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Loading ...Corvino: What celebrities say matters
Today I heard two bits of news that reminded me of how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go.
First, Bruce Springsteen has come out in favor of marriage equality in New Jersey. Yes, THAT Bruce Springsteen, or as many of us know him, “the Boss.”I grew up in New York and New Jersey, and I remember in seventh grade a debate between two male classmates about who was cooler: Bruce Springsteen or Rick Springfield. I voted for Springfield, because I thought he was cute. (To this day I couldn’t name one of Springfield’s songs without Googling, which turned up “Jessie’s Girl.”)
Incidentally, I also thought the two classmates having the debate were cute—not that I ever would have admitted it at the time. My awareness of my sexuality, such as it was, was entirely pre-articulate. Still, my attractions were real, and quite obvious to me, despite my unwillingness to name them.
Back then, mainstream rock stars generally didn’t come out in favor of gay rights or marriage equality, much less come out of the closet. Elton John was still officially bisexual; a year later he married a woman. Sure, there was Freddie Mercury and the Village People, but they were never mentioned in my middle-class Italian-American home. Springsteen was, though.
Now, as New Jersey legislators consider marriage equality, Springsteen has this post at the top of his website:
“Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I’ve been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I’ve long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, ‘The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is—a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.’ I couldn’t agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.”
Somewhere, some seventh-grade boy with a pre-articulate crush on a male classmate is reading those words and feeling a little bit more comfortable with himself.
Maybe he doesn’t listen to Springsteen’s music, but his parents (or grandparents) surely do. And the words make a difference.
Thank you, Bruce. I am totally retracting my vote for that other guy, whathisname.
Speaking of voting and rockstars, how ‘bout that Adam Lambert?
An attention seeker? Sure. But also undeniably talented. Which makes the following story doubly offensive.
Lambert, the American Idol runner-up, was targeted in a recent column by Mitch Albom. Albom is the author of Tuesdays with Morrie and other inspirational confections; he’s also a fellow Detroiter and a syndicated columnist.
In his latest piece he bemoans the culture of fame that gave us the Octomom, the Balloon-Boy family, and other media whores. No argument there. But then he writes,
“And we can’t begin to list all the pseudo, wannabe and semi-celebrities who shamelessly threw themselves into the limelight, from the Gosselins to the endless stream of Michael Jackson mourners to the gyrating, guy-kissing Adam Lambert, who seems to grow in stature with each show that cancels him.”
The “guy-kissing” Adam Lambert? As if a man’s kissing a guy puts him in the same category as the Gosselins?
Unlike the others on that list, Lambert is famous in no small part because he’s talented. If you want to criticize him for theatrical excess, fine. If you want to question his taste and judgment, go ahead. But to slam him explicitly for “guy-kissing” is homophobic, plain and simple.
Of course, it’s not Lambert’s feelings I’m concerned about here. He’s doing remarkably well for a so-called “pseudo, wannabe…semi-celebrit[y].”
But somewhere, some seventh-grade boy with a pre-articulate crush on a male classmate is reading Albom’s column and thinking that there’s something shameful about “guy-kissing.” Shameful enough that it merits being mentioned alongside the Balloon-Boy family.
Shame on you, Mitch. You should know as well as anyone that words matter.
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John Corvino, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. His column “The Gay Moralist” appears Fridays on 365gay.com.
For more about John Corvino, or to see clips from his “What’s Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?” DVD, visit www.johncorvino.com.
Consequently, just because you say it matters and you have a school boy crush, doesn’t mean it matters to most people let alone everyone.
Ask weed smokers if Willie Nelson is really helping the cause?
Ask unwanted animals if Sarah McLaughlin is aiding with their needs.
As I’m sure people enjoy the glitz of having a famous person in their corner, it doesn’t mean anything when it comes down to it. And if it does, who the hell wants to be apart of something where celebrity endorsement is the prize winner? What the hell does that say about us as a people or a country?
Leeanne you miss the point. In fact your opinion is downright frightening. The comment that just because someone with a schoolboy crush cares doesn’t mean most people do flat out says that most people don’t care about those poor impressionable youth, and the impact on their psyche. Do I personally care for myself about what celebrities think? No, of course I don’t. I’m a 28 year old self actualized adult who has an actual sense of self worth. Did I have that solid identity when I was in high school? No I really didn’t. I only got to where I was from a series of mistakes I learned from, the family and friends who gave me the support to be able to recover from those mistakes and learn from them, and from a barrage of other stimuli positive and negative that I assimilated. Would I have turned out as well if more of that stimuli had been negative and less positive? There’s no way to know for sure with me, but we do know from experience what effect that has on kids statistically?
So maybe step out of your “I’m all that matters, and everyone else should only care about things that effect them and other people who are mature enough to not care about silly things” and try and remember that the very people who are still immature enough (BECAUSE THEY’RE ACTUALLY YOUNG) to care about these things are just maybe worth your concern.
Excellent article!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially the Mitch Albom part. He has never been supportive of gays and lesbians. It seems like his sensitivity is limited.
This article really got me; I wish I had seen more recognizable people supporting gays and lesbians, or coming out, when I was a teenager. It would have been nice to have seen myself represented by the media; or to have seen someone, especially someone notable, saying “It’s okay to be you!”
And Leeanne, you’re absolutely incorrect. Do you truly think all those companies and add agencies spend millions, (billions) on celebrity endorsements because they do no good? Follow the money. If it didn’t work, people wouldn’t be spending the cash, pure and simple.
If you want to bemoan what that says “about” us as a society, feel free. But don’t pretend your distaste means it isn’t so. Air Jordans are the best selling shoes in the country not because they are an engineering masterpiece.
People become celebrities because us “average” people elevate them to something special, something better or more interesting than the rest of us that we can look up to or pretend there is a better place or life that we are living.
What these people say has a huge effect on the world around us. Like it or not.
I really hate to nitpick, but I just have to say that if Elton John came out as bisexual, I’m pretty sure that still counts as coming out. Just saying.
Leanne, give me a freaking break! Young kids and teens idolize their heroes. Have you forgotten what it was like to be young and have posters up on your wall of your favorite artists? ,Whether you realize it or not, those very people are the one’s kids often emulate. To be young, gay and confused and have someone like Adam Lambert who is a talented, visible gay person they can relate to, goes a long way in helping their self-esteem. Apparently you came hopping right out of the closet and announced to world you were gay. Good for you. Unfortunately, that isn’t the same for 99% of the rest of us. My era was the 80s, and while I liked Culture Club, Boy George was my example of what it meant to be gay and that just wasn’t me. In fact, I maintained that impression of homosexuals until I got into my early twenties and realized they were like everyone else, just like me.
@ Leeanne:
I hope you recover from your “menses” and wake up to the fact your opinion isn’t the end-all, be-all, and that the rest of society who might disagree with you are not simply stupid.
As a young, impressionable, totally UNSUPPORTED young gay boy of the 50s-60s (when, by the way, the insignificant Beatles were giving young girls hormonal hysteria — and young gay boys, as well), I can assure you that any celebrity speaking out IS most definitely a BIG DEAL.
Take off your blinders and realize you aren’t the only person on the planet. Frankly, your snarky comment is nearly as offensive as was Albom’s — in it’s total lack of empathy for anyone who is marginalized.
Yes I would agree that it is important that celebrities at the minimum acknowledge gay people. They do not have to endorse or otherwise comment on them.
While this is nor quite on target but take the TV show with the female witches in San Francisco. First I am not a die hard fan of the series but as an example of denying we exist, there was one pride flag shown during the entire series (that I saw). I remember commenting on seeing it to a real fan and he said yes that was it. Here is a show that takes place in San Francisco that probably has the highest gay population in the world and the most we got was a pride flag.
It is like we are invisible and we were treated like that during the full run of the show. A stupid flag (no offense) but we deserve a lot more than that. I wasn’t asking for a story line but a small mention would have helped.
ps2os2:
I can empathize… and I completely agree.
Here in Los Angeles, the local news barely ever mentions gay issues or even acknowledges us. When it was time for “Hunky Santa” to come around, the local female anchor on channel 7 stated “This Santa is for mama!” Let’s remember that the Beverly Hills Mall is right outside West Hollywood, and when Hunky Santa was shown on TV, there were more men surrounding him than women… but still he’s ONLY for MAMA. It’s still discrimination… by way of exclusion. And it’s just as bad.
Bruce is from Asbury Park, which has been as close to a Gay Mecca as Jersey is gonna get, since Springsteen was a teenager in the 1970’s.
As a musician, I’d question the assertion that Adam Lambert is talented, and as a veteran activist, I’ve learned to choose my battles carefully. In that context, I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon of those defending him.
Lambert is the archetypal wannabe. He WANTS to be Freddie Mercury. He WANTS to be David Bowie, Marc Bolan, etc…., but he simply isn’t anywhere close.
The same goes for his wanting to be a sexual provocateur. I seriously doubt there would have been so much criticism of his performance had he not been *trying* so hard to do something that he really can’t pull off.
Anthony Kiedis kissed Dave Navarro in a Red Hot Chili Peppers video, and it was hot. Lambert trying to be provocative by kissing a guy is just a sophomoric grab for attention, and he is very much part of our media culture’s tendency to elevate sub-par “talents” to celebrity status.
I think that the type of ally we really need would be an athlete. We have enough flaming ‘mos screaming for attention on camera. I think that Bruce coming to help is great. That reaches an audience we don’t have, the older generation. But, i honestly dont care if adam lambert screams it. I think much of the sterotype that is portrayed upon homosexuals is being perpetuated by acts such as this. What we need is a masculine guy that regular STRAIGHT MEN can relate to, like an athlete, to stand up and say its ok.
For most of my life I would never have endorsed the notion that what a celebrity said had any effect on ‘real’ life or ‘real’ politics. They aren’t really smart, they really don’t have to deal with the same predujices, so who cares? I don’t.
When I look at the friend of mine who payu attention to such comment from such stars, I realize they know nothing about being a minority, being different or being gay, and more importantly, are incapable of doing so, even though they might ‘feel; they know what it is to be sympathetic.
chottinger: Fully agree we have only a few athletes out. The more the better. Another ‘macho man’ type people might listen to would be soldiers… oh that right, our cannot come out they will be discharged.
How can we complain about another country writing anti-gay laws when we still have DADT and DOMA on the books, and no fully inclusive ENDA. We do finally have a HATE CRIMEs law, but it only applies once a crime has been committed, very civilized!
Sorry John C. It really is a fine piece, but we have these horrible other juxtaposed things happening, its mind boggling.