What’s behind the phenomenon? Next year, Matthew Todd, editor of Attitude, the UK’s best-selling gay magazine, will publish Straight Jacket, examining issues surrounding gay shame. Comments such as ‘If I wanted to go out with a girl, I’d date women’ abound within gay circles and feed the notion that to be camp is to be intrinsically unsexy. Where does that leave me?’ The Tumblr site,, chronicles the myriad charming Grindr profiles insisting on ‘no femmes’, ‘masc only’ and ‘masc for masc’. The strapline for the gay scene is “no fats, no femmes”. ‘Have I ever been a victim of camp-shaming? Yes! All the f***ing time. I have a friend, Daniel, a 34-year-old teacher from Hackney, who says he’s had men approach him in bars, only to ‘tell me that I’m too camp as soon as I open my mouth’: ‘It’s depressing to see gay men attacking each other, when we should be allies.’ Queer performance artist Scottee - who hosted a variety showcase called Camp (Live!) - admits to feeling shunned by the gay scene. Camp and proud: Alan CarrĬamp-shaming isn’t reserved for celebrities. Increasingly, it appears that the divide is no longer between heteros and homos, but gay men who separate into ‘camp’ and ‘straight-acting’, a term that implies a degree of posturing. It’s there when effeminate men are accused of ‘putting it on’ - as if being a ‘sissy’ ever made anyone’s life easier (as any camp child who’s been through the school system will testify, it does not). You can see it when gay men who conform to stereotypes by worshipping Beyoncé, quoting RuPaul or dressing flamboyantly are met with a wince or said to be letting the side down. Gay men’s homophobia may sound oxymoronic, but it’s increasingly apparent in a culture that prizes masculinity and derides campness. Because while prejudice from straight people continues to dwindle, homophobia among gay men means that the community is in danger of eating itself from the inside out. Scratch the surface, however, and there are more pernicious battles being waged. The introduction of gay marriage in Ireland and the US appears further proof that, by and large, the war against bigotry has been won.
Sure, at this year’s Pride celebrations there was the usual homophobic picketing, but those voices are growing fainter and less relevant compared with the widespread acceptance of LGBT people. The pair snigger.įor an outsider looking in, there’s never been a better time to be gay.
He nudges his friend as a guy in Dorothy drag skips past, followed by a skinny, body-painted teenager in angel wings. But despite the colourful costumes - and bare buttocks - on display, it’s an altogether tamer sight that prompts the man in a check shirt and chino shorts in front of me to grimace. Minutes later, a group of guys in dog masks fills their space, along with a human horse, angling his pleather hooves at the crowd. Gaggle of muscled men in tiny briefs parades past, followed by a procession of Leather Daddies, complete with truncheons. New West End Company BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENT.