Hi there, folks. It's me, Michael Bach, your Diversity Dude,
and it's time for another episode of Monday Morning Musings.
It's more like confessional than it is... whatever.
Anyway.
So, some of you know that I obsessively watch television.
I binge watch.
I Netflix and chill.
I Netflix, I don't really chill.
But anyway, that's how I watch television.
And...
(sigh)
There is a show that I just recently kind of binge watched
and it's a weird confessional moment.
So, somebody the other day said to me:
"Have you watched Queer Eye?"
And, Queer Eye, for those of you who don't know, is on Netflix and it's a show that is a...
take-off is the wrong word, but it's based on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,
which is a show from I don't know when...
I want to say late 90s, early 2000's.
It might have been late 2000s, I'm really not clear on dates.
But anyway, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,
five gay guys that would descend on some poor straight guy and redo his world.
And when the original show was on, it was really seminal.
I mean, it was one of those shows that was sort of reality TV
and putting gay men specifically in the reality spotlight in a good way.
Right?
Anyway.
I had tried to watch the first episode of Queer Eye
and, if I'm being totally honest,
I couldn't do it.
And I found it... while it was thankfully racially and ethnically diverse,
with two of the five guys being racialized, so one is Pakistani and one is African-American,
and in fact there's a Canadian guy in there,
I really had trouble with the stereotype.
And if I'm being honest with myself, and I really thought a lot about this,
there's one guy, his name is Jonathan, and he's got the long hair, if you watch the show,
and he is what we would politely call "a flamer".
He's very ♫gaaaaayy♫,
and I was having some problems with that.
And as much as I...
There's not a lot of internalized homophobia going on here.
I mean, considering who I am, what I do.
But yeah, there was some internalized homophobia going on
because, of course, how will people react to said flamer?
Wow.
That's a really tough realization.
Anyway, so my friend called me on it, and I'm so glad they did.
And I went back and I watched the show and I forced myself to watch the show,
and forced myself to reanalyze that kind of, that internalized homophobia
that was afraid of what Jonathan represented and how straight people would perceive Jonathan,
and man, am I glad I did that because I *love* the show!
I have just watched the entire season in like some sort of addictive way
and every episode makes me cry, which...
Reality TV. It's like a science to making me cry.
You know, I guess the message of this musing is simply:
None of us are perfect.
There is no such thing as the perfect human being
and we all face these realities of our own biases and stereotypes, and you know what?
Oh, my favourite thing in the world is Jonathan,
and his hair and his comments and his 'honey' and I love him,
and I love the Fab Five, and I love the show, and I love that, you know what, they haven't even just...
One of the episodes was of a gay guy who needed a makeover, and hello!
How needs a makeover but this guy?
So desperately.
So if you want to come to Canada, leave Georgia...
I don't know what I'm going with my face...
Anyway, I just felt like I needed to 'fess that up.
So, I hope you have a fabulous week.
Subscribe to my channel.
I really should figure out what that is...
And I'll see you next Monday for another episode of Monday Morning Musings.
Bye!