"I outed him as a straight person," Josephs said on the recording..."and now he goes around telling people, quote, 'I swing both ways.' That's quite a respectful way to talk about sexuality. This guy's a gem."
“There will be cheating if he can get away with it, because he already has tried to lie to people about a whole bunch of stuff, including his sexuality."
Oh, those treacherous, traitorous, slippery bis! How did Josephs know he's straight? Apparently he has been dating a woman since January. So once again, a bi person's identity is judged only by who they are currently sleeping with, and nothing else.
Kravtiz sent the audiotape to local newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. Of Joseph's comments, he said, “That’s completely inappropriate. The way in which my opponent mocked me is very damaging to members of the LGBT community questioning whether to come out. It sends the message that you are subjecting yourself to ridicule, even from allies.”
While the straightwashing of Kravtiz is infuriating, the response by some publications reporting on the story are downright annoying.
"We've hit a new high point when candidates are accused of pretending to be gay to win a seat," said Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News and a pioneering civil rights advocate. "I've been doing this for 40 years, and I never have heard of this kind of charge in any race in the nation," he said. "I take that as flattery. It shows how far we've come."
It may be a new high point for gay and lesbian identity politics, but having gay leaders refer to Kravitz' identity being policed as "flattery" or even "humorous" is a low point for biphobia. Other publications reporting on the story have managed to out their own ignorance, with headlines like: "PA Congressional Candidate Outed For Pretending to be Gay," and LGTB blog Qweerty closing the story with more musings about how great this inappropriate and offensive treatment of Kravitz is for "the movement":
"It would be most interesting if Kravitz were actually straight, and using a bi identity to pull in votes. But what a statement about acceptance of LGBTs that, by itself, would be making."
What a statement Qweerty is making in refusing to accept Kravtiz's identity at face value. Comments on all articles are as predictable as they were with the Gay Softball League discrimination story, with claims that bisexuality doesn't exist, that Kravtiz is the person who made sexuality an issue here, and that it's just too "convenient" that he is currently dating a woman. All this in a week where longtime bi activist Kyle Schniker, complaining about lack of bi visibility in an (poorly written, trans-othering) article he wrote about the recent GLADD awards, was met with hostile comments by other queers about how "bisexuality is a useless identity," and "biphobia does not exist."
Clearly, the suspended players of D2 and Kravtiz might be hard-pressed to agree at this time.
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It's interesting how a Bi man's sex life becomes everyone's business.
ReplyDeleteImagine if ALL of them were straight! What would media people do for news? It truly baffles the mind.
I think one of the things - at least in the gay/bi discourse in the US - that separates the issues bi people face versus gay people is the "who are you fucking?" question. Bi people have to answer this constantly to prove they are really bi, whereas mainstream gay rights organizations have done a very good job of de-sexualizing gayness in society by portraying gay couples as "just like straight people" - we see images of middle class gay people getting married, owning homes, having babies.
ReplyDeleteThe bi thing throws a wrench in all that for some reason. I thought this quote from the advocate article was interesting:
Micah Kellner, the first openly bisexual state assemblyman in New York, can identify with that approach. He said that his experience during his 2007 campaign makes him doubt that anyone would grab the mantle of bisexuality for political gain.
“As an openly bisexual man, I was subjected to some horrific things you would never ask a straight or gay person," he said. "People asked me, ‘How many sexual partners do you have? Who do you prefer to have sex with more?’ Literally. How does someone prove they are bisexual?”