Commentary

Gay country singer’s video portrays gay men as sad, predatory drunks

Gay country singer’s video portrays gay men as sad, predatory drunks

Gay men drink too much, feel sorry for themselves, and come on to straight dudes when their girlfriends aren’t around: that’s the message from the music video of newly-minted gay country singer Steve Grand.

And gay media is too busy fawning over the young stud to notice.

Steve Grand

Maybe Grand figures that his fellow gays will be too distracted by the video’s lascivious preoccupation with his pouty lips and sculpted abs to notice that, as portrayed here, he is one false move away from some serious gay bashing.

The storyline has Grand continually offering his straight friend – out of sight from the guy’s girlfriend – his flask of whiskey, and once they are both drunk enough to do some skinny dipping, Grand goes in for a kiss. The object of his affections looks stunned before swimming away.

Let’s credit the straight friend in the video for being a good sport about the come-on, and even showing reconciliation when the two see each other again.

As a matter of fact, the straight dude appears to inhabit a modern world that our gay country idol hasn’t heard about, where potential gay boyfriends are everywhere, from two-stepping saloons to the town church, and hotties like Grand never have to resort to stalking the straight boys.

[Grand’s video is here and here.]

It’s not as if Grand isn’t entitled to have a fantasy boyfriend who happens to be straight – who hasn’t? – but if the singer really wants to challenge stereotypes, why the hell is he portraying gay men as sad, predatory drunks? Why not just record his song over four minutes of the self loathing 1970’s film “The Boys in the Band?”

Grand said in a Facebook post that he is “laying it out there. I’m done playing it safe.”

Well, aside from the fact that gay men are routinely beaten for the kind of actions Grand takes in his video, perhaps he might consider focusing his risk-taking on something truly perilous: the gay dating pool.

You know, with actual gay men.

That’s a shark tank that takes real survival skills.

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