Hail the Prada-Worshipping Queer

By Terry Sawyer, PopMatters

July 24, 2003

I suppose that minstrelsy is the sincerest form of insult. If television can be reliably held to reflect the evolution of a minority's status in culture, then gay people appear to be at the "What's Happenin'?" stage.



Cashing in on the success of shows like "Changing Rooms" and other reality shows, Bravo has created "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy," in which tyrannical gay fashionistas remodel some poor straight man in their coke-mirrored image. Echoing the vacuous brain decay of Jack from "Will & Grace," Bravo seeks to show gay men as materialistic vamps, style clowns with cock-centered worldviews who see conversation as an opportunity for Three's Company-level double entendres. When these men open their mouths, distant stars collapse. Whereas Jack can be relished as at least part parody, his real-life Bravo counterparts murder any possible redeeming irony.

HALT! by mymicz

Are we serious here? I happen to know someone from Bravo and for them this show happens to be a lively parody that blends straights and gays in a new way that no other show has done before. Yes it's more over the top than Zeigfried and Roy, yes it is based on ridiculous fashion. But one or two wives a week during it's filming had a romantic evening with a clean man, and a few people made money sewing the clothes, all high end, which means they probably didn't use slave labor.

Is consumerism really the problem? I think not. The problem is that when we buy, we settle for low grade crap manufactured by slaves. You can be a conscientious consumer, avoid that genre of goods, and meanwhile, provide jobs for many people in need that are much more work friendly.

And who has mastered that better then homosexuals? I dare you to deny the quality and taste with which the majority of the gay community conducts itself, be they flamboyant, or just two gay dads quietly raising their kids. Molly Ivins has a famous speech where she speaks of communities being revitalised by gays.

In the speech, a group of old white southerners in Texas of all places realizes their town needs a dressing up. They sit around and ponder with their heavy drawls, "well how do we get them gay men to come out here to Texas?"

Like it or not, being gay can correlate to taste, and there is no shame in that at all.

It's no longer about coming out of the closet, it's about coming into the mainstream American media, and loving it . Gay sensitivity to culture and taste is a salvation, not by any means an abomination. Even if you are a queer slob who hates prada.