Lynn Swann took ballet. I remember seeing him on Mister Rogers as a kid.
It most certainly made him a better player, and probably enabled him to become MVP in Super Bowl X. As for Tupac, the man was a rapist. Fuck him. I really don’t get the worship.
Did you read any farther in that thread? That “fuck it, im out” had more to do with the previous, unrelated thread in which a giant chasm of miscommunication just derailed what should have been an open and close GQ thread (i still am scratching my head on that one). When the very first post in the very next thread, on a totally different subject in a different forum, seemed to pick up where the other thread left off, re misunderstanding, I momentarily lost patience. I came back, however, realizing that my irritation was misplaced.
Neither the GQ thread nor the first post in the Tupac thread were personal attacks. I saw them as misunderstandings that seemed impervious to my best efforts at communication. The attacks in the Tupac thread came later. At least i consider being labeled “homophobic” and accused of having horrible views towards gay people and more (I’d have to go back to the thread to know for sure) as “attacks”. They were attacking my character, despite the fact that in my entire 8 year span here I’ve never shown bigoted tendencies. Despite this absence of bigotry, I wasnt given any benefit of the doubt and my words were read in the most disgusting light possible. All ive been doing since then is explaining myself again and again and correcting errors in understanding what i wrote.
That’s why this thread is interesting, at least to me. I’m pretty sure I didn’t attack your character or called you a bigot or anything. Your views on this topic are interesting, that’s why I’m asking you about them.
Look, I acknowledge that I very well may be wrong. I also acknowledge that I most likely will never know the answer one way or another. What I am asking of the board is to recognize my lifetime of having the particular stereotype of the “gay male” validated, never challenged even once. That is a strong influence that isn’t overcome by simple badgering or assertion. I need to learn by experience or by direct knowledge. As much as I may WANT to dismiss the stereotype of the gay male entirely with prejudice, until im shown something that differs from what ive had the world show me all my life to be true, it’s going to influence my thoughts.
My mistake can’t be that the thoughts that led to the Tupac thread ever entered my head in the first place. No it must be the fact that i shared them in a public setting. Perhaps this is speculation unfit for public discourse. I apologize for being uncouth or thoughtless. I shall not post threads of such a speculative nature in the future. At least not speculation that depends on stereotypes for engagement.
I appreciate your thoughts. I dont think you’ve attacked me at all. 
Simply expressing a very different pov is not an attack.
This seems self-evident to me. Don’t use stereotypes to judge people is a pretty decent way to live in my opinion.
Hmm. Have you read my explanation as to why THIS ONE, LONE stereotype has never failed me even once as a predictor?. What else do we have to really go on as we progress thru the world other than. noticing patterns, observations and feedback to inform us of the world around us?
Eddie Izzard is going to blow your tiny little mind…
Swann is kind of a gay sounding name though.
Don’t ever discuss someone’s alleged sexual orientation on a left-leaning board. No matter how diplomatic and unobjectionable you frame your words, it will not go well. Some people have a broad brush they automatically whip out whenever a key word is displayed.
I’m pretty sure Bill Clinton was straight. What say you?
See? It’s possible to discuss sexual orientation.
On the right leaning boards is “fag” an accepted term?
What’s with this need that some straight people have to out gay men?
Say anything you want. Present any theory you want. But please stop playing the victim when there’s disagreement to your ideas.
Who doesn’t hate loud, obnoxious Harley riders?
It isn’t about outing gay men, but about outing hypocrites, who bash other people for doing or being something they do or are themselves. That 'splain it to ya any?
Regards to The Asbury Jukes!
He slept with Peter on Family Guy tho
Let me ask you, do you think that the life lesson you learned as a result of this experience could have been learned, rather than by being provided with more information on the man in question, but instead by people criticizing your assumption?
Yes but you seem to be ignoring the hypocrisy implicit in your position. Ok, so in my thread, I, a straight man, put forth my opinion as to the possible sexual orientation of another man. I came away with the opinion the man in question was gay. Now lets say a gay man looks at the same evidence and comes sway with thre opinion that there is no wsy this man could be gay, he must be strsight! How in the world could you justify in treating these judgments as anything but equal?
Neither party is talking, incorrectly or not, solely sbout “gay people” or “straight people” but each party is talking about both gay and straight people. And both sre uding stereotypes to judge snother person, why do you only seem able to condemn one side of what you yourself describe as harmful behavior?
That’s funny. How about YOU check your privilege, guy? You certainly reap more societal benefits from your privilege thsn i do. What does that even mean when used in this context? If you can be bothered to form a coherent sentence in which you don’t skip out on any vowels. I like vowels when i read words.
This is exactly what i eas getting at earlier in this post. Recognizing the “straight cues” in someone requires more than a knowledge/experience with straight people, you need awareness of the antagonist (in this case it is “gay cues”) in order to separate or delineate themselves from that group.
Ahh, it’s the miserable bastard who only knows one wsy of engaging people: insult them. You must have xero joy in your meatspace existence because you are one of the most consistently unpleasant poster on this board. Hey, from now on, ill think ill just return an insult with an insult. Seems like the right call. It si m sucks too because i find that you often have interesting things to say, when you arent busy being a pompous dick.
So I’m guessing this is your backhanded way of callimg me a homophobe, I dont know how else I’m supposed to parse that “What’s with this need that some straight people have to out gay men?” part of your post. Putting my OP in a sinister ligbt by describing it as an “the need of a straight man to out a gay man” is unfair. “Outing” is something that carries a very negative connotation.
, one that communicates a very real threat of harm.
Valerie Plame was “outed” at the CIA, which put her life in danger. For a more relevant hypothetical, lets say a closeted gay kid gets outed by classmates. Worst casd scenario he commits suicide but there is a whold world of damage poxsible below that ultimate threshold
If a gay person outright says that their judgment is based on stereotypes, as you have, I’ll certainly criticize them for it as I have criticized you.
Probably not. But there are some significant differences between my situation and yours.
I never drew a conclusion, I made a guess but wasn’t certain because I had no way to confirm either way without asking, and doing so would be neither appropriate nor worth the potential social and professional backlash that might occur if my request was poorly received. After all it was just idle curiosity but I didn’t much care. When I learned the truth I didn’t feel guilty or foolish because I hadn’t drawn a conclusion either way (and I was glad of that). You’ve clearly drawn a conclusion and since you’ll never have an opportunity to meet the man (because he passed away some time ago) you’ll likely never know if your conclusion was correct.
I didn’t know what my coworkers self-identified as sexually. You don’t have such ambiguity, Tupac was openly straight. After all, he was dating a woman at the time of his death. I was making a guess about something I had no real information about. You’re asserting that Tupac was hiding his sexuality and presenting a false front. I’m not saying that’s a crazy assertion, it’s common practice for people in the entertainment industry, especially in past decades, and in the hip-hop world it would have been especially difficult to maintain a “tough gang member” persona while being openly gay. But it’s still a big difference between saying “I have no idea but this is my guess” and “I know what he claims but I’m sure he’s lying”.
To be fair that’s somewhat the point of the Pit (giving/trading insults without mod interference) though I never have any interest in that stuff myself.
So I’m guessing this is your backhanded way of callimg me a homophobe, I dont know how else I’m supposed to parse that “What’s with this need that some straight people have to out gay men?” part of your post. Putting my OP in a sinister ligbt by describing it as an “the need of a straight man to out a gay man” is unfair. “Outing” is something that carries a very negative connotation.
, one that communicates a very real threat of harm.
Valerie Plame was “outed” at the CIA, which put her life in danger. For a more relevant hypothetical, lets say a closeted gay kid gets outed by classmates. Worst casd scenario he commits suicide but there is a whold world of damage poxsible below that ultimate threshold
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That is enough. I’ve been out of the closet, living openly for longer than you have been alive. And you are going to tell me what being gay is all about. Oh no. Fuck no.