Colbert has no regrets: Late-night host defends controversial Trump Putin c*ck holster joke

[Saviolo]

33. Seems I'm destined to jump into all of these threads

This might be a long one.

I'm a gay man, and I found Stephen Colbert's joke hilarious in the context of the monologue that he had it.

Do I think he should lose his job? No.
Do I think the RWNJs that are calling for his firing care about LGBTQ people? No.
Do I think Stephen Colbert is homophobic? No.
Do I think the RWNJs that are calling him homophobic will go right back to being homophobic when this is done? Yes.
Do I count Stephen Colbert among LGBT allies? Yes.

Was the joke itself homophobic? Yes.

I'm sorry, but it is. Look, there are no perfect allies, and I'm not going to knock Stephen Colbert for taking a cheap shot at Trump and Putin's toxic "alpha male" masculinity. They deserved to be mocked, and they deserve to be upset. But to be an ally, you've got to listen to the people you're allying with. Of course the media framed it exactly the way the deplorables wanted: "Should Colbert Apologize? Is he homophobic?" As far as I'm concerned, no and no.

The MAGA boys don't give one hot goddamn about LBGTQ people. They pretend they are, very briefly, from time to time, for rhetorical flourish. During the election campaign they told us that Trump was REALLY the LGBTQ candidate because Hillary took money from Saudi Arabia and they kill queers there! Throw'em off of buildings! Also, Trump held a gay flag (upside down) for a few seconds, so he's totally gonna help the queers!

Well, he's already sold LGBTQ people up the river twice, and we knew he was going to. By and large, we're not stupid, and we know that the republican party doesn't care about LGBTQ people, and in many cases are actively antagonistic. Young trans kids are being beat up for using the wrong bathroom, and that gross meme came right from the top. Peter Thiel, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Caitlyn Jenner all stood up with Trump (and other Republicans), but the administration sold them all out the minute they didn't need them any more. They were the pet queers that they could trot out on stage and pretend to say, "Look, we're totally on your side! Some of my best friends are gay!" but I will put money on the fact that in private, Ted Cruz calls Caitlyn Jenner "he."

So, there's a context here, and the Democratic party isn't really in danger of losing a whole lot of LGBTQ votes over Colbert's comment, or Boing Boing spreading around that image of Putin in drag makeup:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028905824
Or the picture of Trump and Putin cuddling on a rainbow unicorn. Or a the billboard of Trump and Putin kissing across from the RNC. You see how there's a pattern here?

The joke isn't "attacking" gay people, but what it is doing is attaching gay imagery (or queer/trans imagery in the case of the drag photo) to men who are literally attacking the LGBTQ community. Putin more directly than Trump, but both of them. Gay men in Chechnya are being rounded up and put in camps and mothers are being told to kill their gay children so the government doesn't have to. Obviously Trump and Putin aren't closeted homosexuals, and obviously it would infuriate them to be associated with queer imagery. But what is the end result of this?

We're not going to win the next election making "LOL! Gay!" jokes at Trump. In fact, if it infuriates him enough, maybe he'll decide that it's time to revisit the gay marriage ruling, or bathroom laws, or trans protections (such as they are), or reinstate laws that we've had scant 30 years ago that "sexual divergence" is something for which you can be denied immigration or refugee status. There are still states in the USA where you can be fired or denied housing for being gay or trans. And Putin is rounding the queers up in Russia! Do you think a few gay jokes are going to make him soften his stance? It's more likely to cause him to expand his concentration camps if you make him furious enough.

(short digression about the Putin in drag image: In the context from which it arose in Russia it makes a lot more sense. Gay/trans people were using it there to stand up for themselves in one of the only ways they could, and in that context, it makes far more sense, but spreading it around on Twitter and Facebook in North America strips most of that context away)

So, listen, I understand the context. And as I've said over and over, I don't think Colbert should lose his job or apologize, necessarily. The media also doesn't need to frame this argument in favour of the MAGA set who want to sew division and get Colbert labeled a homophobe. He's an ally, and I for one want to keep him as an ally.

But there are no perfect allies. And the only thing I really want from any ally to any marginalized group is for them to listen and learn from that group, and speak with them, not for them.

What I would love my allies here on DU to learn is that when you make images of Trump and Putin kissing as a way to enrage and mock them, you are taking a scene of normal gay intimacy, something sweet and special to us, and using it to shame. You're showing people that it's funny that they could be gay and kissing and having all that gay sex. I've seen a lot of people saying, "Oh, it's more about dominance than being gay!" which to me sounds like every teenager ever after being caught saying, "That's so gay!" responding with, "But, like, I don't mean homosexual, I just mean gay as in bad." It sounds to me like every "ally" I had in high school in the 90's who would put their arm around my shoulder and say, "You're okay, man. I don't want to make fun of you, but THAT GUY OVER THERE IS A FAGGOT! LOLOLOL!!!"

I know it's not going to end overnight. In fact, it's probably not going to end at all. It's too easy and juicy a target. Just, as allies, please listen when LGBTQ people say, every time you make a joke like that out loud, you push a young questioning gay boy deeper in the closet because he sees the image of two men kissing associated with shame and mockery. When you enrage the right wing with gay imagery, you get already intolerant parents of closeted kids in conservative households ranting about how they'd kill any queers they ever found on THEIR property.

So, yeah. That's a lot to unpack. If you read this far, thanks. I don't know what else to say. I lived with shame and fear in a Catholic household for years, but I was lucky that my mom decided a long time ago that her love for her kids was stronger than her love for her church's doctrine. There were a lot of tears and missteps at first, but I was one of the lucky ones. I've seen kids thrown out of homes for being gay, or beaten, or sent to one of Pence's "conversion therapy" courses.

And when, as an ally, you're making the same sort of gay jokes that the people who stand against us make, sometimes it's hard to tell who's who, y'know?