devastating you your relationships, careers etc, and so it continues to be a very big deal. So yeah.

I don't know what it is, but for some reason I feel like I'm not really getting the point I'm trying to make across, so if anything sounds funny just holler.

Fairlight wrote:

Maybe there is, but the longer people continue to make a big thing out of being gay and out of telling people that you are gay, the longer it'll take for that prejudice to be eliminated, right?
Surely if you want people to accept something as normal, you have to treat it as being normal.

You assume too much from people and that is sad.

Ceres wrote:

(That said, you'd think the Pope died and came back as a zombie.)

He sorta did.

zombie jesus

he died for your sins

he came back for your brains

Quote :

As for treating gay as normal, for most, the
primary unnoticeable assumption made when you (not you, you, general
you) look at or meet a person is that they're hetero until any evidence
is proven elsewise.

The other option is to assume the person is gay for absolutely no reason. And considering a greater percentage of people are straight, it makes no sense to assume some random person is gay.

I'm not really talking about making a conscious judgment of "Oh, he's straight/gay." I'm talking about how normally, when you meet someone you take it so for granted they're straight it never crosses your mind.

It's like assuming someone who was born and raised in Pittsburgh is a Steelers fan to some degree. The odds heavily favor it.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

Quote :

As for treating gay as normal, for most, the
primary unnoticeable assumption made when you (not you, you, general
you) look at or meet a person is that they're hetero until any evidence
is proven elsewise.

The other option is to assume the person is gay for absolutely no reason. And considering a greater percentage of people are straight, it makes no sense to assume some random person is gay.

I'm not really talking about making a conscious judgment of "Oh, he's straight/gay." I'm talking about how normally, when you meet someone you take it so for granted they're straight it never crosses your mind.

It's like assuming someone who was born and raised in Pittsburgh is a Steelers fan to some degree. The odds heavily favor it.

What Mikey said. Man, my brain is not working right lately.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

The other option is to assume the person is gay for absolutely no reason. And considering a greater percentage of people are straight, it makes no sense to assume some random person is gay.

I'm not really talking about making a conscious judgment of "Oh, he's straight/gay." I'm talking about how normally, when you meet someone you take it so for granted they're straight it never crosses your mind.

It's like assuming someone who was born and raised in Pittsburgh is a Steelers fan to some degree. The odds heavily favor it.

Mikey, stop being not unfunny.

Quote :

I think what Leeny means is that it's kind of silly to announce it like you're announcing you're running for the Presidency.

But he didn't announce it like he was running for president. He made a freakin' twitter post. It wasn't a People magazine interview, nor a Barbara Walters special. He made a post, on his own website, on his own terms. Having read both Spanish and English letters, he gets really emotional in the Spanish version; this is clearly a big deal to him and it was pretty much meant for fans.

And if he wrote an official letter, it's because the dude has been harassed about it for over 10 years.

Because he didn't force CNN to publish it, neither did he forward it to any news media. It was everyone else who made a big deal out of it. For those saying he's "irrelevant", he's still a god among men in the Latino world. And even though he's "irrelevant" in the US, here we are, on the thread's 2nd page.

(There are actually two issues intersecting here, because the guy is still a mega star in the world, but a one-hit wonder in the US. Since he was considered "irrelevant", english-speaking media thought it had a license to nag and "shame" him out of the closet.)

In the end, of course, the media circus surrounding Ricky is really a microcosm of the USA's obsession with other people's sexuality. It homosexuality is normal, then we really need to stop making a media circus out of it. I know we're not there today, but I hope that someday saying "I'm gay" is the equivalent of "I ate a ham sandwich".

As it is now, the sex lives of celebrities gay or straight has become a weird-ass fetish. Anyway, now that he's out and he's satisfied everyone's morbid curiosity, maybe people can stop taking cheap shots at him, which in the end, have always been tinged with homophobia.

SirDixonDongs wrote:

Dick Powers wrote:

SirDixonDongs wrote:

i make it a point to tell everyone im gay

all the time

every day

like, i have this guy following me around with a sandwich board on

it says

"THE GUY IN FRONT OF ME IS AN ENORMOUS FAG"

Do you also rub your junk in the faces of straight men to make sure they understand just how gay your are?

well duh thats a given

Dongs..........................

marry me

My BFF's mom loves this man. She is heartbroken and has been muttering incoherently in Spanish the whole day. (She's from Puerto Rico, I don't know whether that's significant on her fangirlishness for him)

I don't personally care. I thought everyone knew. *Shrugs*

Verandering wrote:

SirDixonDongs wrote:

Dick Powers wrote:

SirDixonDongs wrote:

i make it a point to tell everyone im gay

all the time

every day

like, i have this guy following me around with a sandwich board on

it says

"THE GUY IN FRONT OF ME IS AN ENORMOUS FAG"

Do you also rub your junk in the faces of straight men to make sure they understand just how gay your are?

well duh thats a given

Dongs..........................

marry me

sure i will semi-hetero semi-gay marry you ver

but i want a jewish drag wedding

Fuck yeah, I'm in!

dude you know you are always invited to my sexual escapades

Ceres wrote:

Even though he's no longer important in the US, he's still the most important star in Latin America. That Americans don't know it speaks of more of American insular thinking and lack of worldview than his musical talent.

Oh, please. Get back to me with your wealth of knowledge of Russian celebrities (No, you've got to go back farther than Russia's Got Talent) and then go on about American insular thinking.

Celebrity outside your country = probably not relevant to you. This is like saying "b-b-b-but they love me in France!"

Ceres wrote:

And even though he's "irrelevant" in the US, here we are, on the thread's 2nd page.

And much of the discussion has been about the relevance of one's sex life in the rest of their lives, not specifically about Mr. Martin.

Sue Sylvester has something to say about all this:

Yes, because being known in over 30 spanish speaking countries,
Brazil. Portugal and yes, France, is just like being known just in Russia. BTW, the chicks from TaToo? Are huge in Brazil.
Oh, the Puerto Rican neighbor is muttering because RM is considered a national pride.

David Hasselhoff is huge in Germany, please explain how he is relevant to you

The Germans love David Hasselhoff.

Yes, he is. but to the rest of the world, he is irrelevant (except that he keeps trying to force himself back into the spotlight)

Bezron wrote:

Yes, he is. but to the rest of the world, he is irrelevant (except that he keeps trying to force himself back into the spotlight)

Or making cuisine innovations in the form of floor cheeseburgers.

*starts to make a comment about how celebrities are generally irrelevant no matter where they are and then stops because her toast is done*

says the person with not one but two pix of david tennant in her post

Touche.

People with comic avatars are the best.