06 June 2008
a rant about jake gyllenhaal
[anyone who knows me need not read the following, since this is a constant topic of bitching that you have no doubt heard from me before.]
reading the entertainment news section of imdb today as i do pretty much every morning i came across a short article about how the website afterelton.com (somehow associated with logo) published its annual list of the top 100 gay male icons, placing in the number one spot jake gyllenhaal. so i went to the website and read the list, and i was surprised to find that gyllenhaal is immediately proceeded by four openly gay actors.
what is wrong with this picture?
exactly why is jake gyllenhaal, an openly hetero actor whose biggest accomplishment in the field of homosexuality was being "brave" enough to play a queer in a movie three years ago, the biggest gay icon while actual gay actors including activist neil patrick harris are relegated to runner-up status? interestingly enough (and even more bizarre), afterelton's lesbian companion site afterellen.com published its list of girl-on-girl icons, giving the top spot to tina fey (?!?) ELLEN is number 17 (?!?!?!?!?)
this is absolutely one more example of the way "glbt" organizations including hrc, glaad and logo have, especially over the past few years, placed ACTUAL gay politics in the backseat behind hobnobbing with celebs. from my conversations with a good friend who actually worked for the hrc, i know that their offices spend a great deal more time and energy planning parties and cattily criticizing staff wardrobes than they do attempting to make this country a more equal place for queer people.
a couple years ago, the glaad media awards were in the spotlight, because they refused to give awards to programs on explicitly gay media (like logo), preferring to reward "mainstream" entertainment. they had some inane bs reasoning that i dont even remember behind this decision, but the truth is that they wanted to give awards to bigger celebrities so glaad members could get their pictures taken beside johnny depp or *jake gyllenhaal*
e.g. the vanguard award, according to wikipedia, "is presented annually at the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards to honor a member of the entertainment community who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people." the past three winners include janet jackson (wtf?), jennifer aniston (WTF?) and charlize theron (WHAT THE FUCK???) if someone could PLEASE make the case that janet jackson or charlize theron are promoting equal rights for lgbt people (with a straight face) and that some glaad chair person isn't just a big "rhythm nation" fan or something, i would really appreciate it.
and this brings us to jake gyllenhaal, apparently our number one gay icon. honestly, i have nothing against jake gyllenhaal, and i love janet jackson, but i have to tell you, honoring them as somehow important to gay communities makes me sick. there are so many people out there that are doing great work to promote gay rights, to stop the spread of HIV, to make this country a better place for queer people. and none of them are being honored as "vanguards" or "icons."
ellen, i'm sorry the folks over at logo feel that you are only number 17 in importance of lesbians in entertainment, but thank you for the work that you do and have done. you are my icon. bitches. ¶ 6/06/2008 09:54:00 PM
[anyone who knows me need not read the following, since this is a constant topic of bitching that you have no doubt heard from me before.]
reading the entertainment news section of imdb today as i do pretty much every morning i came across a short article about how the website afterelton.com (somehow associated with logo) published its annual list of the top 100 gay male icons, placing in the number one spot jake gyllenhaal. so i went to the website and read the list, and i was surprised to find that gyllenhaal is immediately proceeded by four openly gay actors.
what is wrong with this picture?
exactly why is jake gyllenhaal, an openly hetero actor whose biggest accomplishment in the field of homosexuality was being "brave" enough to play a queer in a movie three years ago, the biggest gay icon while actual gay actors including activist neil patrick harris are relegated to runner-up status? interestingly enough (and even more bizarre), afterelton's lesbian companion site afterellen.com published its list of girl-on-girl icons, giving the top spot to tina fey (?!?) ELLEN is number 17 (?!?!?!?!?)
this is absolutely one more example of the way "glbt" organizations including hrc, glaad and logo have, especially over the past few years, placed ACTUAL gay politics in the backseat behind hobnobbing with celebs. from my conversations with a good friend who actually worked for the hrc, i know that their offices spend a great deal more time and energy planning parties and cattily criticizing staff wardrobes than they do attempting to make this country a more equal place for queer people.
a couple years ago, the glaad media awards were in the spotlight, because they refused to give awards to programs on explicitly gay media (like logo), preferring to reward "mainstream" entertainment. they had some inane bs reasoning that i dont even remember behind this decision, but the truth is that they wanted to give awards to bigger celebrities so glaad members could get their pictures taken beside johnny depp or *jake gyllenhaal*
e.g. the vanguard award, according to wikipedia, "is presented annually at the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards to honor a member of the entertainment community who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people." the past three winners include janet jackson (wtf?), jennifer aniston (WTF?) and charlize theron (WHAT THE FUCK???) if someone could PLEASE make the case that janet jackson or charlize theron are promoting equal rights for lgbt people (with a straight face) and that some glaad chair person isn't just a big "rhythm nation" fan or something, i would really appreciate it.
and this brings us to jake gyllenhaal, apparently our number one gay icon. honestly, i have nothing against jake gyllenhaal, and i love janet jackson, but i have to tell you, honoring them as somehow important to gay communities makes me sick. there are so many people out there that are doing great work to promote gay rights, to stop the spread of HIV, to make this country a better place for queer people. and none of them are being honored as "vanguards" or "icons."
ellen, i'm sorry the folks over at logo feel that you are only number 17 in importance of lesbians in entertainment, but thank you for the work that you do and have done. you are my icon. bitches. ¶ 6/06/2008 09:54:00 PM
