Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (November 3, 2006)

ISAIAH WASHINGTON'S APOLOGY WAS SO GAY!
Hot on the heels of "Faggot"-gate, the Grey's Anatomy brouhaha, we now have the case of poor Brian Kinchen, the ESPN announcer who may lose his job for his "That's kind of gay" comment uttered during a football game he broadcast last weekend. If you missed the story, you might want to check out this clip so you can see what all the fuss is about. To nutshell it for you, while attempting discourse on the art of catching a football, Brian waxed a little too poetic and upon realizing it, wrapped up his comments by saying, "That's kind of gay." Uh oh.

You'll note there was no outcry from GLAAD, Barney Frank, or, well, us, but the very gay-friendly ESPN nonetheless decided to suspend Brian for a week (and speculation is he's toast). Brian also issued what struck me as a very sincere apology. Let me say upfront, I feel really bad for this guy. Having watched the clip, I truly don't think he meant to be offensive and I sure as heck hope he doesn't get fired over it. He was simply trying to do his job and inadvertently said something millions of Americans say every day.

But that doesn't make it all right and I appreciate ESPN's acknowledging that even if a little too zealously. What I have truly found to be interesting here is the reaction from others, especially straight men. Sports blogs all across the country are filled with comments from sports fans who want the gays to shut up (even though we hardly said boo about this). The idea here seems to be that gay people shouldn't be bothered by the word "gay" being used to describe something that is lame, dumb, or whatever other all-purpose insult one wishes to hurl. As with "faggot," the issue seems very clear to me. If Kinchen had said "That was kind of Mexican" or "kind of Jew," there wouldn't be any question it was inappropriate. Marc Hansen, a sports columnist for the Des Moines Register totally gets it. I agree with everything he says.

ANOTHER HIGH PROFILE GAY COUPLE GOES KAPUT
No, I'm not talking about Lance and Reichen. They're together for eternity. I'm talking about Mark and Chase, the gay couple from Doonesbury. I haven't seen this reported elsewhere, but in last week's series of strips Mark announced he could no longer stay "married" to Chase. For those who don't follow the strip, Mark and Chase were the James Carville and Mary Matalin of the gay set. Together they hosted a radio show with Mark arguing the liberal point of view, and Chase the lunatic, er, Republican, point of view. (Oops, let my bias slip out again, didn't I? Bad, Michael! No, X-Box for you today.) So why did Mark leave Chase in the end? "I couldn't stand being married to a Nazi anymore-it was embarrassing." Ouch.

MOVIE MADE IN PURPOSE TO GRAB BUTTLOADS OF MONEY
***WARNING: SOME MINOR SPOILERS***
Sacha Baron Cohen's social satire Borat opens today and you can check out our review here. I saw it at the same press screening as our critic, Craig, and while I agree with most of what he said, I have to take a slightly dimmer view of the film. I've no doubt Cohen intends to satirize intolerance of all types, but a very wise woman once told me that if you want to really know what a culture thinks of certain issues, don't look at the highbrow art—literary novels, art films, or theater—but at the lowbrow entertainment. Trust me, Borat is the lowest of the lowbrow. So what does it have to say about how our society looks at the gays?

Cohen does let a number of homophobes make complete asses of themselves, most notably the rural fellow who wishes America could be more like Kazhakstan and execute gay people. Nice guy, huh? I wonder which party he'll vote for on Tuesday? But one of the movie's most extended scenes involves a buck-naked Cohen fighting his very overweight and unattractive Kazak compatriot who is also completely naked. As they wrestle, the two end up in a variety of positions that not coincidentally mimic the sexual practices for which gay men are most known and reviled. And the audience couldn't get enough of it. Judging from their reaction, there is precious little funnier than two naked men getting it on. Unless it's that one of them is very, very obese. And hairy.

I have to acknowledge Cohen's audacity in going there. The man is fearless. I'm just not certain it was a healthy place for us, or the audience, to go.