Mister D:No. I don’t think it was homophobic, but is it crossing the line as being crass? That’s what every individual will have to decide. Now during the height of that fake Russian scandal, gays and straights of every PFlag member were making memes of Putin and Trump in a sordid affair with one another. I think. Finally, some upper echelon gays started thinking, uh-oh, we’re practicing what we continuously preach against, and it slowed down, but kind of never went away because of who the subject was. I mean what better way to get back at him by making him in a gay relationship. I don’t think it’s homophobic, but I do think it’s being used against a man who is supposed as repulsed by gays as Hillary Clinton is. Bette wasn’t making fun of the homo crowd; she was trying to get a laugh out of making Trump uncomfortable. But I’m so secure in myself as a gay man, that I don’t give a shit about any gay jokes that are told. I’m not weak enough to feel like a victim, and I can laugh it off. I believe in the Joan Rivers, George Carlin philosophy. Everything is joke worthy. Not all do. C’est la vie. We don’t need to make a parade out of everything we don’t like. Get over it. Acts of censorship are one more reason why Trump was elected. People are tired of walking on eggshells. Besides, I’ve been around gay people, and they are some of the most judgemental people I’ve ever seen. They make fun of everybody. And it’s funny! So chill out. Know who your real enemies are.
Gay Star News
Bette Midler accused of homophobia after Trump and Putin joke
Do you think this joke was homophobic?
30 June 2018
Joe Morgan
Bette Midler is being accused of homophobia.
The long-time ally and Divine Miss M posted the tweet yesterday about US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
‘Trump and Putin are meeting in Finland next month,’ she wrote.
‘That’s a long way to travel for a blowjob, but hey — Putin’s got the money.’
Predictably, this caused a wave of hatred against her from Trump fans.
However, many people also questioned her use of homophobic rhetoric.
When two people opposed to gay rights are made out to be gay themselves, it brings the onus back onto the LGBTI community.
Making a joke at the expense of gay sex also suggests you see it as something outrageous or deviant. Others say if you use gay sex as a tool to insult another, it suggests the person doesn’t think of queer people as equal.
Twitter responded:
‘Homophobic insults are OK? Hypocrisy and bigotry. So we know how you really feel,’ one said.
‘I detest Trump, but this is unfunny and homophobic,’ another said.
‘Shame on you for using your platform to enable hatred and bigotry for nothing but scoring a few cheap political points.
This is not a useful way to fight fascism.’
Another said: ‘It’s not OK to be homophobic or transphobic just because the target is a really bad person who does a lot of harm to the LGBT population.’
Even homophobes pointed out that it could have been seen as homophobic.
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Others defended Midler, suggesting it was not homophobic at all.
Bette Midler has previously apologized for tweeting transphobia
In 2016, Midler apologized after a transphobic tweet about Caitlyn Jenner.
She posted: ‘Now that I Am Cait has been cancelled, will she go back to being Bruce? Will Kris take him back? Do I smell a re-wedding?!’
After outrage, she deleted the tweet.
She claimed it was ‘an idle musing’.
‘I seem to have misread the temper of the times,’ the singer said.
Midler became recognized as a gay icon in the 1970s. She got her start in gay bathhouses, where she became close to gay piano accompanist Barry Manilow.
‘Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I’m still proud of those days [singing at gay bathhouses],’ she said in 1998.
‘I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of “Bathhouse Betty” with pride.’
