Openly gay Scott Thompson thinks gay kids should "grow a pair"

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 3:37pm

Even as he admits that isn't something he could have done.


You've addressed bullying before, specifically how the It Gets Better campaign is basically a lie - it might not get better, you say. What would you tell bullied kids then?

Grow a pair. Here's the thing: The world is not kind to us; it never really will be. The gay male is always going to be at the bottom. I believe the things that happened to me as a child scarred me terribly, and I wish somebody would have helped me with some of the things that happened. But you have to fight back. So much of these bullying campaigns are part of the trend that we were just talking about - the recasting of gay men as eternal victims and it's like, fight back! Fathers should start teaching the boys how to punch. He does that to you, here's what you do: You ****ing punch him in the face.

I could never do it as a kid.

I couldn't either, but with standup comedy you have that microphone - wow, is that powerful.

I'm just not even sure what to make of this. He even says he was scarred by things in his childhood and wishes that someone could have helped him. I agree with him that gay people shouldn't be cast as eternal victims, but I don't really think that's what anti-bullying campaigns do.

Also, he doesn't get many gay people at his shows because he's not a "ghetto queen."




PrideSource Updated On: 11/3/11 at 03:37 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 3:56pm

Kid in the Hall Scott Thompson? I've seen them live five times and the homo community was always out in force.

Because I am always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, I actually think a great campaign would be "Straight Macho Dads: You Owe it to The Gay Son You Love to Teach Him How to Fight Back!"

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 4:00pm

I remember seeing his Buddy Babylon one-man show in 1998 and while it had some humorous moments, it was really just an annoying queen onstage for 90 minutes saying things I could only imagine straight people would truly find outrageous and hilarious. I bought the book out of curiosity thinking it would probably be funnier without the visual. It was worse. I just hated it. Perhaps he doesn't get many gay people at his shows because they have seen his shows.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 4:03pm

I left out the link originally, so I've updated it.

Also women are bullies because they neuter gay men for television.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 4:08pm

I LOVED the Buddy Babylon book. Especially when Buddy took credit for inventing the bear subculture.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 4:27pm

This makes me queasy.

I never really found him funny, including his Buddy routines.

I really hate the bashing of something like the "It Gets Better Project" because it's making kids into victims. Guess what, if they're being bullied they are victims. Encouraging them to stand up for themselves and helping them do so is great, but so is letting them know that there's help beyond what they can see in their daily lives and encouraging them to hang on instead of hurting themselves is not the antithesis of that.

There's room for both kinds of support. Encouragement to stick it out, and boxing lessons.

[Q]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 5:39pm

"it's implicit that they're monogamous, which we know is nonsense"

We do?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 5:59pm

Q - That quote rankled me. Well, most of that interview rankles me. But I guess that's what he wants. Sort of. Who knows? It's all over the place.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 6:23pm

There's always the Gaga approach

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 11:51pm

I remember when "growing a pair" meant sideburns. Actually, they wouldn't hurt the cause.

[Q]

Posted: 11/4/11 at 1:04am

"Together we hope to establish a standard of bravery and kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment." - GaGa

I love that. A lot.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/4/11 at 1:41pm

I actually agree with a lot of what he said.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/4/11 at 1:53pm

I finally had a moment to read the whole thing. Here's what I like. It's a conversation. With somebody who has ideas that actually evolve in the course of the conversation. We're so used to pre-packaged stuff that is honed to a pitch-perfect degree that it ends up being a feel-good bromide for the subject's audience. I just like the interview because it's so rare to see that kind of thing.

I disagree with a lot of what he says, but not enough to hate him for it the way I disagree with everything Rick Santorum says.

I didn't know that Thompson had undergone cancer treatment, which led to him saying this, a line a loved:

Seriously, the other day I saw a Pepsi truck that was painted pink and that had a ribbon on it and I'm thinking, "Pepsi, you ****ing cause cancer!" It's like a fist being the spokesperson for domestic violence.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/4/11 at 3:31pm

"Here's the thing: The world is not kind to us; it never really will be. The gay male is always going to be at the bottom."

I feel like this statement casts gays as eternal victims much more than anything involving the It Gets Better campaign.

Updated On: 11/4/11 at 03:31 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/4/11 at 3:39pm

By all accounts, Lawrence King grew a pair and stood up for himself and look where that got him.

[finebydesign]

Posted: 11/7/11 at 10:21am

It will be interesting to see if the "get's better" campaign really has a lasting impact on a generation. For me it seems difficult enough to understand you are gay and what that might mean (not for everyone) when you are a child and then accept the "gets better" message itself. It's nice the message is there though when you get there. But there are plenty of gay kids that want no where near that message. Coming out is also difficult because you are bringing up the "sex" topic with parents.

Kids are essentially a reflection of their parents so those are the people that can really have influence here. So its really important to bring the conversation to everyone.