It was not a good week for gay role models.

On one hand, singer George Michael was caught with his pants down--again!--photographed after just having had anonymous sex in a London Park at 3 A.M.

Michael, who is apparently determined to be our community's Whitney Houston, was unapologetic. Upon being busted, he justified what he'd done by indignantly saying, “Are you gay? No? Then f*** off! This is my culture!”

And later, when it was suggested that he might not be the best role model, he disagreed, saying, "I should be able to be what I am to young gay people--which is a man who has managed to succeed in the industry for 25 years.”

Of course, if “industry success” is the standard, Mel Gibson is a great role model too--despite last week's DUI, not to mention the paranoid anti-Semitism that he shouted while being arrested.

I say maybe that's setting the bar for being a role model a little low, don't you think?

On the other hand, in other news this week, former boyband star Lance Bass, in his much-discussed coming out in People Magazine, told the world that yes, he is gay, but that he isn't comfortable being a role model.

“The gay community is going to hop on my back because I'm not going to lead the parades and be this crazy activist,” he said. “I don't want to be a poster child.”

For the record, Lance, those “crazy” activists? They are, quite literally, the reason why society has changed to the point where, after being photographed in a gay bar with your boyfriend, you still even have a career. They're also the reason you were able to go into that bar in the first place and not get arrested for violating laws like that one that existed in New York in the 1960s that made it illegal for two gay men to be together in a public place.

But the point is, in the screwy pop culture world of 2006, you've got anonymous sex addict George Michael, who insists he is a gay role model. And you've got Lance Bass, by all accounts a nice guy who happens to be in a stable relationship, who refuses to be a gay role model.

Somehow this just figures, doesn't it?

You might even say that it sums almost everything that's wrong with the gay community: not enough people who are willing to take a “crazy” stand on, you know, basic human rights. And a few people who, uh, would be doing us all a favor if they stayed inside more and played Boggle with their friends.

Page 1 / 2 - Next