I do have a few problems with the original post and it is easy to see why it received such a heated reaction:
In the first paragraph:
"OK, I know I will be 'bashed' maybe for this. But I have to ask, why is Broadway theater so gay and getting gayer every day? The actors are gay. The dancers are gay. and more and more the shows are about gay life, ie Rent, Ave. Q, etc..."
First, as Sueleen pointed out, you admitted you would probably get bashed at the outset, so why act so surprised? Second, Rent and Avenue Q nor any other show on Broadway currently, with the exception of I Am My Own Wife is about "gay life". The last two Broadway musicals about "gay life" were Falsettos and La Cage aux Folles. Two musicals in 20 years (and very few plays with far shorter runs) hardly constitute Broadway being "gayed up". The number of gay plays have actually decreased since Love Valour Compassion and Angels in America.
"What I'm asking is, why are gay people soooooo attracted to broadway??"
Which is not what you asked in the first paragraph, but ok, gay people are so attracted to Broadway because Broadway is one of America's first businesses to openly embrace gays and continues to do so. But the thing is, statistically, there are more heteros working for and attending Broadway shows than gays, so my question is, why are straight people sooooooo attracted to Broadway? Probably for the same reason gays are attracted to it. They love theatre. As for the joke about being gay because someone likes Broadway, that is just the same bashing that has been going on for decades. Gays have adopted it in their humor because if they can make fun of it themselves and have a laugh, it reduces the amount of ammunition for those who still use that old stereotype to bash others. The same type of reverse stereotyping exists with other minorities in music and stand-up comedy.
"It just seems that now, the gay life is being glamorized and becoming chic."
Not really. It is just becoming more openly accepted. Try to imagine that heterosexuality was never shown openly on television, films, theatre, in most literature, or allowed to display openness of affection on the street in restaurants or any public place and to do so could easily mean severe bodily harm or death. Seriously, these are things that gays have had to deal with for CENTURIES. The thought that if you openly display anything that might reveal yourself as a homosexual could result in being BEATEN TO DEATH. Granted, it is the extreme, but until the last few years, in most of the country, it was a reasonable conclusion and it NEVER LEFT YOUR MIND.
"I have had gay friends and their life was not glamorous in any way."
Most lives are not glamorous. I don't think all heterosexuals live their lives like episodes of OC, One Tree Hill, Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Dawson's Creek or any other show that glamorizes heterosexual characters.
"Can we all just perform with talent without flaunting what gender you go to bed with?"
Good question for the straight community as well. Ever been to a sports event, or watched one on TV? Or watch practically any major national or cable network? For every episode of Will and Grace, there is an episode of Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond or Frasier or COUNTLESS other sitcoms that "flaunt" or "glamorize" the hetero lifestyle. Gay life may be getting a bit more exposure than in the past, but it is still very much the minority of anything represented in the entertainment industry.
"Just think about show on TV, mainly sitcoms. So many jokes about being gay if you like Broadway."
You mean like the jokes about straight men and sports, women and shopping, lawyers and pretty much anything immoral? It's a common stereotype and there are many others. I'm sick of hearing about women and shoes. I don't believe EVERY woman is obsessed with shoes, but just because I'm tired of that ancient joke doesn't mean it will go away.
"Oh BY THE WAY ONCE AGAIN, it's not that there are gay people in theatRE, it's that gay people have this need to belt out, HEY, LOOK AT ME...I'M GAY!!!"
Most of them are not belting that at all. There are extremists who do so and then there is the Pride Parade, but that another topic altogether. Gay people just want the same chance to be comfortable in public and be represented in the mainstream just like every other person in this country. Right now, homosexuals are the ONLY minority that the government actually still condones prejudice against.
"Just sing and dance and leave your bedroom, well, in the bedroom!!"
Maybe if the straight majority would do it as well, we could follow their shining example.
bobo - "The bible and the christian community teach that homosexuality is a sin."
Actually, the Bible teaches about many things being a sin, but Christianity has chosen to only teach its followers the sins they pick and choose to be important.
For example:
Leviticus - A whole list of sins (including homosexuality) that were completely overthrown and later allowed. So at some point, activities that were once considered sins are suddenly not sins any more, with the exception of homosexuality because.....well.....no reason the Bible can explain, but men (not God) decided to keep it a sin.
Sodom - As I discussed in another thread. The story is about rape, not homosexuality. Sodom was destroyed because two angels were raped. Had the angels been women, would God had said, "Well, that's ok then"? Lot pimps out his daughters and then his daughters get him drunk and sleep with him to impregnate themselves which incorporates both date-rape and incest, yet neither the Bible nor Christians condemn this activity. They will condemn it in other parts of the Bible, but not here.
So why is every instance of homosexuality a sin, even when overthrown by Leviticus, but not every instance of rape or incest is not a sin? And why is homosexuality such a HUGE issue to Christians when it is not even one of the "ten commandments" that are so commonly broken constantly, yet never addressed with such vehemence by the conservative Christians?
While we're on the subject....THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. I am the LORD your God, you shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain.
3. Keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
How many of those are commonly broken on a daily basis? Numbers 6 and 10 deal specifically with the "sanctity of marriage", yet I don't see Bush trying to amend the Constitution based on either of those. So why is homosexuality such an enormous issue when it wasn't that big of an issue in the Bible in the first place?
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Updated On: 7/6/04 at 01:32 PM