Quinto: Not Internally Homophobic
2 min read
Comments made by Zachary Quinto in an interview for Out100 have angered some in the gay community.
Quinto responded to that reaction today, explaining why he made some of his comments and what he had meant by them.
In the interview, Quinto said that he felt that there was “a tremendous sense of complacency in the LGBT community,” especially amongst young gays who did not grow up when AIDS was ravaging the community. “AIDS has lost the edge of horror it possessed when it swept through the world in the ’80s. Today’s generation sees it more as something to live with and something to be much less fearful of. And that comes with a sense of, dare I say, laziness.”
Part of the complacency comes from the use of HIV/AIDS prophylactic drugs like PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis). “We need to be really vigilant and open about the fact that these drugs are not to be taken to increase our ability to have recreational sex,” he said. “There’s an incredible underlying irresponsibility to that way of thinking…and we don’t yet know enough about this vein of medication to see where it’ll take us down the line.”
Some in the LGBT community were not happy with his comments, but Quinto explained why he said them and sought to clarify what he meant. “I am a staunch advocate for the rights and well-being of the LGBT community,” he said. “I have deep compassion and empathy for people living with HIV/AIDS. I am assuredly not internally homophobic or poz-phobic or willfully ignorant regarding this issue. I am a well-adjusted and well-educated gay man. I have read and understand the way PrEP works, and at least the most basic science behind its practical applications — although I am always open to learning more. I support and encourage the amazing work done by HIV/AIDS awareness organizations — as well as the many research and treatment organizations that exist across the country and the world. I did not intend to make generalizations about the LGBT community at large — or people living with HIV/AIDS or people in love with someone living with HIV/AIDS.
“What troubles me, and what I was trying to speak to in my interview, is an attitude among (some of) the younger generation of gay men – that we can let our guard down against this still very real threat to our collective well-being. I have had numerous conversations in my travels with young gay people who see the threat of HIV as diminished to the point of near irrelevance. I have heard too many stories of young people taking PrEP as an insurance policy against their tendency toward unprotected non-monogamous sex. THAT is my only outrage.
“I was simply trying to assert my belief that we need to be especially vigilant and accountable to ourselves and one another at this moment in our evolution.”
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I thought Mr. Quinto’s comments were already clear and to the point. Given that some people seem to deliberately misunderstand things so that they can take offense, though, I’m glad he had this opportunity to clarify.
So he said that young people seem to care less about Aids and are getting more lax on casual or recreational sex. That makes him homophobic?? You see that’s why I don’t want like this new gay mood but if you don’t agree with them or if you don’t agree with gay marriage then you’re homophobic. I don’t fear gay people I have friends that are gay but just because I may or may not agree with the position they have does not mean I fear them. Homophobic has been thrown around way too much.
By the way what he said is pretty true gay or straight back in the 80s even early 90’s Aids was a death sentence in most peoples mind. Then came the new meds and the celebrities who were taking them like Magic Johnson. The fear overall died away from AIDS. It is by far now viewed less lethal think cancer. But the fact is if you have it and are forced to take all those meds. I have heard is not fun. A lot of side effects. Financial bankruptcy. Even now you’re not going to live as long as everyone else. And unless you’re a selfentitled caring no one but yourself social path then your sex life will become nonexistent almost.
As a young gay man myself… Well everything he said is true. Nothing “homophobic” about pointing out how people my age, who’ve grown up after the medications came out, generally seem to think of it as not as much of a threat. Although, I do think it’s young people in general, both gay and straight, not just the gay community.
There is something extra yappy and pushy about gay men. Being a LDS Christan man in LA and raised in Hollywood and Santa Monica as a child, I’m very much aware of the insanity and blatant discrimination anyone and everyone who doesn’t “fall in” with their agenda receives. If someone like Quinto who is very much one of them can’t even get respect for something like being open and honest about a very serious issue, what chance do the rest of us have? None by the way, the answer is none.
An opportunity not afforded to many sadly.
You know what the media loves to forget to mention is that people like Magic Johnson can actually afford the medication and not have it break the bank.
Better idea however is to follow God’s laws and not have sex outside of natural marriage. Having free sex whenever and with whoever and then wondering why you contracted a deadly STD is like putting your bare hand on the stove and wanting to know why you got burned even after your mom told you not to. It literally make zero sense why people purposely do things that attract horrible ways to die. And yet when people like myself speak out about such things to hopeful save people from a horrible end, we are labeled bigots and fools. The thing about it is is that I’m not the one going out of my way to contract AIDS and whatever else is out there from my actions. I’m not the one who will be forced to make what should be unnecessary doctors visits and have to take all this extra medication and deal with my body shutting down from getting sick. So I ask very seriously, who is the fool again?
Funny, it seems that back in the 19th-century a certain someone managed to evade restrictions on “free sex” by claiming to have a religious revelation, founding his own church, and going on to have at least 40 wives as was recently admitted by that church’s present leadership.
There is a phenomenon, the name of which escapes me at the moment, that was realized when seat belts and air bags became mandatory. There is a surprisingly large number of people who take more risk than they would absent seat belts and air bags because they are overconfident in the ability of those things to protect them. In other words, because of those safety devices, some people are more reckless. Similarly, it is very likely that there are some people engaging in more unsafe sex practices because of a mistaken belief that the existence of these drugs will protect them from the effects of their behavior. Stating that isn’t homophobic, it’s actually measurable science. I believe that is the point that he was trying to make, that the existence of these drugs don’t actually make certain behaviors any less risky, but some people wrongly think they do.
Blanket generalizations like that undermine your point. You just slapped the label “yappy and pushy” on all gay men. And trying to make the historically persecuted minority the villain here for being sensitive to discrimination only reinforces why people call it out.
I think the point Milo was making is that most gays are quite happy to continue playing the persecution card because it fits their agenda. They do nothing to help themselves regarding education about AIDS and other STDs, and how not to catch them, because they want to continue the false public perception of being the “diseased, persecuted minority” as it increases the clout of their political pressure groups, and their ability to get even more from themselves at the expense of the heterosexual majority. The moment someone like Quinto puts his head above the parapet and speaks sense, the vultures in his own camp attack him. There’s no hope for many gays because they don’t want to “fit in”, and they don’t want to help themselves. If the straight majority want to help them, that’s a different story, just as long as that help dilutes mainstream, and by definition, heterosexual society. Much respect to Quinto, but he must realise he’s banging his head against a brick wall.
Spoken as someone who is all about “straight privilege.” You have no idea what “most gays” think, want, or feel, so don’t act like you do. Yes, there’s a minority of gay men that are nihilistic enough that they don’t want to think about the consequences of their actions, but most of us are intelligent, rational people who don’t want to get ill nor spread illness to others. We don’t want to “dilute (the) mainstream,” unless you consider asking you not to keep trying to change us is us “diluting” heterosexual society.
Or maybe they’re playing the “persecution card” because they’re still actually persecuted? They couldn’t serve in the military openly until about two years ago. They still can’t get married in about half of America. Some are denounced by their own families, others bullied to the point of suicide. Others still beaten simply for being gay. How many times has a straight man been beaten up by a gang of gays in a hate crime?
Didn’t the LDS Church openly discriminate against blacks well into the 1970’s? You’re not going to score any points with the “oh woe is me, I’m so oppressed” white male Christian heterosexual card. You and your ilk are responsible for most of the inequities in America, not the other way around.
You are right that it is measurable, it’s just that studies have shown that people on Truvada are *not* engaging in riskier behavior. http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/12/110831/no-link-between-hiv-prevention-pill-truvada-and-increased-sexual-risk-behavior