The thing about equality is we’ll never get it on our own. There simply aren’t enough of us. The truth we sometimes like to forget is that the vast, vast, vast majority of the world simply isn’t gay. Straight peeps be everywhere, yo. Like almost any minority group, our GLBT rights depend on fair-minded people who aren’t like us championing justice over their own majority. So then when a straight (or straight identified, we’ll get to that later) person comes out and wears her support for us with pride, I can do nothing but applaud. Which is exactly what I did when those first shots of Dianna Agron wearing her now-infamous “Likes Girls” shirt on the Glee Live Tour surfaced this past weekend. All right, I might have let out something between a yelp and a gurgle in excitement instead.
Granted it also raised an eyebrow. But those questions were all answered the next day when Dianna herself wrote a lengthy post on her Tumblr about The T-shirt Heard Around the World. As she said in part:
Yesterday, during our second show, instead of wearing my usual shirt during “Born This Way” I decided to wear one that said “Likes Girls”. It should actually have read, “Loves Girls”, because I do. The women in my life give me things that the men in my life can’t. And vice-versa. No, I am not a lesbian, yet if I were, I hope that the people in my life could embrace it whole-heartedly. And let me tell you, I can easily spill (quite comfortably) what I admire, respect and think is beautiful about any of the women in my life. Piece of cake!
Last night, I wanted to do something to show my respect and love for the GLBT community. Support that people could actually see. Which is why I decided to change my shirt for the show. I happened to read a few comments that were posted on twitter. Many of you asked, “why?” This is my response. I am not asking for you to agree with what I am saying, but if you are listening, thank you. That is all I can ask. And a step further would be to take a moment to (honestly) answer the questions that I have raised. We can’t always put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. But we can try.
Now, I know there might still be some lingering gray area for some of you about exactly what this declaration meant. I know she didn’t say, “No, I am not bisexual.” But the intent, to me, seemed so pure and so heartfelt that I take it not only at face value but as a gift. We need more people like Dianna, straight-identified famous folks who are willing to be unabashed in their support for our rights. And we really need more unfamous folks, straight allies from every corner of the world, too come forward and say enough with the hate an intolerance. Face it, without them we’ll keep getting sent to the back of the bus.
We’re all born how we’re born. Gay people, straight people. We can’t help it. But we can help how we treat each other. Sometimes in this world, it seems all we hear about are the bad seeds. Those amongst us who sow bigotry and fear. But I still believe there are enough good people who can see past who we love and recognize it for what it really is – love, period. Dianna Agron, she’s one of the good ones. We need more like her in this world. Also, seriously, could she be any prettier? No, no she could not. Happy weekend, all.
At last, our long national nightmare is over. “Glee” is back. Kidding, kidding. I’m not that crazy. But, I won’t lie – I did miss me some “Glee” this summer. For all of its silliness, continuity issues, gay-girl storyline blue balling and the rest, this damn show still makes me smile like an idiot each week. And, with a full writing staff for the first time and a repeated promise to go “back to basics,” perhaps this season could finally reign in the series’ promise and deliver something that is consistently gleeful. Baring that, can Brittany and Santana please, please, please have a sweet lady kiss. Do not make all us Brittana shippers go go all Kanye meme and scream “Ryan Murphy doesn’t care about lesbians!” at our TVs.
