Althouse: He's only saying this now because no one cares anymore.

March 30, 2010

He's only saying this now because no one cares anymore.

It's only a play for our attention, after all else has failed. Absolutely zero credit for coming out — to Ricky Martin.

60 comments:

Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Its not as easy for a latino to come out.; 3/30/10, 9:34 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Boy I never saw that coming. I don't think I was as shocked when Ellen came out.

/sarc off.; 3/30/10, 9:38 AM
AF said...: In Althouse land, "no one" means "no white people."; 3/30/10, 9:40 AM
Scott said...: It's not easy for anyone to come out. Intolerance and internalized homophobia is not a Latin cultural affect.

Yeah, Ricky Martin came out after he peaked. So what. Is the Human Rights Campaign going to revoke his membership?

Of all the former members of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, I think Johnny Lozada was (and is) a lot hotter.; 3/30/10, 9:43 AM
LegosnEggos said...: Do you think? It seems to me that his struggle has been a hard one that he tried to keep private. I feel a great amount of sadness for anyone who has had to come to terms with revealing his orientation to a probing and then disdainful public, especially a public that is as presumptuous and invasive with regard to personal matters as ours is. I don't think that everything a star does is always for money or attention, especially judging from the way he has avoided the media for so long. So he came out. The closet is a huge one, and it's time for people to get back to allowing an entertainer to simply entertain, starting with the entertainers themselves agreeing to do so. But, again, I don't consider Martin one of those attention seekers.; 3/30/10, 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...: I thought exactly the same thing when I saw this on Drudge.; 3/30/10, 9:46 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Is Ricky Martin's private life any of my business?; 3/30/10, 9:48 AM
Scott said...: Now deep in the heart of a lonely kid
Who suffered so much for what he did
They gave this ploughboy his fortune and fame
Since that day he ain't been the same

See the man with the stage fright
Just standin' up there to give it all his might
And he got caught in the spotlight
But when we get to the end
He wants to start all over again

I've got fire water right on my breath
And the doctor warned me I might catch a death
Said, "You can make it in your disguise
Just never show the fear that's in your eyes"

See the man with the stage fright
Just standin' up there to give it all his might
He got caught in the spotlight
But when we get to the end
He wants to start all over again

Now if he says that he's afraid
Take him at his word
And for the price that the poor boy has paid
He gets to sing just like a bird, oh, ooh ooh ooh

Your brow is sweatin' and your mouth gets dry
Fancy people go driftin' by
The moment of truth is right at hand
Just one more nightmare you can stand

See the man with the stage fright
Just standin' up there to give it all his might
And he got caught in the spotlight
But when we get to the end
He wants to start all over again,

--"Stage Fright," The Band (1970); 3/30/10, 9:55 AM
ricpic said...: Mariposa!; 3/30/10, 10:00 AM
Scott said...: I'm proud to be a maricón!; 3/30/10, 10:06 AM
kjbe said...: I don't know - I like to think people do the best they know how. It's certainly no skin off my nose.; 3/30/10, 10:08 AM
Scott said...: (Then whose nose-skin is on the floor over there anyway?); 3/30/10, 10:13 AM
TMink said...: Who cares?

Trey; 3/30/10, 10:16 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Is Ricky Martin's private life any of my business?

It doesnt seem fair to me that gay celebrities have to lease/loan (as it were) their private lives in the service of a cause should they choose not to do so.

The right to be left alone just seems like too high a price to pay in exchange for an acceptance that will very likely not come within that gay person's lifetime.

I know two gay men who have chosen differently. They are both happy that the decision has been entirely up to them.; 3/30/10, 10:16 AM
Anonymous said...: 17 demerits for coming out!

Please, stay in the closet.

Please keep your sex life to yourself. The vast majority of heteros do.

And, let's cut through the oppression shit. Some places everybody kisses your ass and tells you how wonderful you are for being gay. In other places, they'll kick your ass.

Which is just the same as if you are hetero, white, black, etc.

There never was a war of oppression against gay people. The gay propaganda campaign, including the martyrdom hysteria, is a crock.

Creating martyrs is the cheap trick of every political movement.

In the communities where I've lived, the surest way to gain public applause is to announce that you're lesbian and that you've become impregnated by artificial insemination.

Risk of martyrdom: zero. Actual result: stardom on the local party circuit.; 3/30/10, 10:17 AM
Scott said...: I think the point of coming out is to provoke aneurisms in the people who richly deserve them. Right on, Ricky.; 3/30/10, 10:22 AM
TWM said...: I had to Google Ricky Martin to even find out who he was. Not that there's anything wrong with that.; 3/30/10, 10:50 AM
Trooper York said...: Don't worry Lem. We will still love you if you come out.

I mean we had our suspicions. You are a Red Sox Fan after all and they are all gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Being gay that is.

There is a lot wrong with being a Red Sox Fan; 3/30/10, 11:04 AM
SteveR said...: I look forward to the day that coming out is not something people feel the need to make a big deal about. Whatever.; 3/30/10, 11:11 AM
William said...: At least he's not into Nazi tattoo models. That's the real career killer.; 3/30/10, 11:16 AM
John henry said...: The first time I heard of Menudo was in the 1970's when they gave a free concert in the Fajardo PR town plaza. At that time, nobody would have paid a nickle to see them.

Then I spent the next 15 or so years being dragged by my daughter to every Menudo concert hither and yon as well as to activities for the Menudomaniacs, such as my daughter and her friends. She hasn't lived in with us for 10 years and there are still Menudo posters on her bedroom door.

All credit goes to Edgar Diaz for taking a nothing concept and making it into a global phenomenom.

My daughter has had a crush on Ricky since he was about 13.

John Henry
www.changeover.com; 3/30/10, 11:28 AM
TMink said...: Scott, nobody cares.

Really.

Nobody.

Trey; 3/30/10, 11:47 AM
Trooper York said...: "My daughter has had a crush on Ricky since he was about 13."

Much like Lem and Manny Ramierez.
There really is nothing wrong with that.; 3/30/10, 11:54 AM
Trooper York said...: It was much the same way Tony Perkins used to follow Johnny Pesky around when he was filming "Fear Strikes Out."

It's a Red Sox thing.; 3/30/10, 11:58 AM
Trooper York said...: I mean what is the best player in Red Sox known for: Head!; 3/30/10, 12:02 PM
Trooper York said...: That's Red Sox History.

Sorry but I hate to say that phrase. It's so icky.

Like laudable pus.

It's supposed to be good but it is so disgusting.; 3/30/10, 12:05 PM
Unknown said...: yes, a very insensitive article. somehow the author doesn't understand that the world doesn't revolve around what he cares about and when he cares about it.; 3/30/10, 12:30 PM
Charlie Martin said...: I liked a tweet about this yesterday, which said (translated) "Ricky Martin admits he's a homosexual. In commemoration, 29 March to be established as the Festival of the Obvious.; 3/30/10, 12:44 PM
themightypuck said...: I forgot about the head. I suppose the kids today won't recall he hit .400.; 3/30/10, 2:06 PM
traditionalguy said...: The shock value of actually being a man that does not love women as much as he loves other men is so last decade. Frankly, no one gives a damn anymore.; 3/30/10, 2:13 PM
Moose said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/30/10, 2:30 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: I don't know why anyone - especially heteros - give congratulations for someone coming out. I mean, like, thanks for not lying to everybody anymore?

The whole set-up is twisted.; 3/30/10, 2:54 PM
Scott said...: The people who tell you they really don't care, really do care.

Especially the ones who take paragraphs to tell you how much they don't care.

Which indicates they really, really, really do care.

I figure that going to the trouble of posting a comment saying that you don't care is indicative of LATENT HOMOSEXUALITY and PERVERTED FANTASIES!; 3/30/10, 2:58 PM
Palladian said...: "Please keep your sex life to yourself. The vast majority of heteros do."

Bullshit. If you refer to your wife, you're talking about your sex life.

Namely that since you're married you probably don't have a sex life anymore.

As to Ricky Martin and "coming out", if anyone ever does or says anything to conceal the fact that they're a queer, they deserve no praise for admitting it once the pressure's off. It's cowardice, just like that makeup-slathered dough-ball that lost American Idol.

There's a difference between not wanting to make a public issue of your private life and actively taking steps to conceal and mislead. You don't get any credit for the latter.; 3/30/10, 3:01 PM
Trooper York said...: "It's cowardice, just like that makeup-slathered dough-ball that lost American Idol."

Hey, leave Paula alone. She's suffered enough.; 3/30/10, 3:07 PM
Trooper York said...: I am sure she will get another job soon.

I hear she might be on Celebrity Rehab next season.; 3/30/10, 3:07 PM
Tibore said...: Ohhhhhhkay... Lemme guess: Next, they'll be telling us Johnny Weir is gay.; 3/30/10, 3:15 PM
Anonymous said...: The people who take paragraphs to tell you that you do care when you really don't care are the ones who really, really, really do care.; 3/30/10, 3:54 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Or how about "thanks for not lying to everybody anymore - after you've made a lot of money."

Assholes.; 3/30/10, 4:03 PM
Joe said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/30/10, 4:15 PM
Joe said...: Bullshit. If you refer to your wife, you're talking about your sex life.

And if you refer to your hand?; 3/30/10, 4:16 PM
Joe said...: I long got the impression that Martin was mostly sexually indifferent with homosexual leanings.

Serious question to the gay commenters here: since Martin apparently able to perform with women, is he really gay or bisexual? Despite all the acronyms, are bisexual men really accepted by the gay community at large (if there is such a thing.); 3/30/10, 4:20 PM
Anonymous said...: don't ask don't tell

no wait

didn't care don't care; 3/30/10, 4:26 PM
Scott said...: @Joe:

1. Ultimately you are what you say you are. But loads of closeted gay men can "put a bag over her head and do it for Old Glory" with the wife. One guy I know had two daughters and a son in a marriage which ended shortly after he admitted to her that while he was doing the sperm delivery, he was thinking of men.

2. I would say that bisexual men are not considered "one of us" by gay men. Many feel that bi men are in denial about their preference. However, most bi men tend to shut up about it. You only usually find out in after-playtime banter, right after they have had a jolly good rodgering.; 3/30/10, 4:39 PM
Palladian said...: "Serious question to the gay commenters here: since Martin apparently able to perform with women, is he really gay or bisexual?"

I don't actually think human sexuality is a clearly divisible set of categories. There's a "sliding scale": some of us like only lads, some of us like only lasses, but that merely defines the edges of the spectrum. I've been with quite a few men who enjoy relations with women but who (for various reasons) also occasionally like to be with men. They don't consider themselves "bi-sexual" because they don't see their homosexual activities as part of their identities. I respect this and think it's a far healthier model than going through some identity-politics psychodrama in order to figure out what you really are. A lot of people don't like to identify themselves as gay or bisexual because of the association of those categories with the GLBTSTGQETC "community". Why burden yourself with that load of political, social and ideological luggage when you simply like to get it on with another man sometimes?

"Despite all the acronyms, are bisexual men really accepted by the gay community at large (if there is such a thing.)"

There is not such a thing so your question is invalid.

"Communities" of any kind are fictions propagated by alt-weeklies and Public Broadcasting.; 3/30/10, 4:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Bullshit. If you refer to your wife, you're talking about your sex life.

Namely that since you're married you probably don't have a sex life anymore.

Bullshit right back at you.

I'm not married. I'm widowed.

I noticed you skipped over the major part of what I said... namely, that the great oppression of gays is manufactured martyrdom for the sake of political gain.

Every political group loves to manufacture martyrs. And, it's usually... well... bullshit.

So, yes, the answer for gays is to keep their mouths shut about their fucking sex lives. They aren't martyrs. In the places where I live, everybody's kissing their asses and telling them that they're saints.

When is everybody going to quit pretending that gays are martyrs to some sort of oppressions.

That's the real bullshit.; 3/30/10, 4:51 PM
Anonymous said...: So, come on, Ann, cut through the bullshit.

You live in Madison. I live in NYC and Woodstock, NY, two locales that are just as liberal as Madison.

Everybody's kissing the gays' asses in Madison, just like they are in NYC and Woodstock. When are you going to get off the bandwagon and mention this reality?

In NYC and Woodstock, gays are treated as if they were secular saints. White kids discovered that, if they come out as gay, they can pretend to be oppressed, just like blacks under Jim Crow. Plenty of young people in NYC and Woodstock are pretending to be gay for the perks.

Come on, Ann, you usually have a pretty strong bullshit detector. When are you going to dump the poor, martyred gay bit? It's a lie.; 3/30/10, 5:00 PM
Palladian said...: "In the places where I live, everybody's kissing their asses and telling them that they're saints."

We queers don't need people to kiss our asses. We kiss each other's asses quite well enough. With lots of tongue. And very wet. Right up in there...

I'll be back later.; 3/30/10, 5:15 PM
Palladian said...: "When are you going to dump the poor, martyred gay bit? It's a lie."

Who the hell has been talking about gay people as "martyrs"? And what kids pretend that they're gay to be treated better?? Tell me what sort of weird place you live in so I can either avoid it or move there.; 3/30/10, 5:17 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: ShoutingThomas,

You might as well give it up, dude. Ann's a liberal: she's totally without empathy for the real world in front of her - like the black man saying shut up about my race - while imagining herself sticking up for all the (vaguely defined) oppressed of the world, so we know (in the abstract) how much she cares. In this day and age it's total bullshit but she's sticking to it until it's safe to do otherwise. Which, of course, is the sign of an intellectual coward but, sigh, we love her anyway.

It makes me feel cheap for doing so, though: I expect more intellectual rigor from smart people.; 3/30/10, 5:22 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/30/10, 6:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, I think he's saying it because he kind of has to at some point. Or maybe he meant he's glad he's not an unfortunate, or poor, gay man?; 3/30/10, 6:08 PM
Scott said...: While we're on the subject of homosexual actors, have you seen out-and-proud George Takai plugging Sharp televisions?

What a loveable old queen! :)

wv: palan; 3/30/10, 6:23 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: In honor of Ricky Martin coming out, I would like to to declare the 29th of March a new holiday, which I have named "the 29th of March Day".

Everyone will celebrate by saying things like "I can speak this English phrase" or "you can hear me talking". People will also abstain from things like reading mystery novels or watching movies with twists.

If you're gay and have ever come out to people you can come out to them again. And if you're straight, feel free to tell people you are a heterosexual, especially if you're with your spouse or date.; 3/30/10, 7:49 PM
Methadras said...: Why are courage and homosexuality a tag for this thread. When did the moniker of courage or being courageous all of a sudden stick to people who have done something that no one gives two shits about? Oh, little Ricky claims he's a homo, well that's just great. The real story should have been is who in this current reality didn't realize that. Interview them.; 3/30/10, 8:26 PM
Methadras said...: Scott said...

While we're on the subject of homosexual actors, have you seen out-and-proud George Takai plugging Sharp televisions?

What a loveable old queen! :)

wv: palan

Yeah, I saw those. His douche-baggery is complete. Nothing like watching aging queers to get a good laugh from. Oh my, indeed.; 3/30/10, 8:27 PM
el polacko said...: i'll believe that nobody cares if you're gay when thousands don't flock to voting booths to deny gay people legal equality...i'll believe it when discrimination isn't written into state constitutions... i'll believe it when most states in this country no longer can deny employment and housing because of sexual orientation... i'll believe it when gay soldiers are not dishonorably discharged...i'll believe it when same-sex couples can share innocent moments of affection without fearing for their well-being if not their lives... i'll belive it when gay folks are denied custody of their own children or are denied the right to adopt...i'll believe it when gay kids are no longer disowned by their families......i'll believe it when celebrities no longer have 'beards' and need not fear losing their careers should it become known that they are gay...i'll believe it when churches no longer preach that being gay is evil...i'll believe it when gay men are not imprisoned, tortured, and executed around the world for the crime of loving each other. until that time, i don't believe that 'nobody cares'...seems to me that there's a whole heck of a lot of 'caring' going on.; 3/31/10, 1:51 AM
Scott said...: @el polacko: Well put, to say the least.

Every time I think I could warm up to conservatism, Maggie Gallagher posts someting insanely bigoted about gays on National Review Corner. Shouldn't "limited government" also mean "leaving people the fuck alone?"

Presumably straight people who spend their careers battling gay liberty have their own agendas most of the time. It's the Terry Dolan phenomenon.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if James Dobson sucks dick regularly. I bet he's seen the inside of a Denver bath house more than once.; 3/31/10, 5:48 AM
Joe said...: Shouldn't "limited government" also mean "leaving people the fuck alone?"

I've long made that point: true conservatism would recoil in horror at the the government prosecuting gays or banning sex toys. True conservatism would say that marriage is none of the governments business and if that means gays get married or polygamists get married, so be it.

This is why I have pretty much rejected social conservatism, though I remain a staunch fiscal conservative. Too many social conservatives strike me as simply being anti-abortion, anti-gay liberals who believe in God.; 3/31/10, 1:06 PM
Scott Silton said...: el polacko wins the thread:

i'll believe that nobody cares if you're gay when thousands don't flock to voting booths to deny gay people legal equality...i'll believe it when discrimination isn't written into state constitutions... i'll believe it when most states in this country no longer can deny employment and housing because of sexual orientation... i'll believe it when gay soldiers are not dishonorably discharged...i'll believe it when same-sex couples can share innocent moments of affection without fearing for their well-being if not their lives... i'll belive it when gay folks are denied custody of their own children or are denied the right to adopt...i'll believe it when gay kids are no longer disowned by their families......i'll believe it when celebrities no longer have 'beards' and need not fear losing their careers should it become known that they are gay...i'll believe it when churches no longer preach that being gay is evil...i'll believe it when gay men are not imprisoned, tortured, and executed around the world for the crime of loving each other. until that time, i don't believe that 'nobody cares'...seems to me that there's a whole heck of a lot of 'caring' going on.

My thoughts exactly. Thank you.; 4/2/10, 12:26 AM

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)