According to one of my blogger buddies, Rod 2.0, this nondescript picture is causing a nasty reaction online and demonstrates not only basic homophobic but how terrible it is for men, especially black men, to show a little affection:
The image was snapped of two young men apparently on Atlanta's MARTA and the Twitpic is entitled "No Excuse: I Don't Give a F-ck How Sleepy You Are." So far, the image has 12,400+ views and has produced three pages of mostly cruel, homophobic and hateful comments. There are dozens more comments across Twitter and the Twitpic has migrated to gay-baiting black gossip blogs. One perennial gay-baiting blogger has slammed the two young men as "homo-thugs", ranted about HIV/AIDS and complained that "it's become nearly impossible to distinguish heterosexual men from down low thugs." Are "down-low" thugs hugged up on public transit? Probably not ...
It's a very sweet and innocent photo. According to the comments, it seems the young men's primary offense, in addition to seemingly being gay, is that they are "normal looking" and apparently in love. More power to them. It's too bad more people don't have the courage to be themselves.
Amen, Rod. There would be less ignorance and less fear if not only folks chose to be themselves but others didn't give them hell for it.
3 comments:
I would be concerned for their safety as this photo gets out, whether they are gay or straight. Even if the online rants don't become physical, the taunts are always there offline.
No matter... It is a beautiful picture of a friendship.
I think it's a beautiful picture.
That's a great photo, but like the other commenter said, I'm worried about the safety of these young men. I hope they take precautions.
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