13 Comments on “A Recap – Four Things About God

  1. I am sorry Peter, but I have now watched this twice, and I cannot get over it. This man is the Larry Grayson of the evangelical preaching world. I want to recommend him to all my gay friends, but not for the reasons that you would hope.

    • Winston,

      I find it interesting that I, as a pretty conservative bloke, I’m able to sit down and have dinner with Sy (yes, he’s like that in real life) and have no issue with his voice or behaviour but you have to raise the issue of the “campness” of his mannerisms. Really, it’s not a criticism, just a fascinating insight. Do we really think camp = gay?

  2. No, I do not think camp equals gay. I do though think that there is something about the way thay camp people perform in a professional context that is especially funny. Sy fits the type very well as a performer; of course, his medium is pretty atypical for those whose mannerisms he shares.

    I do think though that my comment about was lacking in generosity in that I should recommend watching him to my straight friends as well.

  3. Well, while I’ve met many gay men who weren’t camp or feminine at all (including a college basketball player and a high school football coach), I can’t say I’ve met any camp men who weren’t bisexual, gay (or ex-gay, gay celibate, insert-your-label-of-choice-here). I don’t think the stereotypes exist without a reason, but just like I don’t think having an orientation that isn’t 100% heterosexual makes one less of a man, neither do I think campy mannerisms do.

    • I heard David Walliams speaking ( on Desert Island discs on Radio 4, I think) and he said something along the lines of, ” I really don’t think I am gay, I know I’m camp.” He IS rather camp, but I think it is unlikely he would be repressed or closeted?
      I do agree that most guys who are “camp”are gay or bi, but I’ve met some who said they weren’t and I believed them. ( I think Tony Blair is a teensy bit camp actually…) Just how camp does a man have to be to be labelled?

      I agree gay and camp men are as much men as 100% straight men. We just have ridiculous ideas about what makes a “real” man.

      • I agree gay and camp men are as much men as 100% straight men.

        Right. A man who copulates with other men, instead of with women, is as much as man…

        England surely has gone gay.

        Homosexuality is a complete and total rejection of one’s manhood or womanhood. It’s the total abnegation of manhood or womanhood. It’s the un – ‘Go forth and multiply.’

        When I read this blog, it occurs to me that England’s males have all lost their manhoods. They tolerate their children (their sons!) being brought up to believe that sexual perversion is a ‘good’ or that it makes no difference whether you copulate with a boy or a girl.

        Elton John, a ‘male’ who does videos about lusting after Cub Scout boys, and who dons a dress for ‘his’ sodomite ‘wedding’ to another ‘male’ is the new English ‘man.’

        For us Yanks, England is now the quintessential queer British boarding school writ large.

        In the broader perspective, nations that lose their manhoods get taken over by real men – just as prissy Britain will be taken over by Muzzies (who know what a man is).

        England – the new pussy nation.

        Brand

        • I’m sorry Brand but I’m finding this quite offensive. Whatever we might think about the morality of same-sex behaviour, I’m not prepared to allow you to insult people because you don’t like what they do. I’ve already warned you about this once and I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to go away for a week or two and then only come back and comment if you can be less abusive in your language.

  4. Here is Sy telling his story:

    http://www

    At Pure Passion, there are numerous testimonies and interviews of leading experts produced and edited by Rev. Dr. David Kyle Foster, (DMin,TESM/Ambridge PA), author and founder of Mastering Life Ministries, who was once in the ‘gay’ lifestyle in Hollywood where he was an actor.

    http://www.vimeo.com/purepassion/videos/

    Pure Passion is powerful truth-telling ministry.

    • We can do without the scare-quotes around ‘gay’ can’t we? It’s a valid synonym for homosexuals. I also can’t say I like the phrase “the gay lifestyle.” Just say he was actively gay. I’m gay, but I’m celibate for my faith. Does that mean I lead a “gay lifestyle.” Perhaps, but I’m not actively sinning.

      Just a reminder to be mindful of language. Have a great day!

      • I remember Gore Vidal (in the 70s?) noting that your average American man regards the English as “fags” so I wouldn’t make much of merely cultural standards.And as Stephen Fry once said : “it’s a cliche that cliches are true , but that cliche, like most cliches, is false”.

        It’s a truism that all clergy are camp; personally I find it amusing when middle-clas evangelical piskies decry “effeminacy” when, from a working class Glaswegian perspective, they make Julian Clary look like Clint Eastwood. It’s easy to see the issue of camp, mannerism as (unlike the objection to “homosexual practise”)cultural and unbliblical, but didn’t the KJV specifically use the word “effeminate” for those who wont inherit the Kingdom of God? Saying that overindulging in disco or moisturiser will send a man to Hell is abhorrent to me, but I’m curious if evangelicals *do* think there is a biblical standard of stereo/archetypal masculine behaviour that , like homosexual practise, warrants being described in terms like “salvation issue”. Peter?

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