Wow, that’s a mouthful. *Snigger*. Well, it wouldn’t be worthwhile writing about politics on this site, if there wasn’t any humour to it. Most of you will know that politics isn’t exactly our fave topic, but it only seemed fair that we see what it was that has been causing all the gays to get themselves in such a tizzy. If you haven’t been following, Ivan Massow (gay, dyslexic and former booze hound) is a London 2016 Mayor hopeful, and some of his statements have been ruffling some feather boas. So let’s have a mini rundown…
ROLL THE VT:
But it’s not really this video, that is sending heads spinning. It’s his comments towards the end of last year on gay people’s behaviour that people are objecting against. He said that barebacking and Crystal Meth made up a “huge drug issue” on the London gay scene, that it is affecting many of our mental health, and that we need to “grow up collectively”.
He went to say that for a hetrosexual mayor to approach the issue, it could be considered homophobic, and that “You need to take someone gay to take a hard line with ourselves, with our own community.” And though he believes it is “going to be really difficult to tackle”, he thinks we should start with “a really strong conversation”. Oooh, girl, you in trouble – Daddy’s home!
He went on, “We, the gay community, are becoming a group of people who suddenly have everything and nothing, all at once. I don’t want our community to deal with this just because I find our behaviour embarrassing. God only knows I’ve embarrassed myself enough not to throw stones. I think fun in moderation is great.” (Blates has a line every now and then).
Queue, an uproar of gay men claiming that “not all of us” take drugs, and that there’s a distinction between the gay ‘scene’ and the gay ‘community’. Which is true, but at what point did he say “all gay men have drug problems” – he didn’t. If you think drugs and sex are not an issue with gay men, there is some serious delusion going on with you, child. He’s not making sweeping generalisations, but if you don’t recognise that G, mephedrone and Crystal are drugs fuelling unsafe sex and mental health issues among gay men, then you clearly don’t ever leave your house.
Drugs do not just happen on the gay ‘scene’. Many of this activity goes down in the privacy of people’s homes. And yes, not all of us take drugs or go to ‘slamming parties’ or orgies or saunas, but does that mean we should ignore the problem? We’re not all criminals, so should we ignore criminal activity too? It’s not about fixing just one area, it’s about making the community better as a whole. As as gay men are supposed to be our brothers, is it so wrong that Ivan wants to start there?
Mayors aren’t superheroes, they can’t fix everything all at once. As an ‘ex-alcoholic’, it’s highly possibly that Massow’s had more than a passing acquaintance with the drug scene too (why weren’t we ever at the same chill out?) – so I don’t think it’s bad thing that he wants to address the issue at all. If you think that the gay men who abuse drugs and unsafe sex doesn’t affect you directly, you’re wrong. The fact that this is a problem among our community, not only contributes to stereotypes of all gay men, but it also contributes to the spread of HIV/STIs – which again affects all men having sex with other men.
If you believe there are more pressing issues for a mayor to deal with, fair enough. I just don’t see where this massive opinionated/ill-informed uproar has come from when all the man is trying to do is improve the gay scene. No, not ALL gay people take drugs. But would you rather live in a world where a portion of the gay community did have a drug problem? Or a world where they didn’t? Just asking…
And I mean, I get Ivan’s point, what a lot of people need are some serious home truths, but is he gonna go and talk to everyone individually? Are they even gonna listen to a total stranger? He’s right, it’s gonna be something extremely hard to tackle – so good luck to him – I wouldn’t know where to start…
Anyway, it seems opinions are divided. Would you vote?
