Learning to be Gay the Sesame Street Way

February 5, 2009 2:12 PM

The Gay Alphabet. "This is an art project that explores what a recruitment campaign might look like..."

"Right wing groups and the church argue that the very existence of gay publications and groups effectively advertise, glamorise and recruit people into the gay lifestyle. They see it as 'recruitment propaganda'. Which is of course rubbish."

posted by terranova (52 comments total)

via Jezebel
posted by terranova at 2:17 PM on February 5, 2009

P is for Perpetuating stereotypes!
posted by hermitosis at 2:18 PM on February 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

Finally. The straight alphabet is such a square.
posted by turgid dahlia at 2:26 PM on February 5, 2009

I liked G; the rest were okay. I thought it was good for a laugh. They left out the LBTs, but I guess there aren't enough letters in the alphabet.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:26 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

At Youtube, many express alarm that Madonna was not given "M."
posted by terranova at 2:30 PM on February 5, 2009

Needs the galphabet tag.
posted by speedo at 2:31 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

hermitosis - I believe that's the whole point of the exercise
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 2:32 PM on February 5, 2009

If I found one of these based on an ethnic minority and posted it, it would be yanked in five minutes.

But HAH, ZUCCHINI, AMIRITE GAYZ?
posted by hermitosis at 2:34 PM on February 5, 2009

I love the Wizard of OZ… AND my wife! Couldn't "W" be Werther's Originals or something?
posted by JBennett at 2:35 PM on February 5, 2009

If I found one of these based on an ethnic minority and posted it, it would be yanked in five minutes.

Do you think it would make any difference if the "ethnic" video had been made by members of that ethnic group, and in response to a meme that the ethnic publications were just a shadowy "recruitment" plot?
posted by Navelgazer at 2:39 PM on February 5, 2009 [3 favorites]

But HAH, ZUCCHINI, AMIRITE GAYZ?

The worse crime is that it isn't as clever as it could be. It would only perpetuate stereotypes if it was funny enough to get wide play. Anyone dumb enough to take those stereotypes to heart will happily do so whether this exists or not. So: Good idea, bad execution.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:39 PM on February 5, 2009 [6 favorites]

As a former dancer, and a straight man, I would like to register my sorrow over the appropriation of "dancers" by "the gays". On the other hand, meh. I thought this was kind of fun.
posted by Lemurrhea at 2:43 PM on February 5, 2009

I agree, Blazecock. Being all, "This is the kind of video that homophobes might make and pass around!" only works if your satire is so clever that only the dumbest homophobes won't pick up on it. This video will probably be passed around by way more sneering christians and teenagers than by actual gays.
posted by hermitosis at 2:44 PM on February 5, 2009

"Right wing groups and the church argue that the very existence of gay publications and groups effectively advertise, glamorise and recruit people into the gay lifestyle. They see it as 'recruitment propaganda'. Which is of course rubbish."

I never really thought about this before, but you could pretty easily replace the "gay lifestyle" phrasing in this sentence with "religion" and you'd have a pretty accurate description of what church groups actually do.

Maybe that's why they get so freaked out about Teh Gay, 1.) they think people choose it the same way they do a church, and 2.) they have some transference issues in that they see everyone else as being guilty of the same kind of recruitment stuff they are already doing.

Or I could just be seeing shit that isn't there. Either one is pretty possible.
posted by quin at 3:02 PM on February 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

I don't get the zucchini. Is it to do with penises?
posted by Mister Cheese at 3:08 PM on February 5, 2009

I don't get the zucchini. Is it to do with penises?

No. Think about it some more.
posted by bookish at 3:13 PM on February 5, 2009

real men don't eat quiche zucchini zucchini quiche
posted by desjardins at 3:19 PM on February 5, 2009

I went to high school with a girl named Gay. It was a real shithole of an intolerant, completely white, small town, too. Farmy. I was always glad I didn't have her cross-of-a-name to bear. Can you imagine.

On topic, O = Sinead O'Connor? Lazy.
posted by heyho at 3:21 PM on February 5, 2009

Ehh, not great, not that bad either. I personally dislike the idea that LGBTs have to place every little bit of self-referential commentary under the microscope because of the possibility that someone won't get the joke.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 3:23 PM on February 5, 2009

Whaaat, I still don't get the zucchini. I don't understand how this can be useful gay recruitment if you can't understand the symbolism. Maybe some of those youtube footnotes would help out their cause.
posted by Mister Cheese at 3:25 PM on February 5, 2009

It is because the Earl of Zucchini was a famous gay recruiter.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:28 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Zucchini is a wicked gay word is why. You hang around any sports bar, Sam's Club, or anywhere else straight men are known to gather, you'll find all the dudes are calling the vegetable by its Straight Name: "courgettes".
posted by Greg Nog at 3:41 PM on February 5, 2009 [10 favorites]

NOT GAY, ZUCCHINIS AREN'T TOUCHING
posted by Greg Nog at 3:42 PM on February 5, 2009

See, I'm guessing it's these obscure references that is really hurting the gay agenda. Who the heck knows about the Earl of Zucchini and his gay recruiting exploits or the fact that courgettes is what straight people call zucchini (which is news to me, hey I must be gay!). Not to mention that the joke appears to have two competing, unrelated origins.

It's no wonder the gay agenda hasn't been reaching its recruitment goals. And the thing is, I've few gay acquaintances/friends who espouse this youtube video's brightly colored gay lifestyle. They are very ordinary seeming people, kind of doing what most people do except for having sex with their own sex. That's anecdotal of course, maybe gay men everywhere associate themselves with closets and gay-radars and asses.

Personally, if I were a right wing group, I'd be more concerned about the gays at the margins of the gay lifestyle. They are probably not convinced that disembodied sausages represent them well, and perhaps like I, an apparently uninformed straight fellow, do not even know about zucchinis. This would be an entry point. "Hey, we here in the Church of Awesome Christ symbolize ourselves with fishes and crowny thorns, you try to put that on your cock." Of course, the gay propagandists have an advantage in that most sausages are delicious.
posted by Mister Cheese at 3:57 PM on February 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

It's no wonder the gay agenda hasn't been reaching its recruitment goals

We've been trying our best, but the Elton John is just not working with the youth culture. We even tried going after the senior citizen demographic, but they seem to drop like flies after the rave parties, which really hurt our quarterly numbers.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:05 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

No queer gals? BOIZONE!
posted by piratebowling at 4:07 PM on February 5, 2009

I like to pretend that the singular of "zucchini" is "zucchinus." And then also that the plural is "zucchinuses." So, basically, that "zucchini" is not a word.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:14 PM on February 5, 2009 [7 favorites]

Ooooo I think it's working! I feel the need to put some zucchini in my mouth right now!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:21 PM on February 5, 2009

uncleozzy: 'pl. of zucchino, dim. of zucca "gourd, squash,"'

Correct people freely, saying, "Do you refer to that zucchino you are holding?" and you will certainly become as popular as I have become setting people straight about the graffito they are speaking of.
posted by everichon at 4:26 PM on February 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

Oh yeah, I mean, I know, but it's more fun as faux-latin. Try saying zucchinus or pepperonus and tell me it's not funny.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:32 PM on February 5, 2009

It's no wonder the gay agenda hasn't been reaching its recruitment goals

**CONFIDENTIAL**
To: Gay Cabal Affiliates
FROM: Gay Cabal Leaders
SUBJECT: National Door-to-Door Gayhovehs Witness Campaign
Terrible setbacks. We've had to cancel the Elton John SwatchTower Magazine cover due to youth demographic rejection. And Mister Cheese continues to prove resistant to subliminal zucchini propaganda.
posted by terranova at 4:39 PM on February 5, 2009 [5 favorites]

So is it their fault or mine that when they started with "Ass" I stared at it and had no idea what I was looking at, because I missed the text?
posted by bettafish at 4:52 PM on February 5, 2009

'98 Homosexual-Recruitment Drive Nearing Goal
posted by Rhaomi at 4:56 PM on February 5, 2009

Totally ridiculous. Everyone knows handlebar mustaches have to be steamed, not boiled.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 5:14 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Of course, the gay propagandists have an advantage in that most sausages are delicious.

If they start using bacon to recruit, the human race is doomed.
posted by desjardins at 5:18 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I don't get the zucchini. Is it to do with penises?

No. Think about it some more.

They needed a z word?
posted by gorgor_balabala at 5:33 PM on February 5, 2009

Well, I think the linked website is gay because it appears to have gone down on me.
posted by WolfDaddy at 5:52 PM on February 5, 2009 [16 favorites]

Recruiting? Who's Recruiting?
posted by terranova at 5:56 PM on February 5, 2009

"Do you refer to that zucchino you are holding?"

Yeah, I'm going to have to do that now.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:12 PM on February 5, 2009

*watches video*

nahh, still like girls. Try harder, dudes.
posted by jonmc at 6:24 PM on February 5, 2009

This video showing up as an example of "real" gay recruitment propaganda in 3... 2... 1...
posted by Krrrlson at 6:33 PM on February 5, 2009

You're absolutely goddamned right I'm recruiting. Ladies, sign up right here!
posted by honeydew at 6:57 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

*Gratuitous but relevant self-link*

The Homosexual Agenda of Gilligan’s Island
posted by Tube at 10:54 PM on February 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Correct people freely, saying, "Do you refer to that zucchino you are holding?" and you will certainly become as popular as I have become setting people straight about the graffito they are speaking of.

Ahem. Please..."graffito OF WHICH they are speaking."


(I'll go sit down now.)
posted by darkstar at 1:14 AM on February 6, 2009

Recruiting? LOL! What on earth makes these people thing we need to recruit, these days? That's just so 20th century. Nowadays, we just take their applications, and when we have the time, grant interviews to the worthy.
posted by Goofyy at 3:21 AM on February 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

I thought it was cute, in that "hey, remember that Junior Senior video you loved a few years ago?" way.

Try saying zucchinus or pepperonus and tell me it's not funny.

Well, the pepper-onus is on you, since I am busily scarfing down a paninus.

...oh.
posted by kittyprecious at 4:44 AM on February 6, 2009

This gay's alphabet would start with Alex Trebec. And it would pretty much be downhill from there.
posted by greekphilosophy at 7:03 AM on February 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Not to sound ,well, uninformed but what is the gay recruitment agenda? Because when I read it, I thought about a bunch of James Bond villains sitting around plotting something like "First San Fransisco... Then the WORLD.. MUWHAHAHAHAHA. "

Yeah I know... go drink a cup of coffee, let it set in, then come back and post.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 7:03 AM on February 6, 2009

With a title like The Gay Alphabet I was kinda expecting something like this...
posted by PontifexPrimus at 8:48 AM on February 6, 2009

B is for Bear. Jesus. Try.

Z- how about Liza with a Z?

And what in the fuck is part-time lez Sinead O'Connor doing there? They might as well have Lindsay Lohan for L.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:05 AM on February 6, 2009

A rather detailed account of the Gay Agenda
posted by qcubed at 2:38 PM on February 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

The Truth Revealed. Heterosexual males accidentally train their girlfriends and wives to be gay.
posted by terranova at 6:13 PM on February 6, 2009