How do you feel when straight people try to tell a gay story?

[East]

Hoe! Get yaself off mah Daddy gurl! *pokes with 10ft stick*

You are just gonna have to learn to share young man!

[BorneoJake]

I hated Brokeback Mountain because I hated the characters. People who live their entire life in fear and who do not ever stand up for anything are not very interesting to me as an individual and I cannot really engage myself in their story because they bore me.

I do, however, think it was a well written story and a beautiful film...I just found the characters completely unlikeable.

I don't think it matters at all if the writer's are straight or gay. Gay people have written masterpieces featuring straight people for eons. I would rather focus on the work than the person's sexuality as their sexuality is a non issue for me either way.

I actually disagree. I like characters who do have that fear or are unconfident, it makes them more human. That fear gives you a blank canvas to pretty much mold your character into something amazing.

As for straight writers writing gay love stories, I totally agree with you. I don't think it depends on sexual orientation to write a story about love, whether it be a gay or straight. I think it takes an empathetic person to create a story.

[LONDONER]

KawaiiKitty, at 33 you have absolutely no idea what it was like to be gay in 1970. You are in no position to even imagine what it was like. "Brokeback Mountain" depicted very accurately the American attitude towards homosexuality and it was common for gay men to marry to keep up appearances because there was real fear of just about everything were they to be found out. Complete ostracism within a community would be a minor "punishment", losing your job another, being beaten to death by homophobes would be the ultimate.

Unfortunately the much more accepting attitude that exists today and that you have grown up with and become accustomed to, was not prevelant in the 70s.

As far as the character of Kurt in "Glee" goes, don't you think that he's stereotypical? Effeminate, a fashion queen? I know that Chris Colfer is openly gay and he's probably playing himself, but thank heavens (in my own personal opinion) that not all gays are like that. Just not my type.

[Kenny221]

KawaiiKitty, at 33 you have absolutely no idea what it was like to be gay in 1970. You are in no position to even imagine what it was like. "Brokeback Mountain" depicted very accurately the American attitude towards homosexuality and it was common for gay men to marry to keep up appearances because there was real fear of just about everything were they to be found out. Complete ostracism within a community would be a minor "punishment", losing your job another, being beaten to death by homophobes would be the ultimate.

Unfortunately the much more accepting attitude that exists today and that you have grown up with and become accustomed to, was not prevelant in the 70s.

It was a shame... It was also that fear that had driven the two characters apart. It was that fear that they had to throw away their love. It was a heart wrecking book and movie. The scary part was that was reality, and it was reality for many other back then. Most of us these days grew up in a more accepting society... And even though even now it seems like it's not good enough, the LBGT movement actually made alot of progress In the last 50 years

[Pix]

I just remembered, while I do like how Joss Whedon makes gay characters who aren't stereotypes and positive characters, bisexuality doesn't seem to exist in his world (unless you count Inara in Firefly, and I found that unclear myself). For example, Willow crushes hard on and cheats with Xander, has a committed relationship with Oz, and then suddenly, overnight, is fully gay and can never be straight again (when a love spell makes her fall for a guy she begins to work her own mojo to turn him into a girl).

And then there were the Buffy comics, which I hated as they went against the canon (ironically books for after the series that aren't canon are more consistent to the series and respectful of the characters). And then after some extreme drama Buffy has a one night stand, and the question was is she gay now? (Even CNN asked this!) Interesting enough this caused a storm in the Buffy fandom, too, like one was ok with Willow being gay because she was a sidekick, but not Buffy, that was immoral (she didn't reply when I asked what was moral about Buffy screwing Spike in alleys on work breaks and even watching her friends while he takes her from behind in the Bronze, and of course lying to them about screwing Spike). And to me a one night stand, especially after extreme circumstances, doesn't change anyone's sexuality, not even into bi (now if Buffy thought how beautiful she was, fine, maybe bi, but she didn't do that).

[Lilitu]

I haven't seen many gay themed movies or read many books about gay people (except the Rainbow Boys trilogy and some other books by Alex Sanchez. It was so worth it just to make fun of how bad those books were xD. The worst one is 'So Hard to Say') but I don't think there's anything wrong with portraying another social category even if you're not in in.

Look how many stories about Asia white people have come up with.

It's just that alot of the time they end up really bad and inaccurate, in which case I have fun making fun of it.

[Kiid]

Art is subjective. Stories are art. Some people are skilled with pen and paper and can make fantastic stories and same with film makers.

[Juniorlove]

I hated Brokeback Mountain because I hated the characters. People who live their entire life in fear and who do not ever stand up for anything are not very interesting to me as an individual and I cannot really engage myself in their story because they bore me.

I do, however, think it was a well written story and a beautiful film...I just found the characters completely unlikeable.

I dislike the movie too but I think the reason why I dislike it is because the characters were too human. They didn't stand up for anything, they were not heroes, they just were. It was like watching them live life with life unfolding but no one decided to say HEY looks that's wrong, this is how I feel. Oh well.

[pellaz]

... didnt like how they portrayed the characters as getting married and cheating on their wives for years on their camping trips. I think thats a bit farfetched as well, but then again it is a movie. I think most gay guys want to fit into society but if they know they are gay I dont think most gay guys would go ahead and marry a woman just to fit in. ...

i think i did that.
In the last couple of years things have changed a lot for the lgbt community. Still changing and not slowing down, especially if the US Courts strike down the 1996 defense of marriage act.

list of gay characters

gay characters i liked
Alex Henley (Sam Jackson) in Skins


omar little in The Wire:

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Actually Brokeback mountain addressed issues as they were in the middle of the Last Century. You are 33 years old, so I don't know how much you recall of the dark old days when people were forced to live their whole lives in closets.

The story takes place in the years of 1963 to 1981 - Those were troubling times for LGBT, a time of significant change true, but a lot of guys and gals of that time did in fact live double lives, did in fact have a marriage to create a facade of being 'normal' in a time when being LGBT was still considered a mental illness and you could be institutionalized and given a few volts of electricity applied to the head as 'treatment'.

While The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its diagnostic list of mental disorders in 1973, there were many 'doctors' still treating homosexuality as a mental disorder as late as the middle to late 1980's. I fear there may be some who still treat it today as such, with electroshock therapy included.

Through the years we have had 'ground breaking' LGBT movies which do paint the dark since of what its like to be gay. Take Torch Song Trilogy, It depicts a lot of sterotypes of homosexuals, however it also raised awareness of the unfair treatment and abusive nature that a lot of LGBT went through. Such as the mom believing that her son couldn't possibly love a man. While few people think that now, not too long ago it was the main course of many 'discussions' and 'debates' about homosexuality.

Glee? Gay positive? Really? 20 years down the road some kid is going to be posting about how 'fake' and 'unrealistic' a portrayal of homosexuals in the early 21st century can't possibly be real, because in 20 years time bullying for being gay will be greatly reduced and he won't see it first hand.

You live in interesting times... There has been so many fundamental shifts in the past 40-50 years, in part due to movies like Brokeback Mountain, Torch Song Trilogy - movies that depict the harshest and "out there" aspects of being a gay in the world.