A big gay debate has been raging over the past week about whether or not Lance Bass and Reichen Lehmkuhl should be honored with a Visibility Award at the upcoming HRC National Dinner in Washington.
Longtime HRC supporter Randy Foster got the ball rolling with a Washington Blade guest editorial in which he explained why Bass/Lehmkuhl are not worthy of the honor. Foster starts off:
Foster lambasts Bass for publicly stating that the pop star has no interest in being a gay activist. About Lehmkuhl, the author says the 'Amazing Race' star is someone whose "greatest achievement since [his TV show] has been being photographed shirtless for countless gay publications."
Foster accuses HRC of honoring the pair not because they deserve it, but because their celebrity will help sell tickets and bring glamour to the organization's black-tie dinner, for which patrons (including Foster himself) pay $250 and up to attend.
HRC board member Mary Snider defended the organization's choice to honor the celebrity gay guys, writing in a letter to the editor that "HRC understands that there are many different ways to help fight ignorance and bigotry ... Lance and Reichen are just starting to speak out. We hope that they will do much more in the years ahead, using their unique status to raise awareness and open hearts and minds."
It's my opinion that one of the main problems in this particular instance is that a lot of people can't stand Lance and Reichen. If Denzel Washington had been dragged out of the closet (no, he's not gay), I rather doubt that HRC supporters would be complaining about him showing up for dinner and we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Boy-band-Lance isn't taken very seriously because, well, he was in a boy band, and he had some crazy notion about buying a flight into space, and he's only out because he was outed. Reichen, for whatever reason, turns a lot of gay men off. Perhaps HRC's biggest mistake was not anticipating those sentiments.
In HRC's defense, though, Lance and Reichen are this year's biggest gay celebrity story, even if the details and characters of the story don't exactly thrill everyone in the GLBT community.
Further, if HRC limited its Visibility Awards to openly-gay celebrities who are also accomplished gay activists, I think it's safe to say they would have a basement full of crystal trophies and few people to whom they could award them.
So then, is any celebrity visibility, good visibility? One blogger and self-avowed Bitter Queen frames the debate this way:
Not everyone who reads this is going to have a lot of sympathy for those who are upset because the wrong celebrities are polluting their black-tie dinner in Washington, but that aside, where do you come down on this story: Are Lance and Reichen good or bad for gay visibility, and do they deserve this award?
Longtime HRC supporter Randy Foster got the ball rolling with a Washington Blade guest editorial in which he explained why Bass/Lehmkuhl are not worthy of the honor. Foster starts off:
A FRIEND CALLED this week to ask, “Do we really have to go to the HRC Dinner? For Christ’s sake, they are honoring Lance Bass and Reichen Lehmkuhl!”
My first thought was it had to be a joke.
Foster lambasts Bass for publicly stating that the pop star has no interest in being a gay activist. About Lehmkuhl, the author says the 'Amazing Race' star is someone whose "greatest achievement since [his TV show] has been being photographed shirtless for countless gay publications."
Foster accuses HRC of honoring the pair not because they deserve it, but because their celebrity will help sell tickets and bring glamour to the organization's black-tie dinner, for which patrons (including Foster himself) pay $250 and up to attend.
HRC board member Mary Snider defended the organization's choice to honor the celebrity gay guys, writing in a letter to the editor that "HRC understands that there are many different ways to help fight ignorance and bigotry ... Lance and Reichen are just starting to speak out. We hope that they will do much more in the years ahead, using their unique status to raise awareness and open hearts and minds."
It's my opinion that one of the main problems in this particular instance is that a lot of people can't stand Lance and Reichen. If Denzel Washington had been dragged out of the closet (no, he's not gay), I rather doubt that HRC supporters would be complaining about him showing up for dinner and we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Boy-band-Lance isn't taken very seriously because, well, he was in a boy band, and he had some crazy notion about buying a flight into space, and he's only out because he was outed. Reichen, for whatever reason, turns a lot of gay men off. Perhaps HRC's biggest mistake was not anticipating those sentiments.
In HRC's defense, though, Lance and Reichen are this year's biggest gay celebrity story, even if the details and characters of the story don't exactly thrill everyone in the GLBT community.
Further, if HRC limited its Visibility Awards to openly-gay celebrities who are also accomplished gay activists, I think it's safe to say they would have a basement full of crystal trophies and few people to whom they could award them.
So then, is any celebrity visibility, good visibility? One blogger and self-avowed Bitter Queen frames the debate this way:
"Indeed, how many times have I read editorials in the gay press insisting that pop stars and other celebrities have an obligation to come out of the closet precisely because their fame alone would give a boost to our cause and provide visible role models in the community? And now that Mr. Bass has done so, Mr. Foster diminishes the importance of that event. Talk about damned if you do, damned if you don't."
Not everyone who reads this is going to have a lot of sympathy for those who are upset because the wrong celebrities are polluting their black-tie dinner in Washington, but that aside, where do you come down on this story: Are Lance and Reichen good or bad for gay visibility, and do they deserve this award?
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