Located in: Opinions
Posted on: December 9th, 2013 No Comments

Queer Quips: Assumptions about sexuality


This past week, gay men’s eye candy from the 2012 Olympic Games, Tom Daley, revealed that he is currently in a relationship with a man. This caused a social media buzz, announcing him as gay and twisting his words from the video blog he released announcing the subject.

The problem here is Daley never even identified himself as gay. The media rushed to the conclusion that just because one dates a male, it automatically means that one’s orientation is completely homosexual.

I too was guilty of rushing to this conclusion when I took to posting on my social media outlets. Daley himself even said in the video that he still “fancies girls” but is currently dating a guy and is very happy. So why is it that when someone says that they are interested in the same sex, society automatically associates them with being strictly gay?

I know that as soon as I heard the news, I was ecstatic. In the gay community, as soon as a celebrity has rumors that they may or may not play for our team, we want to claim them, especially if it is a very aesthetically pleasing celeb like Daley. So we are so quick to label them as gay and only gay because not only do we get some made up fantasy in our head that now we somehow have a shot at possibly winning their affection, but also that we have something in common with such an attractive public figure.

I can speak from personal experience on this, because when Anderson Cooper finally revealed that he was gay, I thought that somehow this meant he would discover me and I would become his much younger life partner. Call me crazy, but I have a thing for the silver fox type of men.

It really is quite an interesting subject. We make such a huge deal about these celebrities coming out when in an ideal world it shouldn’t even cause the media stir that it causes. Unfortunately, we do still live in a world where being a public figure and identifying as a member of the LGBT community can make you lose fans, receive hate mail and become typecast.

I look forward to the day when celebrities don’t have to make a viral video explaining their personal lives to the world all because being different is still seen as a huge deal. With this said, I couldn’t be more happy that Daley is in a happy samesex relationship. I just wish it were with me.

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