Saturday, October 20, 2012
Uncle Poodle Talks About Being Beaten By Homophobes
The first time I saw Uncle Poodle on TLC, I thought to myself that Lee Thompson is a brave guy. It takes a lot of courage to be out an open in Honey Boo Boo's community and even though he dresses like a redneck and is a good old boy, he is still gay and I told myself he has probably been beaten up a lot. Turns out he has. In a message for GLAAD's Spirit Day, Lee says he has been repeatedly beaten by homophobes. He has suffered broken ribs and a broken jaw. He constantly has his car vandalized and has since he was a teen. I don't understand why people need to beat up other people just because they are gay. Do they think they are going to beat the gay out of them? Are they scared that Lee is going to corner them and make them have sex with him? Are they secretly gay themselves? Or did they have nothing to do that night because their girlfriend broke up with them because they had a small peen so they went to find someone to beat up.
This kind of thing happens in any kind of community. Where I grew up i can't recall anybody beaten up for being gay. It was always a more racial tension in school and stuff like that. And I know of gay guys who hung out with some of the biggest rednecks and were open about it. And I don't mean like Sweet Home Alabama guys in the movie.
ReplyDeleteThink 'american beauty'.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was more racial tension in my school too. A country high school in North Carolina, late '60s. Wasn't pretty.
ReplyDeleteProps to Uncle Poodle. Hate is hate and it should not be tolerated.
ReplyDeleteHey, having a small member isn't necessarily the worst thing. Besides, all the GF's that broke up with me had good reasons, usually based on the fact that I'm more of a loner and like my privacy.
ReplyDelete(One was a stupid reason, though- I was a manager and had worked from 7:30am-2:00am and then had to open at 7:30am the next day, I couldn't drive 45 minutes after work to watch her son while she took her daughter to the hospital at 3:15am. Before anyone says I was being selfish, her mom and dad lived in the apartment right under hers and volunteered to watch him. Found out from friends she was crazy anyway.)
OT: no idea why people feel so insecure with their sexuality to where they have to beat people up or demean them for theirs. With that said, I did break a gay guys nose once because after he had come on to me once I told him I wasn't interested, less than an hour later he was back at it and grabbed at me, I told him again- then later that day he did it again I swung and broke his nose. Does that count as what happened here?
Rowdy:
ReplyDeleteNah, no more than if you were a woman cracking the face of a guy that felt her up against her expressed will. Just because someone is gay doesn't mean they can't also be an asshole.
Bullies are bullies and they beat people up for ANY reason, because they're gay, fat, ugly, another race, dumb, handicapped,etc. or different in any way,and if they can't see or find any "obvious" reason then they'll just invent a reason. Bullying needs to be stopped no matter who the victim is.
ReplyDeleteIDK who this guy is but I agree with pogue- some people just have an ugly streak and will justify their nasty behaviour any which way they can.
ReplyDeleteIf it's not the gay, it's the minority, the female, the smaller kid, the smart one, ect..
Shhh its poodle. Love the dude. stay strong
ReplyDeleteThey are power tripping to beat up on a gay man for being out. I think IDIOTS consider it like cooties. They think that he will turn them all.--- Like when Lewis Black ripped on Rick Santorum and the "Gay Banditos" (YouTube it. He's hilarious!)
ReplyDeleteI'm with Spike.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first began in my media career, there was an 'out' guy that was highly aggressive (note:not assertive. A subtle but important difference)
He would hit on every cute guy he could and then cry "intolerance!" when they reacted to him touching them and trying to feel them up.
I don't know the deal with this guy but I'm fairly certain that most straight guys may be better off carrying tasers these days to protect themselves from a bad touch.
#4 FOR SURE...
ReplyDeleteXOXO
@ABlake - Tasers? LOL! Women/girls go through this shit from 10 on. Most of us are raped before we hit 20. I have a hard time sympathizing with males who freak out just because a gay guy makes a pass at them.
ReplyDeleteI guess I got a little riled up because the same guys who beat up gays are the same assholes who sexually assault us. I guess I have a little anger. Tired of feeling guilty all my life over something I did not cause just because some men are assholes. And I'm tired of men not being secure enough in themselves to the point where they beat up gays and rape women (anger towards both because they feel inadequate).
ReplyDeleteI agree, Mad. The first time I was groped, was in second grade, by a fellow classmate. I had to get used to old men making comments about my breasts at the age of 15. At 18, I was assaulted in the parking lot of my work, by a coworker's father. I have little sympathy for someone whose worst experience is getting hit on by a gay man.
ReplyDeleteYou know what's sad? That the reveal about Britney Spears has 165 comments while this has 15.
ReplyDelete@Ablake Tasers? Really? Almost every single case of gay bashing, when asked, the criminal usally pulled out the "he came on to me and I didn't like it", and sometimes that excuse got them off in court. Now I don't know where these paragons of heterosexuality live, but all gay people I know when attempting to cruise what they think is another gay man, usually take no for an answer and try their luck somewhere else. Trust me on this. Even the most drunken horny gay dude doesn't want to get beat up by someone he thinks is cute, but is obviously hostile. So when straight guys get a come on from a gay guy, the word "no" is 100% effective. No need for tasers.
ReplyDeleteAs for Uncle Poodle, I think it was very brave of him to go on Honey Boo Boo as the gay person he really is. Of course he is lucky that the Boo Boo family are grossed out by him or think he is going to hell. When you have that support behind you, it makes the harrassment easier to deak with.
ETA, expect Uncle Poodle and Sugar Bear to be on the next season of The Amazing Race.
ReplyDeleteAnother ETA. I wonder what niece he was talking about who is gay also? If it is one of the Boo Boo clan, I suspect Pumpkin.
ReplyDelete@Basil- Luckily you have met gay men with a sense of integrity.
ReplyDeleteI know a someone who portrays himself as a kind, sensitive, gentle, gay guy, who once said to me that he could "convert any straight guy, that all it took was a spiked drink." I never looked at him the same way again. I saw him as a potential rapist.
@Rowan. No matter what our sexuality, there are always going to be assholes who like to take advantage of someone they deem weaker than they are. But I suspect your gay friend was just telling tales and bragging. At least I hope so, because if he DOES roofy guys, he is committing a crime.
ReplyDeleteWell said @MadLyb. Thought the same thing. I really hope he's a troll.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even gonna read the Brit comments. I think abortions shouldn't be revealed like outings aren't.
Good for Uncle Poodle for being out, and being a genuinely decent fellow--here's hoping his dose of reality fame makes life better for him in the long run.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest: assholes are assholes, and unfortunately some assholes are also (wannabe) rapists, or at the very least people who deliberately keep pushing at other people's boundaries because they get off on being a bully; it's certainly not limited to only one sexual orientation. Having said that, though, it's one thing to shove someone off you or even slug them once if they literally won't stop grabbing you (because the groper is committing assault and battery against you), and quite another to dole out the kind of over-the-top beatings and assaults involved in gay-bashing episodes. 99.99% of gay men would never intentionally hit on a straight man anyway, and back off once they find out they've made that mistake, so the whole "gay panic made me do it" defense is complete bullshit. (After all, if you're looking to get laid, you're probably going to hit on the kind of people who could actually make it happen, as opposed to those who might get violent, right? It's only common sense.)
I can't be the only one who remembers Dr. Henry Adams' research at the University of Georgia back in the '90s, can I? Admittedly, I was working at the UGA psych dept. at that time (although not w/Hank), so I have good reason to remember him...Anyway, the gist of it was that, when exposed to gay porn, guys whom a self-administered questionnaire determined were both straight and homophobic had MUCH higher ratings of arousal than did the straight-but-non-homophobic guys, thus lending credence to the whole "gay bashers are closet cases" idea. Makes sense to me...