As co-creator of this site, I am always on the lookout for anything relating to homosexual / bisexual men of color in the media.I came across two stories today as to why a website like this was created…partly because there is no real representation of masculine homosexual / bisexual male characters of color in media and our voices are rarely if ever heard. Not only this, I personally feel that masculinity (not male chauvinism) is being marginalized and over shadowed by metro-sexualism and fabulous-ness. There is no balance at all.Besides the barrage of feminine men of color on Reality TV (RuPaul’s Drag Race, America’s Next Top Model, Atlanta House Wives, American Idol (LOL), Lafayette on True Blood etc)…Masculine gay men of color in media are for the most part nonexistent. This is why I can’t wait for the TV Drama LA Complex to hit our shores come April 24 on the CW.
Now back to the two stories that somewhat raised my ire…
On the new cable TV series House of Lies Don Cheadle is the father of a gender nonconforming 12 year old son named Roscoe (pictured). In the debut episode Roscoe goes out for the female role of Sandy in his school’s depiction of the musical Grease. Roscoe gets the role and some parents complain that the role should be for a girl.
Keep in mind (which I will somewhat repeat again below) this has nothing to do with people being true to themselves or accepting who they are. Nor does my rant have to do with not respecting our fem brothers…please…they are people and deserve respect like everyone. My rant has to do with basically f–king ZERO representation of masculine homosexual / bisexual male characters of color in media.
“I’ll be quite frank with you — I didn’t know about Hunger Games — so when I’m telling kids and they say, ‘Who are you playing?’ and I say Cinna, they go, ‘Oh you’re playing the gay guy.’ That was an actual answer. I’ve never brought that up yet. That’s how they perceived it.”
“So I thought about it, and I read the book and I don’t see that he is or isn’t [gay]. He’s a designer, he’s a stylist, he has gold eyeliner…that doesn’t mean anything either way.”
“The question was how far do we go with him,” continued Lenny. “The idea was to pull it back and create a character that’s more like a Tom Ford or an Yves Saint Laurent so he wouldn’t be too outrageous. He’s classic, he’s got his gold. I kind of played him in the middle.”
Lenny goes on to say that he consulted he bisexual friend on how to “middle” the character of Cinna…
“I actually have a friend who is a dancer who is bisexual, and he was a lot of inspiration for my speech pattern and my rhythm, and kind of the way I sauntered in and out a little bit.”
Wearing gold eyeliner doesn’t mean anything either way…WTF? Now I don’t know about you but I don’t know any dudes that wear gold eyeliner or any eyeliner. Maybe this is odd to me because I am not a celebrity rock n’ roller…I mean I have never owed or wore a pair of high heel boots either.
Now I know that this movie is set in a fictitious day and time. The attitudes concerning sex may mirror that of ancient Greece or Rome and this has nothing to do with his acting or what a great movie this may be.
My overall point is to me this is yet more examples of masculinity being marginalized and over shadowed by metro-sexualism and fabulous-ness in the media.
What do you think? Feel free to leave your comments.
-Octavius
OckyDub
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I strongly agree with you, Octavius! Other than CNN’s Don Lemmon, who is gay in real life, I cannot think of many masculine Black gay male CHARACTERS in the media, except perhaps for the infrequent appearance of (straight) performer Wayne Brady who plays Barney’s (Neil Patrick Harris) gay half-brother in the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”, Then there is: (straight) actor Anthony Mackie who stars as a gay student artist in the film “Brother to Brother”, (gay) actor Jensen Atwood, and (straight?) actors Gregory Keith and Jonathan Julian both who starred in the television series, “Noah’s Arc”.
Now, if you would forgive and bear with me, I’d like to further illustrate on one of your examples on this subject about the show “House of Lies” because I feel that certain things regarding the character of Roscoe sends a mixed message about Black males who live with black children – and how quite possibly, to avoid having any gay masculine Black MEN on this series (to date) the show writers seem to appease the gay community through the inclusion of an ambiguously gay child! I like the series “House of Lies” but I recall wondering from the very first episode of this series why the character Roscoe could not have been gay (or ambiguously gay) without the obvious appearance of such from wearing female clothing. (SIDENOTE: I am using quotes around the term “ambiguously gay” because it has NOT YET been accurately determined that Roscoe is, in fact, gay. Right now, he comes off as being ambiguously gay, with a slight touch of femininity – but keep in mind: Roscoe is “cute kid” and not many kids his age are considered to meet the ideal format of masculinity UNLESS they dress the (boy) part, which, in the series, Roscoe is not. He is a young boy, of at least 12 years old and, for all we know, is simply going through a period of self-expression (and perhaps a little experimentation). Surely the writers could have stuck with the reality that there are in fact, MANY boys Roscoe’s age and older who are gay, ambiguously gay, or “gay acting/appearing” in school but who don’t wear female attire. I’m all for self expression – to a point – for young kids. But as a RESPONSIBLE BLACK FATHER myself, I would have thought that Don Cheadle’s character, Marty Kaan, and the down-to-earth grandfather Jeremiah, (played by Glynn Turman) would have at least talked with Roscoe about his attire, the attention he (Roscoe) brings to himself, and the fact that there are many people – in school – who would seek to do him harm. In this series, we have TWO very seemingly strong, masculine, STRAIGHT Black men who, while they love the boy Roscoe, are FAILING on all counts to guide this child – a BLACK child – accordingly on public perceptions, the many stereotypes of Black men AND of BLACK children – especially when it comes to masculinity (BLACK masculinity at that) and being or acting ambiguously gay in demeanor and/or appearance, and how a Black male needs to survive in the real world. While the show is not centered around Roscoe, he is still a supporting character and the opportunity for TWO STRAIGHT BLACK men to work on the issues just mentioned is abhorrently ignored on such a good show! It simply doesn’t make any sense to me, especially knowing that there are usually GAY men, perhaps married, who are raising STRAIGHT kids! I would have thought that with daddy Marty being super busy and grandpa Jeremiah being – well, at home more often than Marty, that between the two of these men, SOMEBODY would have done the “Courtship of Eddie’s Father” meets “Two and a Half Men” meets a bit of Chris Gardner (actor Will Smith) in “The Pursuit of Happyness” bit with Roscoe. The show is unreal in this sense and fails to keep up with reality and therefore makes the show, if not the Kaan family itself, a ‘house of lies”. There are simply too many REPORTED stories of bullying and murdering of such kids like Roscoe in schools. I fail to believe that Roscoe’s school – public or private – is exempt from having kids who don’t like gay or gay acting/appearing kids. Ok. I’m sorry to have covered so much about “House of Lies” here but since we ARE thinking about the ABSENCE of masculine gay BLACK men, why not address the issue of this possible reflection of real life where TWO MASCULINE STRAIGHT BLACK MEN, living in the same house as a very possibly gay young Black kid? The ShoTime network, at this point of the “House of Lies” series, have missed the marked in this area. It would have been better to NOT have the character of Roscoe be gay or ambiguously gay, or “gay appearing” in this series at all.
I like this statement from Noah’s Arc creator Ian Patrick Polk which sums I like this statement from Noah’s Arc creator Ian Patrick Polk which sums up the truth on this subject: Polk says: “I’ve always felt that writers have a responsibility to be diverse and representative,” “If you don’t express a desire to do it, it won’t happen. Why didn’t someone ask if all five of those guys in Queer as Folk have to be white? No one at Showtime did.” If you watched (and enjoyed!) QAF as I did then you’ll recall how all but one of the main characters was not only gay but very masculine. The media as a whole should take note of Polk’s statement and reflect the real world, not only with Blacks, but in ALL minority ethnic groups.
Well said. If the child is active even in the slightest effeminate way, it needs to be addressed and confronted. If it isn’t it isn’t a real life depiction and begs the question why isn’t it addressed? Too many questions and not enough answers. I have never watched the show because I don’t have showtime, but I can tell what the show is about just from reading this blog. Excellent post by the way. Thanks
Come on guys must we forget at Matthew St. Patrick’s character on Six Feet Under. We was/is handsome and masculine. Never mind the fact that at the start of the relationship he was the one who was out and ready for a relationship from the start. The guy who plays his partner on the show was the one who was in the closet and needed to adjust to dealing with his gayness and outing himself to his family.
Don’t you all get it? This is another ploy by white Media to make the Black male appear weak. The thug hip-hop or masculine image while threatening and violent was at least respected and feared and wielded some power of defense, offense and strength. The feminine Black male we now see all over TV is a way to counter that strong image with a weak one. The goal is to slide the Black male into the same slot with females. Because the white male knows that the Black male is their equal opposite if we ever get our act together.
You never see feminen white males on tv to this level, there are far more masuline white males. And even in Six Feet Under Keith and David were still both masculine no matter what issues the white boy was having about his sexuality.
As a fan of The Hunger Games(the books and the film), I must say that Cinna, gay or straright, is the most masculine character in the Capitol(where he lives and most of the story takes place). The HG takes place in the future where every person in the Capitol has a Lady Gaga-ish style, even the men. Seeing men walk around with pink and purple hair and wearing high heels is not unheard of there. Besides from the eyeliner, Cinna’s style is more like today’s masculine male image than any other male character from the Capitol.
As far as no masculine males on tv, I think what it boils down to is stereotypes. Most mainstream shows love to give into stereotypes beause its easy for mainstream viewers to relate to. Lets be honest, fems are what most people see when it comes to gays, because 80% of most masculine black gay males are either in the closet or on the dl.
Reading this article reminded me of an episode of Tyra called “Gay for Pay” which highlighted a group of straight men who did gay porn for the money. They were all very well paid and said this was the case because guys that look and act straight doing gay porn is “top tier” or the big seller. What’s important about this in my opinion is that:
a) This idea of the masculine gay man is at the forefront of gay men’s minds, whether as a positive or negative.
b) A depiction of something typical or “real” is shrugged off, or seen as a negative.
c) The people who had a problem with straight guys doing gay porn really had a problem with gay porn, and gay people. Maybe the same applies for feminine depictions of gay black men in the media.