The Other F-Word

Thursday night, when I got home I did what every gay man living in the gutter while gazing at the stars does...

...I watched that day's TiVo'ed episode of THE VIEW.

And I saw this.

Rosie talking joking about Anna Nicole Smith. This was recorded live on Thursday only a few hours before Anna Nicole was found dead.



Contrary to the what some people have said already, I don't think Rosie is in bad taste here at all. What is she - Miss Cleo? She has no "spidey sense" to warn her of Anna Nicole's death hours later. She was making a joke. And when you make a joke, it's often ABOUT someone or something, so someONE is likely to be offended.

With all that's going on in our world today, I think we should all take the stick out of our asses and lighten up. We're coming dangerously close to having "bad words" again - - words you "can't say" and I just don't understand it.

I am a faggot, but lately everybody has traded that word for a phrase like, "a homophobic slur" or "a derogatory term for a gay man." The word is faggot people. Fag.

That word doesn't bother me. The people who hate me and harm me BECAUSE I am a faggot - - they bother me.

I had very hush, hush boyfriend my senior year of high school. Robbie went to a neighboring school and one night, after another nightmarish day of avoiding homophobic bullies and being called a "fag" ad nauseam, he asked me what was wrong...

Stephen: "They called me a fag at school again today."

Robbie: "Well... are you? Are you a fag?"

Stephen: "Well... yes.

Robbie: "Then, why does that bother you?"

That may be over- simplifying a much greater issue, but with so much work to be done to ensure that gays and lesbians are guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, shouldn't we concern ourselves more with bone- breaking sticks and stones and less with the words that homophobes hope will hurt us?

Faggot is my word. I take it. I embrace it. I love it. It can't hurt me if I own it.

And as for being funny, this clip below is a laugh riot. And our pleasure in viewing it DEFINITELY comes from laughing at someone else's embarrassment. But I'll bet good money that Richard Simmons is laughing right along with us on this one.




So, let's follow Richard Simmons...

...no, let's NOT SWEAT TO THE OLDIES...

...let's laugh at ourselves a little.

P.S. Thanks to Jeremy for posting the Rosie clip on his blog!