Someone who's more educated on this topic give me a grand unified take here:
On one hand, if a politician who's notably anti-gay is caught at a 25-man orgy, and that ends his political career, there's something amusing (even poetic) about that. And it seems like a disproportionate amount of notably anti-gay public figures wind up in situations like this (although it might just be the media boosting these stories to the point where they seem more common than they actually are). And we know projection is a thing, and the "accuse everyone else of X to avoid suspicion of being X yourself" strategy is a thing as well.
On the other hand, "welp, looks like another case of projection from the anti-gay crowd" often veers into "haha that dude's totally gay but it's woke to weaponize sexual orientation as an accusation when I'm accusing some chud of projection" territory. And certainly there are plenty of straight folks who are bigoted as well, and turning an environment with rampant homophobia into "probably just another closeted, projecting gay guy" isn't good.
What's the best approach when a story like this pops up?
Yeah, people going "That guy must secretly love doing teh gay secks, like Putin does with Drumpf lol"about every single homophobic politician is not good, but when you have an actual literal case like this there's no reason for not tearing them to shreds
Though I guess it could be argued whether guys like this belong to any community other than the ruling class
On the other hand, “welp, looks like another case of projection from the anti-gay crowd” often veers into “haha that dude’s totally gay but it’s woke to weaponize sexual orientation as an accusation when I’m accusing some chud of projection” territory. And certainly there are plenty of straight folks who are bigoted as well, and turning an environment with rampant homophobia into “probably just another closeted, projecting gay guy” isn’t good.
I've always wondered like... what goes through people's minds with this. Is it just that typical libshit thing of pointing out hypocrisy?
Because I've never seen anyone expand on that. It's just "haha I bet that anti-gay guy is gay" as if... the fact that he's gay is a joke. It's kinda disgusting.
There's a third bullet point, and in that bullet point the word "gay" isn't italicized and no one goes "haha."
It's just a statement of fact, because, even though as you note we probably have some confirmation bias about ultra rightwing anti gay people "ending up being gay," it certainly certainly certainly seems to be a thing.
And pointing it out isn't homophobic or stereotyping. There's some scary, sad, self-hating shit that goes on in fascist hearts and minds, and it's not some labyrinthine psychological leap to get from closeted, virulent anti-gay politician to bukkake.
Someone who's more educated on this topic give me a grand unified take here:
What's the best approach when a story like this pops up?
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Yeah, people going "That guy must secretly love doing teh gay secks, like Putin does with Drumpf lol"about every single homophobic politician is not good, but when you have an actual literal case like this there's no reason for not tearing them to shreds
Though I guess it could be argued whether guys like this belong to any community other than the ruling class
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I've always wondered like... what goes through people's minds with this. Is it just that typical libshit thing of pointing out hypocrisy?
Because I've never seen anyone expand on that. It's just "haha I bet that anti-gay guy is gay" as if... the fact that he's gay is a joke. It's kinda disgusting.
Laugh
There's a third bullet point, and in that bullet point the word "gay" isn't italicized and no one goes "haha."
It's just a statement of fact, because, even though as you note we probably have some confirmation bias about ultra rightwing anti gay people "ending up being gay," it certainly certainly certainly seems to be a thing.
And pointing it out isn't homophobic or stereotyping. There's some scary, sad, self-hating shit that goes on in fascist hearts and minds, and it's not some labyrinthine psychological leap to get from closeted, virulent anti-gay politician to bukkake.