In the first few minutes of his show at the University last Wednesday, Milo Yiannopoulos addressed lesbians in his crowd.
“Are you lesbian because you’re fat, or are you fat because you’re a lesbian?” Yiannopoulos asked the audience.
In addition to his hateful comments, he did a segment focused on lesbians faking hate crimes at Texas Tech on Sept. 12. In that, he called lesbians fat and unhappy, and left a note for them on the big screen that told them to simply “stop being gay.”
Some gay men, especially white gay men, are just as misogynistic as any straight man. Though most of the country turns a blind eye to their actions, it is no more OK for a gay man to insult women than it is for a straight man to do the same.
Most gay men’s misogyny is directed toward gay women and black women. Gay men often ignore gay women’s struggles and focus on their perceivably serious attitudes.
There are some lesbians who aren’t big partiers, but they can have fun like anyone else. They would definitely have more fun if their gay male counterparts didn’t throw them under the bus for mundane differences.
Yiannopoulos is not the only gay man who acts like lesbians are a different species. Many other gay men participate in promoting harmful stereotypes about gay women.
Frankie Grande, Ariana Grande’s brother, is a gay man who competed in season 16 of “Big Brother.” During his time in the house, he said gay men do not choose to be gay, but lesbians do.
“Any lesbians chose to become lesbians later in life,” Grande said in a late-night conversation with his competitors.
It is absurd to believe that women choose to be gay while men do not. Yiannopoulos shares Grande’s belief that women can change their sexuality. This belief is extremely harmful to any lesbian who already wishes she could change her identity.
Another gay man who harms lesbians with stereotypes is Ryan Murphy, the producer of the TV shows “American Horror Story,” “Glee” and “Scream Queens.” Many of his shows portray women as clingy, predatory and obsessive.
It’s not only insulting that lesbians have to deal with homophobia from gay men, but also a slap in the face after all they contributed to the LGBTQ community.
Lesbians helped pave the way for gay rights. During the AIDS crisis, many lesbians went out of their way to help even though they weren’t directly affected. They do so much to help out the community, and they deserve respect from everyone, especially from gay men.
Lesbian singer-songwriter Janis Ian wrote a song about the murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man who was tortured and murdered in 1998 because of his sexual orientation. A lyric of the song reads, “I’m afraid to shine too bright / since the day they took his life.”
When a murder or tragedy happens in the LGBTQ community, everyone is affected. Lesbians are affected when gay men are killed, and gay men should be affected when lesbians are killed.
When 49 people were murdered in Orlando, both gay men and lesbians were killed.
Straight people do not care about the differences between gay men and lesbians. If they hate gay people, they hate gay people. End of story.
Gay men and gay women may have little in common when it comes to attraction, but that does not give one side the right to sell out the other. The LGBTQ community is a community for a reason.
Gay women have it bad when it comes to gay men bashing them, but we cannot forget gay men’s misogyny toward the most disrespected group of women: black women.
White gay men are some of the worst offenders when it comes to misogynoir. Though many say they have an “inner black woman,” they only cause more harm and create more stereotypes about black women.
Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter in July for his racially motivated insults to actress Leslie Jones. He called Jones “barely literate” and shared fake tweets of hers that made her look homophobic.
He also made fun of her response to hate tweets she received. The hate she got included comparisons of her to a gorilla and other racist messages.
Though Yiannopoulos’ actions were straightforwardly racist, other white gay men participate in less obvious stereotyping. Talk show host and producer Andy Cohen is also infamous for his misogyny against black women.
Cohen promotes stereotypes that black women are promiscuous and gold-diggers. When Nicki Minaj appeared on his show “Watch What Happens: Live,” he insinuated that she slept with multiple men in the hip-hop industry. Even after she was visibly uncomfortable, he kept prodding her on her personal life, even asking for a selfie with her butt.
White gay men need to understand that they are not the same as black women. Though they are both oppressed people in society, the struggles are unique to each group.
After straight white people, white gay men are on the top of the food chain. They get more power as time continues and have even begun to break past mainstream barriers.
At the end of the day, gay men are still men, and they still have power over women, especially minority women. They are still oppressed, but they do not get a free pass just because they are also a minority.
Lynne Bunch is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Terrytown, Louisiana.