Media Dangerously Constructing High Profile Gays Coming Out As Deceitful And Cruel

Whilst politics is supposed to be all about working to improve things for our own countries and the international community as a whole, if you looked at British politics this week, and the intense focus on William Hague, you could think that it’s all about who is gay and who isn’t.

But why does it happen? Why does the media suddenly get so excited about who someone is sleeping with at night (or in the day if you’re particularly adventurous) when it realistically has nothing to do with the work they’re doing as a politician?

Well that’s simple. It’s because it sells newspapers, but the sad thing is it’s not selling them because people are particularly supportive of someone coming out as gay or not, it’s the being able to undermine people and point the finger at them and tell them they were lying.

Take for example the coverage of Crispin Blunt coming out last week and the way the Daily Mail chose to cover it. They could have celebrated Blunt’s coming to terms with his gayness and feeling strong enough to speak out against it, and then used the rest of their article to look at the way the Conservative Party has changed in it’s attitudes to LGBT rights over the years. It would have been a brilliant way to get people outside of the the LGBT community thinking and questioning things.

But of course that isn’t the story they ran with because supporting a minority group is never as effective as doing what the Brits are best at criticising and undermining people at every opportunity. Cue an article that didn’t act to offer Crispin any support, but instead spoke of how “traumatised” his wife was by it all (though it should be noted that this came from good old unnamed sources as opposed to directly from her) and acted to pick up on any seemingly homophobic decision that Blunt had made in the whole of his political career. This was in no way an article that constructed someone who comes out as brave, it constructed them as deceitful and untrustworthy.

However the problem is that Prisons minister isn’t a particular interesting role and Crispin Blunt isn’t one of the biggest names in the party. However William Hague, well he would be a much bigger catch. Just imagine being able to out him as gay, expose his not particularly positive gay voting record, the cheating on his wife AND potentially be able to throw in some way he used his MP expenses to cover up his gay relationships and well you’ve got one of the biggest stories of the year. And the thing is it doesn’t really matter if it’s not true anyway because let’s face it whilst the Conservatives are on the surface becoming more gay friendly they still need a whole of education on how to deal with situations like this.

Take for example William’s statement denying that he was gay. Now essentially that’s all he needed to say, but no Hague went off down that look I am really not gay and here’s all the reasons why not, a route that will be reminiscent of the reaction that many of us have got when we’ve told a straight person we’re gay and they immediately start telling us all about their very heterosexual lifestyle and their partner as though just because they’re of the same sex we must fancy them. And him doing that was just as much of a treat for the newspapers as if he’d said he was gay. Now they have information on his personal life that he would never normally have revealed. Cue articles on how miscarriages can ruin a relationship and lead to affairs, on whether it’s possible to be in a relationship with someone and not know they’re gay, you get the idea…

To deny that someone coming out as gay is nothing but a joyful experience for everyone involved is a lie. It’s not. People are always going to get hurt when things like this happen, however for each and everyone of us who have come out we know as hard as it is, it’s also a life-changing experience. Yes you will potentially lose friends, and sadly family, on the way, but to be able to live as the person you truly are is a very empowering feeling. It’s about bringing honest and truth into your life. Sadly though the mainstream media reporting all too often takes the opposite view constructing us as deceitful people who have only acted to bring hurt with our lies. And the sad truth is until that stops selling papers that’s the stereotype that each and everyone of us is stuck with.

Photo credit: ShironekoEuro