by Adam Amel Rogers, Originally posted on change.org
Dear Ricky,
Congratulations on putting an end to years of speculation with your coming out announcement. We are happy to have you and you are a fine addition to the team. I am saddened that you were made to feel that you couldn’t be open and honest about your life AND have a successful career, but now as you begin livin’ la vida honesta (the honest life), we all hope you find peace and renewed success.
Whether you like it or not, you are now one of the most visible openly gay men in the world and your words and actions will be many people’s only exposure to the LGBT community, so I have a few requests of you.
First, in your big announcement on your Web site, your exact words were “I am a fortunate homosexual.” I am interested in hearing your thinking process in formulating that sentence, because to many in the American LGBT community, the word “homosexual” is quite uncouth.
The GLAAD Media Reference Guide succinctly sums up the main harms of the word: “Because of the clinical history of the word 'homosexual,' it has been adopted by anti-gay extremists to suggest that lesbians and gay men are somehow diseased or psychologically/emotionally disordered.”
Andrés Duque at Blabbeando explains that “homosexual” does not have the same negative connotations in Latin America that it does in the United States, which makes sense, but it is still important that you not use the word when addressing an English speaking audience.
Next, we are in need of an anthem. For years the gay community has had to search for love songs with ambiguous pronouns, and while some gay artists like Rufus Wainwright have produced love songs with same gender pronouns, we are still in search of that epic gay ballad we so desperately need. In fact we hope you get back into the studio right now and start building a collection of music that we can be proud of and can relate to -– or else we will continue to have to convert “She Bangs” to “He Bangs” in karaoke performances across the country.
I know you have been afraid of your career being destroyed by your big gay announcement, but I actually think your decision to be open and honest will bring you back to the top of the game. We will do our best to support you -– and according to all of the stereotypes, the gays have an obscene amount of disposable income.
Lastly, please go have fun and enjoy your out and proud life. I hope you find it extremely liberating to not have to play the “deny without denying” game. Your sons are lucky to have a father who is being open, honest and real.
Photo credit: Cool Pixels
Dear Ricky,
Congratulations on putting an end to years of speculation with your coming out announcement. We are happy to have you and you are a fine addition to the team. I am saddened that you were made to feel that you couldn’t be open and honest about your life AND have a successful career, but now as you begin livin’ la vida honesta (the honest life), we all hope you find peace and renewed success.
Whether you like it or not, you are now one of the most visible openly gay men in the world and your words and actions will be many people’s only exposure to the LGBT community, so I have a few requests of you.
First, in your big announcement on your Web site, your exact words were “I am a fortunate homosexual.” I am interested in hearing your thinking process in formulating that sentence, because to many in the American LGBT community, the word “homosexual” is quite uncouth.
The GLAAD Media Reference Guide succinctly sums up the main harms of the word: “Because of the clinical history of the word 'homosexual,' it has been adopted by anti-gay extremists to suggest that lesbians and gay men are somehow diseased or psychologically/emotionally disordered.”
Andrés Duque at Blabbeando explains that “homosexual” does not have the same negative connotations in Latin America that it does in the United States, which makes sense, but it is still important that you not use the word when addressing an English speaking audience.
Next, we are in need of an anthem. For years the gay community has had to search for love songs with ambiguous pronouns, and while some gay artists like Rufus Wainwright have produced love songs with same gender pronouns, we are still in search of that epic gay ballad we so desperately need. In fact we hope you get back into the studio right now and start building a collection of music that we can be proud of and can relate to -– or else we will continue to have to convert “She Bangs” to “He Bangs” in karaoke performances across the country.
I know you have been afraid of your career being destroyed by your big gay announcement, but I actually think your decision to be open and honest will bring you back to the top of the game. We will do our best to support you -– and according to all of the stereotypes, the gays have an obscene amount of disposable income.
Lastly, please go have fun and enjoy your out and proud life. I hope you find it extremely liberating to not have to play the “deny without denying” game. Your sons are lucky to have a father who is being open, honest and real.
Photo credit: Cool Pixels
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