Can You Make Fun Of Gays Without Sounding Homophobic?

I’m constantly facing the line between acceptable and unacceptable humor when I write my column.

For me, the line is clear.  Everything is fair game except slander and anything that could incite violence.

Bad taste is not a good enough reason to draw the line.  Neither is getting your feelings hurt.  After all, offending people is at the heart of a lot of humor.

Now, who should draw the line– *That’s* a difficult question.

It certainly can’t be lesbians.  I mean, do we really want to be dictated to by a bunch of easily offended women?   Most lesbians I know won’t go to restaurants because they’re insulted by the first three letters in the word “Menu.”

And it can’t be gay men.  They’re not available anyway–they’re too busy working out at the gym.  Don’t get me wrong.   I’m not saying gay men are shallow.  I’m saying you’ve stepped in deeper puddles.

Forget bi-sexuals.  They’re no help.  They’ll just confuse the issue.

Drag queens?  Please.  They can’t form a thought without lip-synching to it.

My point, and I do have one, is that it shouldn’t be up to gay people to decide who’s allowed to make fun of them and what they can say.

But it shouldn’t be up to the radio shock jocks, either.  I went on one of those shows and they were encouraging people to play a game they called “Smear the Queer.”

Excuse me, but that sounds like an open invitation for people to inflict violence.

Or what about those DJs who created a fictional character named “Stinky, the gay pedophile roommate?”  They’ll defend that by saying, “Oh, lighten up it’s just one character.”  Really?  Then why do I feel personally slandered with the accusation of criminal conduct?

I’m no stranger to making hamburgers out of sacred cows.  Hell, I serve them to lesbian vegetarians all the time.  But…

Wait, that’s redundant.

Anyway, there really is a difference between an insult and a slander, between an invitation to howl and an incitement to violence.

Nobody should be immune from humor but at the same time, nobody should be stigmatized or feel physically threatened by it, either.

The line between acceptable and unacceptable humor should be dictated by society’s evolving and sometimes competing values.   Fairness is one.  Non-violence is another.  But so is laughing at yourself, having the ability to take a joke without squealing like a stuck pig.