Tag: homophobia

political-me:

As U.S. President, George H.W. Bush, among other things, cut AIDS research funding, banned HIV-Positive people from entering the country, encouraged “behavioral change” to the exclusion of comprehensive sexual education, and extended/expanded many of the murderous AIDS policies of Ronald Reagan, for whom Bush served as Vice President. By the end of 1993, over 194,000 HIV/AIDS related deaths had been reported in the United States. Approximately 133,000 of which were during Bush’s one term as President. Between 1987 and 1992, the median age at death among men in the United States that died from HIV/AIDS related causes was 38; among women the median age was 34. George H.W. Bush died November 30th 2018 at the age of 94. May he rot in Hell alongside Ronald Reagan! 🖕

THANK YOU FOR THIS POST. If I saw one more news headline today about how great this mass murderer was I was gonna barf.

redstarthecat:

blu-iv:

latinxstan:

maeamian:

paladin-protector:

dynastylnoire:

maeamian:

maeamian:

maeamian:

BTW, the high five was invented in 1977 which means your parents probably didn’t grow up with it.

For real though Glenn Burke, inventor of the high five was a gay black player in the 70s, and the Dodgers tried to get him to marry a beard and their manager got mad when he befriended the manager’s gay son before being traded to the Athletics, probably for being gay. In Oakland, the rumors of homosexuality followed him and manager Billy Martin started using homophobic slurs in the clubhouse and homophobic behavior from other players lead to an early retirement for the promising young star at 27.  After retiring from baseball he introduced the high five to the Castro district of San Franscio where the high five became a symbol of gay pride and identification. ESPN wrote a long form piece about it which I recommend reading, it’s got some homophobic slurs in it although not presented positively.

A few appendices:

Although he was unceremoniously drummed out of Major League Baseball, Burke became the star shortstop for the local Gay Softball League, and even dominated in the Gay Softball World Series, as well as medaling in the 100 and 200 meter sprints in the inaugural 1982 Gay Games. Unfortunately, Burke also picked up a cocaine habit and had his leg and foot crushed in an accident. He spent much of his final years homeless in the Castro, and died from AIDS complications in 1995, but he was in the first class of inductees to the Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame, and his High School retired his jersey number.

The Dodgers Manager in question was Tony Lasorda, whose son “Spunky” died of AIDS complications in 1992 although Lasorda maintains that it was cancer. Likewise, despite the High Five becoming a symbol of the 1980 Dodgers team, Lasorda maintained and continues to this day to maintain to not know its origin. It’s possible that this isn’t a deliberate slight to Burke, but given his homophobia in other matters that’s a hard benefit of the doubt to give.

The Athletics have, in the years since, attempted to make up for some of the wrongs they committed in this story. When Glenn revealed publicly that he was living with AIDS, the As moved in and helped him financially. Burke was honored publicly at Pride Night at the park in 2015 and his brother was invited to throw the first pitch.

Burke was happy to see the high five catch on, spilling out of sports and into the small joys of every day life. He died believing that the high five was his legacy. Next time you high five your friend, remember that the high five came from Glenn Burke.

Npr has a dope story on it

What? Cool! Maybe I can find some of his baseball cards?

You can! Not super expensively even!

I’m so glad high fives are gay culture

So high fives are gay 🙂

*slams fist on table* GAY HIGH FIVES GAY HIGH FIVES

cloama:

Me: I was right to give myself time before watching Nanette on Netflix. I knew it was going to be great but A Lot™

Also me: HANNAH GADSBY’S NANETTE IS ONE OF THE BEST WRITTEN THINGS I’VE SEEN ALL YEAR. IT IS BRUTAL AND BRINGS THE HARSH TRUTH ABOUT COMEDY AND WELLNESS AND HATE AND ANGER THAT EVEN COMEDIANS SUGARCOAT. SHE IS RIDICULOUSLY GOOD AT COMEDY BUT ALSO THE LAST PORTION OF HER SHOW EVOLVES INTO THE MOST HONEST AND CONCISE PIECE ABOUT THE VIOLENCE OF MEN, AND THE CULT OF PERSONALITY THAT ENABLES IT. IT IS NOT THE SAME POINT OF VIEW YOU’VE HEARD. IT’S SO GOOD. I AM PISSED THAT I’VE NEVER HEARD OF HER BEFORE THIS. SHE LITERALLY SET HERSELF FREE ONSTAGE. SHE DESERVES ALL THE AWARDS.

I am giving myself time before I watch it. I have seen Hannah before and I know she’s amazing, and back in 2004ish when I saw her, I was just so excited to see a lesbian comic onstage who wasn’t Ellen, but even then she was performing about being a lesbian in Australian society, and she was doing the material that is the jokey flipside of the hate crime she breaks down in Nanette, and I don’t think I’m ready to see her talk about it live yet, when even the stills with captions I see daily on my feed are upsetting me. I never really took the jokey routine at face value the way that a lot of people might have. I’m a queer woman the same age as Hannah who grew up in the same society, and though I personally have not been beaten for being queer, one of my butch friends was, by a man who thought she was disgusting for holding hands with her girlfriend. So he beat her, in public, on a high street, in front of his children and other people, who as in Hannah’s assault, did absolutely nothing. I felt the edge of darkness in the way she joked about it, even then. Comedy, at its best, is about horrific truth told nakedly, and Hannah’s comedy was always about the danger inherent in difference, for those who knew to look for it.

aureliaborealis:

prokopetz:

prokopetz:

Rape is the only crime on the books for which arguing that the temptation to commit it was too clear and obvious to resist is treated as a defence. For every other crime, we call that a confession.

I’ve gotten more angry asks about this post than I have actual reblogs.

imagine hearing “well if he didn’t want to be shot, he should have worn a bulletproof vest” on a trial

The thing is, though, it is said, in the case of racial minorities and vulnerable people. How often has a black person been shot just for driving/walking/ringing the cops for help/wearing a hoodie/playing in a park? How often do people say they should have behaved differently, as though their actions were a logical precursor to their murder?

How often do Jewish people, Sikhs and Muslims get blamed for being ‘too’ who they are in public? Especially women wearing a headscarf or men wearing a turban? How many are told, ‘well, what did you expect?’ when they try to report a hate crime?

How many queer people are blamed for their own murders and assaults simply for existing in public spaces? How many are told that if they just made an effort to be normal, they’d have been safe? How many were assaulted when they were actually passing, but were outed as queer and found themselves trapped and abused by people who felt angry at being ‘tricked’?

How many disabled people have been murdered just for not being normal? How many autistic children and adults are killed by their caregivers annually, or subjected to torturous therapies to try to cure them? How many interviews, articles, memoirs and documentaries justify this cruelty in the name of normalisation and blame the disabled person for the impact of their disability on their families?

People have always blamed victims. Yes, it happens to victims of rape and sexual assault, and always has done, and is disgustingly regularly reported as justification for what happened. But it happens to others too. Also, please remember that the rates of rape and sexual assault of people of colour, queer people and disabled people are far higher than the general population, and that it is far harder for these victims to access the justice system, compensation and health/support services.