Fort Worth article: SN, Gay Icon

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I guess the whole gay nazism in my eyes is the blatant overstating of everything gay that some folks never seem to calm down from after they come out. Yes, it's great to be empowered and to realize the buying power & significance of the "gay dollar" and what avid gay fanbases can do for certain celebs. Many veteran women such as Bette Midler, Cher, and others most certainly owe their continued staying power to their very vocal and sharply focused gay fans. However, unlike those women, Stevie isn't solely a gay icon at all. There's plenty of evidence to the contrary at her shows. Yes, there are no shortage of LGBT folks there, but there's also plenty of straight men and women as well. Stevie's audiences with & without Fleetwood are really quite a variety pack of ages, genders, sexualities, etc.

I guess mainly I just didn't like the tone of this article. It seems to suggest that since the author is gay, he has some sort of supernatural advantage of taste & loyalty that other folks do not. I think that's silly. We're all just people regardless of the cards we're dealt in regards to gender, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. I just don't think this kind of rhetoric is a good thing at all. Broad sweeping generalities & overreaching statements like this writer made just irk the ever living crap out of me. I know you'll undoubtedly disagree with absolutely everything I've written here, and that's okay too... we just view the world from different lenses.

I am not sure how/why you viewed this article as being critical of Stevie or assigning labels to her fanbase. After all, the writer is writing for a gay-oriented publication, so his perspective is going to have a decided gay slant to it. There is nothing in his write-up that says that Stevie is solely a gay icon. Rather, if anything, he is trying to make the case that, in addition to being a mainstream rock star, she also has an under-acknowledged GLBT following. That is absolutely true. But in a way, I can appreciate someone who is not condescending or judgmental about the various demographics that comprise her following. She is just above all that pettiness, I suppose.