Subscribe to Breaking NewsStottlemyer: Dustin Lance Black’s Short Road to Redemption
When I first heard the news, I was in shock. Nude photos of Dustin Lance Black, my idol and - I’ll admit it- celebrity crush, had popped up online, and I didn’t know how to react. He was the last person I would have suspected to have a sex tape scandal. I couldn’t believe that this was actually happening.
I feared one of the fiercest and most public proponents of LGBT rights would lose all credibility and never be taken seriously again. Black came and visited my university this past semester; I had the opportunity to hang out with him and a small group of students after he spoke. I was impressed by his dedication to the LGBT community, his willingness to answer all of our questions, and just how nice he really is. Plus, he’s incredibly good looking. But that’s beside the point.
Black seemed truly genuine in his fight for LGBT rights. He is exactly the kind of person the LGBT movement needs right now: someone with a huge platform and access to large audiences who is not going to keep silent about his opinions concerning gay issues.
So when the pictures of him having unprotected sex were revealed, I was nervous at first that he’d lose respect. Not much time has passed since the pictures came out, and the accompanying sex tape has yet to be released, but it seems I was worried for nothing. Most people simply haven’t taken much notice of the so-called “scandal.” If anything, many people have backed the Oscar winner, fiercely defending his integrity.
Even the people who posted the pictures, such as the ever-obnoxious Perez Hilton, received a lot of flack from people in the gay community for doing something that could hurt Black’s image. Just check out the Twitter fights that went on between Hilton and several other gay twitterers.
Yeesh.
Yesterday, Black was honored by Lifeworks Mentoring, a group which offers one-on-one, peer and group mentoring opportunities for LGBT youth ages 14-24. Black was gracious as he accepted his award, making no reference to the recent pictures. I’m relieved that he’ll continue to be recognized as a great screenwriter and a great gay role model instead of being known as the guy who had a gay sex tape.
I also hope whoever the jerk is who released those photos gets what’s coming to him.
Scott are you lame? The crest he has ridden has been the adulation he has received from the gay community for winning a stupid statue. The speaking engagements and the idol worship are all based on what the gay community believed was a guy who could be a positive role model and voice for that community. Yet in his personal life he doesn’t exactly conduct himself in the same manner so then the bigger question is why did he accept this role of messiah? Answer: For his own ego and the worship the gay community offered him. The story is important to every young man and woman on the face of this earth. Stop worshiping someone in the entertainment industry. They have their own agenda and 9 times out of 10 are a complete fraud and justify being a fraud by saying at least in public they have done good things. The confusion and disappointment they offer in private is so damaging to young impressionable people it has long term effects. people like him don’t really give a d amn. The guy he is pictured with would easily be defined as one of the most well known scuzz balls from Laguna at that time. DLB knew exactly who and what that guy was all about, but as someone within the entertainment industry he just didn’t care. He considered it a perk. No one would ever know. Now that they do the new message is s pathetic. It goes some thing like this.. Oh ya caught me but thats not fair I’m a victim of someone exposing who I really am. Don’t do as I do do as I say. Besides I’ve done lots of cool things for the gay community and gay folks just adore me. FEED MY EGO please. I promise I’ll say all the right things in public.
ScottP the hypocrisy lies in his message. Taking on the role of educator to the gay community suggesting one should practice safe sex and low and behold he doesn’t do it himself. The power this guy has been granted just for winning a stupid statue is over the top. If he can’t practice what he preaches then he is a fraud. This would be equal to a crystal meth addict going all over stating drugs are bad don’t do them. When he gets caught doing them all he does is says.. Oops, sorry about that but I still believe you shouldn’t do drugs. Some where in there is a bigger message and it’s about the person sending this odd ball message. They don’t really believe in what they are preaching they are just playing a role in public to a public that is gushing all over them. They figure so what? At least in public they say all the right things. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s like some closet case putting down homosexuality but yet he’s banging a bunch of guys on the weekends. Thats the problem. DLB is a fraud but believes it’s all ok because those desperate to have a successful messiah in the gay community don’t want to lose his face and voice. You’d think he was the first gay dude that won an oscar so lets over look his hypocrisy? Hell no. He’s a fake. He’ll continue to write and be successful but to allow him to be a voice for the gay community from here on out is an embarrassment.
Myra,
Please explain about this crest that Black has ridden, and exactly how he has exploited the gay community to further himself. I thought he became famous AFTER writing Milk, not before, so it would follow that he didn’t ride anything to fame and fortune except his own talent.
He wrote a screenplay that won an award. So? Does that mean he must live his life according to what others want from him? He’s just another human being. He worked hard, got some acclaim, now he’s supposed to live in a way to make you happy. Sorry, even for celebrities it doesn’t work that way.
This is still a non-story, get over it.
Who cares? Everyone that has been used by this guy should care. He’s a fraud. He has used the gay community in his quest for fame preaching one thing yet doing another. Think how manipulative of a person he is for one second and then you will understand the problem. Think of the young gay guy who moves from some rural area and is new to the gay scene. He’s instantly enamored at the fame that DLB has. Listens to every word the guy shovels. Then he meets DLB at a private party. Because DLB see’s this young kid worships him they end up alone. Suddenly this great hero says lets get it on and don’t worry about condoms it’s all cool. The kid is perplexed but figures what the hell? This is DLB. Not exactly who he claims to be but it just doesn’t matter. What else does the guy do privately? These pictures and vids are not going to stop him from writing or selling scripts. BUT the gay community needs to end the worship of this fraud and move on. He has used the gay community for idol worhsip. He won an Oscar for political reasons. Nothing exceptional in his work all the material was there to use in advance. Even his original cover story was to brag about all he has done on behalf of the gay community but what he will never say is what the pay off has been. While gay men fawn all over him and he says just the right things in a speech the payoff is all the worship he gets for it. There are some incredible writers out there who aren’t given this treatment. Apparently this guys ego goes well beyond the desire to produce solid art. He needs to be praised and at the expense of a bunch of suckers desperate for a messiah type figure to look up to. He’s a fraud. Just let him go back to his unsafe sexual behavior and stop deifying someone that has used you.
Mike and Peter,
Would you please cite the hypocrisy you’re talking about? Did he condemn someone else for having “unsafe” sex”? Or was it because he spoke out, saying “safer” sex was better? Did he support laws aimed at those who had sex in a way he didn’t approve of? Please specify what you find hypocritical.
This is a non-story and completely unimportant.
Sadly the author misses the point in admitting he deifies DLB he is unwillingly to look at the hypocrisy of his actions. Stop worshiping people and all of a sudden you will realize the problem in all of this. DLB has willingly used the gay community for fame and although he talks big talk about safe sex he doesn’t walk that talk. The only thing the author is worried about is if his idol will fall from grace over it when in fact he should. He’s a fraud. DLB won his Oscar based on politics. He did nothing extraordinary given the script could pretty much write itself with all the material available. He won because of the theme of the writing and he knows it. He has ridden a crest of fame and worship that would be highly uncommon if he weren’t gay. Those who are standing by him for some stupid reason need him to look up to so they don’t care that he is a fraud. The guy he is pictured with is a well known two bit ho. They were never lovers. He uses those in the entertainment business. DLB knew exactly who he was.
@Peter – Are you seriously retarded? Everyone who has commented on this story except for YOU and apparently Thomas seems to think we are hypocritical when what we’ve ALL said is WHO CARES and WTF is the actual story here? I suggest both you and Thomas learn to actually read before you start tossing around names. The only person who has apparently judged anyone is the author of this article who suggest that DLB did something wrong. Maybe the sarcasm or rhetorical questions are lost on you – which again, I suggest more education before tossing around insults.
Oh, seriously who cares. What was he doing, maybe putting himself at risk, maybe putting the person he was with at risk. The big emphasis there is on the maybe. It’s entirely possible they went and got tested together, and even if they didn’t it takes two to tango, and they were making educated choices about how much they were willing to risk in their life and how that risk compares to whatever experience they got out of it. I am so sick of the “If you don’t practice safe sex you’re a terrible person”. If you don’t pay attention to the risks, and educate yourself then go out and have unsafe sex then you’re an idiot, but if you take the time to educate yourself and then decide that certain actions are within the realm of what you are willing to risk then that’s your business. The only way it’s anybody elses business is if you are outright dishonest with a partner about your sexual history, thereby preventing them from making the same educated decision about what risks they are willing to take in their own life.
While in the position of an educator I would encourage those younger than myself to practice safer sex whenever possible. In this case if our society wasn’t so damned voyeristic, and not in the sexy fun sort of way we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Society should leave the man alone to have a good time and consider unclenching their collective ass long enough to do the same.
@Thomas: In response to your comment “Does each and every person who commented on this live perfect lives?” – Yup…I do…but seems you judged me without knowing me.
Mike:
Glad to see that SOMEONE gets it.
And for you other twits – I suggest you look up the meaning of the word ‘hypocrite’ – that is, if you can time off from your Twittering duties……..
And where was all this ‘who cares’ blathering when the object of embarrassing sex photos and tapes was a RIGHT WINGER?
Right.
In the immortal words of Edina Monsoon: ‘People have it off, sweetie.’
Oh noes… a gay man having sex with another gay man. Whatever is the world coming to?
Next thin you know, woman will want to breastfeeed the children in public. OH the horror!
So….? There are pictures. He had sex. Do we need to know anything else? Do we need to know anything at all? How easy it is to judge somebody in the public eye. I wouldn’t have even known about this except for reading it on Advocate.com & this site. Does each and every person who commented on this live perfect lives? Didn’t think so. Does that make them any less credible when espousing their beliefs? Didn’t think so again. Stop creating all these tempests in teapots with every celebrity who does something “wrong” (and by the way, exactly who determines whether it is or isn’t wrong). It’s not like he is some closeted homophobic politician who preaches hate in the daylight. These stories only have lives because we let them. That being said, I’ll stop here.
Cory, I suggest you swing around the net for a bit and read the comments. DLB is being called out for being a hypocrite. Especially after it was revealed who the partner is – an escort who has a webcam site that he sells videos and “sessions” from.
Seriously? Who the F*ck cares that he has nudy pictures on the net – don’t we all? And where is the supposed sex scandal? The fact that he has naked pictures equates to a sex scandal? The fact that he has sex with a man makes it a scandal? Or is it that he had unprotected sex….gasp…OMFG – while I am def. a proponent of safer sex, I certainly wouldn’t judge someone on a lapse of judgement/or not (not knowing the situation). Exactly what did Black need redemption from pray tell?